Funding and Research Opportunities

The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

NIH Guide Notice:

• NOT-TW-14-005: Interest in Type 2 Diabetes Research Topics in PAR-13-055 Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01) to support the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) Initiative
• NOT-NR-14-003: Notice of National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Participation in RFA-HG-14-001 "BD2K-LINCS-Perturbation Data Coordination and Integration Center (DCIC) (U54)"
• NOT-OD-14-028: Change in the NIH Continuous Submission Policy
• NOT-OD-14-029: Notice of Reissuance of Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T32) and Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T35)

Request for Applications (RFA):

• RFA-HG-14-001: BD2K-LINCS-Perturbation Data Coordination and Integration Center (DCIC) (U54)

Program Announcement (PA):

• PAR-14-019:Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Research Advancement Award (SC1)
• PAR-14-017: Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Pilot Project Award (SC2)
• PA-14-016: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T35)
• PA-14-015: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T32) (expires January 8, 2017)

Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.

Startups selected for the DreamIt Health Baltimore accelerator program will get $50,000 in seed funding and access to industry heavyweights like Northrop Grumman Corp.

The defense contractor has signed on as a partner for the new health IT accelerator program, where 10 startups will be selected for the program. The first program runs Jan. 17 through May 9.

People should stop wasting their money on dietary supplements, some physicians said today, in response to three large new studies that showed most multivitamin supplements are ineffective at reducing the risk of disease, and may even cause harm.

The new studies, published today (Dec. 16) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine —including two new clinical trials and one large review of 27 past clinical trials conducted by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — found no evidence that taking daily multivitamin and mineral supplements prevents or slows down the progress of cognitive decline or chronic diseases such as heart diseases or cancer.

On Saturday November 16, participants of the first ever Maryland Leaders on Fast Track (LOFT) symposium gathered at Johns Hopkins University in Rockville to explore STEM careers. The event, hosted by MdBio Foundation and Hispanic Heritage Foundation, drew over 150 participants from Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.

The symposium brought together a diverse student body from local high schools and colleges; over 90 percent of students were minorities and more than half were female. The event also attracted numerous community leaders, including Congressman John Delaney, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro, and Montgomery County Executive, Ike Leggett who was awarded the ‘Maryland STEM Education Leader Award’ at the event.

Emergent BioSolutions wants to exercise an option to buy 8 acres next to its East Baltimore manufacturing facility for an expansion that eventually could add up to 100 jobs, a company official said.

The Rockville-based biotechnology company bought its facility on East Lombard Street for $7.85 million in 2009, and has invested $50 million there since, Chief Financial Officer Bob Kramer said.

The City Council is slated to vote Wednesday on the sale of the city-owned parcel next to the facility near Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

For research universities to produce the ideas and talent the United States needs in order to lead in the 21st century, they “must make a steady and persistent movement to adapt to the times,” according to William (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM). 

Kirwan spoke on the future of research universities on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the University of Delaware. The talk, presented to a group of UD faculty and administrators, was designed to help set the scene and percolate new ideas as UD considers the next phase of its Path to Prominence strategic plan, a process that will begin in the new year.

Instead of looking at pictures in textbooks or working with simulations on computers, high school students across Maryland have a chance to experiment with professional scientists while using the latest lab equipment.

The teens conduct these experiments, not in their classroom, but in a bus outfitted as a mobile laboratory,

The traveling Bio Lab recently visited Patapsco High School and Center for Arts in Baltimore, which delighted of their teacher.

What is your New Year resolution? Get your idea to the market with funding and resources? We can help you!

AccelerateBaltimore™ is an initiative of the Emerging Technology Centers, Baltimore's award winning incubator, and Abell Foundation. In its first two years, we have invested $250,000 in 10 companies. Now, we are looking for the next 6 innovative startup technology companies to add our portfolio.

Apply by December 31, 2013 11:59pm!

Our goal is to close the gap between innovative ideas and getting to market by providing the seed capital, resources, mentors, potential partners and a coworking space. We are looking for 6 exciting startups that use modern technologies to create new business solutions that can be brought to market in 3 months.

There are currently more than 4 million Americans who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. This figure doesn’t include those who work part-time or on contracts — or those who, discouraged, have simply stopped trying. Many of them are older and well educated, and their situation doesn’t seem to be improving despite America’s slow crawl out of the recession. While last week’s jobs numbers extolled a decline in the national unemployment rate, the numbers for the long-term unemployed didn’t even budge. 

MIT professor Ofer Sharone is tackling this issue head on, piloting a new initiative to help the long-term unemployed and gather valuable research on both job-seeking and hiring practices. He is also the author of the recent book Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences. My edited discussion with Sharone is below. 

I was manning a booth at the Harvard Club of New York’s authors’ night when an older woman approached and picked up a copy of my book, Reinventing You. She paged through it for a moment, then put it down. “Too late for me,” she said abruptly, and walked away.

Over the past six months of my book tour, it’s a question I’ve heard often. Isn’t professional reinvention just for young people? What if I’m too old? How can I spend years training for something new, when I’m already near retirement? It’s true: reinvention is different later in your career. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) (GSK.L) said on Monday it plans to raise its stake in its Indian pharmaceutical unit to up to 75 percent from 50.7 percent through an open offer in a deal worth about 629 million pounds ($1.02 billion).

With the latest India deal, GSK is set to spend close to $2 billion in roughly a year to increase its holdings in two listed Indian companies, underscoring the British drugmaker's drive to deepen its footprint in emerging markets.

The Fort, one of the first startup accelerators in the D.C. area, may be closing its physical doors, but according to Jonathon Perrelli, managing director of Fortify Ventures, it will live on in a blog and in spirit at 1776.  

"There's a confusion that The Fort and Fortify Ventures are synonymous," Perrelli explains. They aren't. "We believe in accelerators," he says, "and we want to support early-stage companies." He and the team just don't want to run an accelerator anymore.

The following is an email sent by James P Gavigan, PhD, Head of the Science, Technology and Education Section, Delegation of the European Union to the United States of America regrading the Launch of Horizon 2020.

Dear All,

Please note that the EU's new program to fund research and innovation activities from 2014-2020 - Horizon 2020 – was officially launched on 11 December 2013 with a first tranche of funding of Euros 7.8 billion being made available for calls for proposals in 2014 out of a total of almost 80 billion for the seven year period.

I enclose herewith the Press Release and an accompanying Memo announcing the launch:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1232_en.htm

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-1122_en.htm

I would also like to draw your attention to the new Horizon 2020 web portal which is the unique access point for all information on the program – its content, structure, how to participate, etc.:

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/

Spring Capital Partners has completed fundraising for a $175 million fund that will invest in small to midsize companies.

The fund is the third — and largest — the Baltimore firm has raised since launching in 1999. Its first in 2000 raised $75 million. The second in 2006 raised $115 million.

Spring’s new fund will buy minority stakes in companies with $10 million to $150 million in revenue. Its investments will not be confined to specific industries, but will span a wide range of companies. Earlier investments have included manufacturers, information technology firms government contractors and software companies.

Being able to learn marketable digital skills is sluggish and difficult — or so they say.

Adda Birnir noticed a gender divide between a media company's business and technical side (read: men) versus the editorial side (read: women). She created online tech education platform Skillcrush to give women a way to learn marketable skills that could lead to steady, high-paying jobs and relevant, satisfying work.

When something like three in four venture-backed startups fail, picking the ones that won’t is definitely not an easy feat.

In search of what they call the “unicorn VCs” of healthcare – investors who have consistently invested in companies with the biggest of the big exits  – analysts at research firm CB Insights combed through a decade of healthcare M&A data. They found 50 medical device and biotech companies that exited, through IPO or acquisition, with valuations of at least $500 million between 2004 and 2013.

MedImmune announced on Wednesday a $6.5 million research partnership with Johns Hopkins University, marking the second academic collaboration inked by the Gaithersburg biotech in recent months.

The agreement, which spans five years, will center on projects in oncology, infectious disease, antibody discovery and protein engineering, as well as respiration, inflammation and autoimmunity.

Rockville-based biodefense company Emergent BioSolutions, taking steps to move deeper into the commercial drugmaking world, is paying $222 million to buy Cangene Corp., a Canadian firm, according to the Washington Post.

Emergent emerged as a key biodefense company following the Sept. 11 attacks, when it sold Anthrax vaccines to the U.S. government.

GlaxoSmithKline is to invest another 200 million pounds ($330 million) on advanced manufacturing in Britain, the company said on Wednesday, underlining the draw of a tax break designed to encourage research and development.

Britain's so-called "patent box" scheme, which offers a reduced rate of corporation tax on income derived from patents, has been hailed by GSK, its biggest drugmaker, for transforming the country as a place to invest.

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, today introduced two new erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) instruments in Europe that standardise analysis for more accurate, timely results and an efficient workflow in comparison to a manual Westergren method. This next generation of BD ESR instruments results in improved patient care in the laboratory or point of care setting.

Erythrocyte sedimentation is a commonly used hematology test to measure inflammation and the presence and severity of disease. “Improved automation and efficiency are key to carrying out analytical tests in a busy laboratory. More and more tests are being conducted each year and reduced healthcare spending puts pressure on laboratory resources,” comments Stephen Church, European Medical Affairs, BD Diagnostics -Preanalytical Systems. 

Drexel University, the University City Science Center and DreamIt Ventures are on a mission to support innovators and entrepreneurs in the Philadelphia region and have formed a strategic partnership that creates a hub for start-ups to test their wings and the capital that will support their continued growth.

Drexel – Science Center Collaboration

Drexel and the Science Center have collaborated to form a 17,500-square-foot innovation hub that will serve as a launching pad for companies by offering business incubation and accelerator spaces and services to support idea generation, innovation and growth as well as support for later-stage companies.

The Indian Biomedical Association (IBA) invited entrepreneurs from early phase companies with products or services in the life sciences industry the opportunity to connect, collaborate and partner with investors. Following the event on Nov 17th [Developing and delivering effective investor presentation for your early stage venture], four companies were chosen to pitch in front of investors on Dec 17th, 2013. The four companies are: Neuronascent, RoosterBio, LiquiLens and OTOMAGNETICS. 

Top Five Reasons You Should Attend:

1. Learn by Example- Listen carefully to how others pitch so that you can perfect your own!

2. Understand what seasoned investors expect in real life terms

3. Networking with like-minded professionals

4. Create your own Due Diligence process for investing

5. Building a vibrant entrepreneurial healthcare and life science community in the DC/MD/VA region - Be a Part of It!

Own an emerging cyber security company and need more cash to grow?

Maryland has set aside $3 million in tax incentives for companies seeking outside investments. Those investors must keep their money in the company for at least three years.

There has been some confusion over the tax credit so state officials are trying to get the word out that there’s money on the table.

December 19, 2013 6:00-8:00 PM

William Hanna Center for Innovation at Shady Grove, 9700 Great Seneca Hwy Rockville, MD 20850

Springboard Enterprises presents the Dolphin Tank, a pitch-practice event for life science entrepreneurs.

What is the format? Pre-selected presenters deliver a two- to three-minute elevator pitch (no slides!), followed by feedback from an expert panel. The audience also weighs in.

Who will pitch? Six to eight early-stage life science companies, or those with an idea for a new life science business. Those selected can pitch their idea/business on their own, or with a group.

What sectors? Life science, including biotechnology, medical devices, healthcare IT, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics.

Men and women are encouraged to apply to pitch at this event.

Deadline to apply to pitch: Monday December, 16 at 12noon EST
Expect an email from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. within 24 hours of the pitch deadline to confirm whether you've been selected to pitch.

DreamIt Ventures is raising a $30 million fund to further support its portfolio companies.

The five-year-old early-stage startup accelerator has raised $10 million so far, said managing partner Karen Griffith Gryga, who is raising the fund. The raise will go toward follow-on funding for the nearly 130 companies that have graduated from DreamIt’s programs in Philadelphia, New York City and Austin. (DreamIt’s latest program, DreamIt Health Baltimore, will launch in January 2014.)

The University of Maryland (UM) BioPark announced today that the JS Yoon Memorial Cancer Research Institute, a basic research organization looking at the fundamental genetic and epigenetic basis of cancer, has expanded its space within the Biotechnology Innovation Center at the BioPark. The Institute, which moved into the Park in mid-2013, is housing six employees at the BioPark who are charged with performing basic cancer research designed to lead to therapeutic and diagnostic solutions addressing a variety of cancer types.  

“What sets us apart from other cancer-focused entities is that we seek to elucidate the molecular basis of cancer and to use this knowledge to develop therapies and diagnostic tests, rather than the current method which is the other way around,” said Ji Eun Lee, Managing Director, JS Yoon Memorial Cancer Research Institute. “We’re thrilled to be conducting our research at the BioPark, which offers excellent proximity to the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), Johns Hopkins, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institutes of Health. It’s also a huge benefit to have access to the top-rate resources and core facilities available through the UM SOM as we conduct our research.”

Our world is changing at an unprecedented pace. To prepare our students, lessons must go beyond the "3 R's" and foster 21st century skills. Skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity will be essential for students to take on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Note: As of August 6th, 2013, Smithsonian Student Travel is now known as EF Explore America. Please visit our website at http://www.efexploreamerica.com.

NYC Economic Development Corporation president Kyle Kimball on New York City working with large pharmaceutical companies and venture capital firms to create $100M fund.

Development of a Microfluidic Platform for Blood Testing in Neonatal and Pediatric Patients STTR (R41) - RFA-HL-14-025

This FOA encourages applications to develop microfluidic devices to analyze blood for factors related to the thrombotic, transfusion, and/or hemostatic status of pediatric/neonatal patients. Platforms should support clinical and/or research applications. Microfluidic designs that are multifunctional, with the capacity to perform multiple assays on a single blood sample, are of interest. Use of these devices could significantly reduce levels of phlebotomy-induced blood loss in pediatric/neonatal patients.

Development of a Microfluidic Platform for Blood Testing in Neonatal and Pediatric Patients SBIR (R43/R44) - RFA-HL-14-026

This FOA encourages applications to develop microfluidic devices to analyze blood for factors related to the thrombotic, transfusion, and/or hemostatic status of pediatric/neonatal patients. Platforms should support clinical and/or research applications. Microfluidic designs that are multifunctional, with the capacity to perform multiple assays on a single blood sample, are of interest. Use of these devices could significantly reduce levels of phlebotomy-induced blood loss in pediatric/neonatal patients.

Aging baby boomers, Obamacare and a greater push toward electronic medical records.

Three Baltimore-area investment heavyweights — Paul Silber, Rick Kohr Jr. and Harrison Perry — are hoping that’s the winning combination for an investment fund they have launched to pump money into health care companies in the mid-Atlantic region.

Against a backdrop of slowing healthcare expenditures and ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the dynamics of the U.S. medical device industry have become increasingly fluid. In this article, Elliot Hyun, a medical device analyst at GE Capital Healthcare Financial Services, discusses the current status of the industry – and what lies ahead for investors.

Q. What is the state of the medical device industry?

A. Broadly speaking, we have seen growth slow in recent years, as the industry has grappled with both persistent utilization softness following the end of the most recent economic downturn as well as the increasingly real headwind of pricing pressure from customers. As such, we believe industry growth has slowed from the mid-high single-digit range prior to the recession to the low single-digit area today.

It is customary in higher education to dismiss rankings as misleading and arbitrary, quantifying things that don’t much matter about colleges and universities.

But one list of undisputed significance is compiled each year by the National Science Foundation: the top institutions ranked by total research spending. Such money supports laboratories, attracts top faculty and graduate students and gives many undergraduates a chance to learn through experimentation.

Many start-up medical device and diagnostic companies offer some of the most promising technologies in the industry. As a result, most large medical device companies have created significant business development and venture funding units to tap into this innovation. However, some promising technologies will never see the light of day – not due to the validity of technology, but because of significant commercial missteps.

Here are three common mistakes on the road to commercialization and how to navigate them successfully:

Alan Auerbach is the brains and leadership behind Puma Biotechnology PBYI -2.29%, a biopharma acquirer and developer of innovative cancer treatments that has had a great stock run this past week. The Los Angeles-based company’s shares surged 88 percent from Wednesday to Friday, closing the week at $86.75 per share. Today they’re up more than 1%, trading at close to $88 per share. The founder, chairman and CEO’s shares in the company have appreciated by $167 million on the good news, nearly doubling his stake from $185 million to $352 million.

Today, Sanofi US launched its second Partners in Patient Health (PiPH) Innovation Challenge: Collaborate | Innovate, which will award $100,000 to the winning team. This year's theme is "Co-Creating for Breakthroughs: Moving toward a collaborative research and development ecosystem." The Challenge calls on non-profit patient, provider and professional associations to partner with other associations and/or academic institutions to propose new approaches which translate patient insights into improvements in the drug development process.

A treatment breakthrough can cost billions of dollars and decades of time to research. Patient organizations are in the position of helping patients and their constituents to play an important role in research and development (R&D). Patient involvement in the entire process can lead to improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of industry efforts in developing new therapies.