A group of academic, biotech, biopharma, and healthcare leaders at Harvard and across Massachusetts plan to create a new center for innovation and manufacturing next-generation medicines, according to a Monday press release.

The center, which is estimated to cost $50 million dollars, will be an independent non-profit located in the Greater Boston area. The board of directors of the new center includes leaders from Harvard, MIT, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Image: Senior members of Harvard's central administration, including University Provost Alan M. Garber '76, work in Massachusetts Hall. Photo: Sydney R. Mason

From gene editing to microfluidics, the scope for innovation in the field of life sciences is vast and ever-expanding. Yet many researchers don’t know how to make the leap from academia to industry.

Concordia’s District 3 aims to do something about that.

The District 3 Innovation Centre is working with the City of Montreal to help the biosciences and life sciences industries address shortages of scientific talent, as well as to train graduates who seek jobs to match their skill set.

"I'm thrilled to be joining Deloitte and continue to follow my passion for understanding how data science methods and technologies can be applied to biomedical data to yield a better understanding of biology," Bonazzi said. "I'm looking forward to supporting agencies in their mission to utilize data science to better understand and use complex biomedical data."

Plans are moving forward for another Bay Area biotech campus. Alexandria Real Estate Equities is transforming a chunk of property in San Carlos into a 1.6 million-square-foot biotech campus.

According to the San Francisco Business Times, the real estate development company submitted plans for its proposed biotech campus. The site in question includes multiple office buildings, including the former corporate headquarters of Kelly-Moore Paints. Most of the buildings on the swath of property are decades old. Alexandria Real Estate Equities intends to turn the space into six new buildings, each about five to seven floors for biotech companies to use. In addition to the buildings, the site will also include an amenities structure, parking garages and a small park, according to the Business Times.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vor Biopharma, an oncology company pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for the treatment of cancer, and MaxCyte, Inc., a global cell-based therapies and life sciences company, today announced a clinical and commercial license agreement under which Vor will use MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation® technology to produce eHSCs and initiate Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies to accelerate its progress towards the clinic.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmes today announced that Lynn Lewis has joined the company as chief business officer, a newly created position.  Her overall focus is to build deeper relationships with existing clients and to develop new business opportunities, particularly among biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Lewis will be responsible for sales, marketing, communications, strategic planning and partnerships, and proposal development.

Dr. Anne Lindblad, president and chief executive officer of Emmes, said, "Lynn understands the importance of science in our business.  She will extend our reputation and value as a trusted scientific partner with those who share our passion for designing and executing important studies aimed at improving human health."

Recorded at the BioHealth Capital Region Investor Forum: Christian Barrow, Executive Director of Life Sciences Banking with JPMorgan Chase, guests on BioTalk to talk about his background working with life science companies, healthcare Investing, and the BioHealth Capital Region.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/35zhnxI, Google Podcasts http://bit.ly/34kY1MP, and TuneIn http://bit.ly/2QQScTs

Chris Barrow is a senior banker with J. P. Morgan commercial bank. Chris joined J.P. Morgan in 2012 in the Philadelphia office, where he and his team focus on providing financial solutions to life sciences companies located in the Mid-Atlantic - Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Chris has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry with roles that have spanned from public accounting to banking.

Chris’ current job is to help life science companies – biotech, specialty pharmaceutical, specialty pharmacy, medical device, med-tech, medical diagnostics and contract research organizations – gain access to JPMorgan’s well-known healthcare commercial and investment banking resources.

Prior to his current role, Chris started his career with EY (inactive CA and CPA licenses). He subsequently served as a senior banker for Bank of America. In this capacity, he was responsible for origination and structuring of debt products to general industry companies located in Pennsylvania.

Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a graduate diploma in Accounting both from McGill University. He currently resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Recorded at the BioHealth Capital Region Investor Forum: Christian Barrow, Executive Director of Life Sciences Banking with JPMorgan Chase, guests on BioTalk to talk about his background working with life science companies, healthcare Investing, and the BioHealth Capital Region.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/35zhnxI, Google Podcasts http://bit.ly/34kY1MP, and TuneIn http://bit.ly/2QQScTs

Chris Barrow is a senior banker with J. P. Morgan commercial bank. Chris joined J.P. Morgan in 2012 in the Philadelphia office, where he and his team focus on providing financial solutions to life sciences companies located in the Mid-Atlantic - Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Chris has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry with roles that have spanned from public accounting to banking.

Chris’ current job is to help life science companies – biotech, specialty pharmaceutical, specialty pharmacy, medical device, med-tech, medical diagnostics and contract research organizations – gain access to JPMorgan’s well-known healthcare commercial and investment banking resources.

Prior to his current role, Chris started his career with EY (inactive CA and CPA licenses). He subsequently served as a senior banker for Bank of America. In this capacity, he was responsible for origination and structuring of debt products to general industry companies located in Pennsylvania.

Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a graduate diploma in Accounting both from McGill University. He currently resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

Usually BioHealth Founder and CEO, Rich Bendis, is the host asking questions of his guests on the BioTalk Podcast. However, Rich was recently a guest on the “The ZIDDANDFIXX Show: Angels Talk” Podcast for their 26th Episode titled “The Golden Triangle: DC joins San Francisco and Boston.” They discussed Venture Capital, Angel Investment, and the BioHealth Capital Region.

Ziad Moukheiber of Boston Harbor Angels (East Coast), and Faz Bashi (West Coast) of Life Science Angels have a good time chatting about Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship, Restaurants, Politics with good friends and always with great humor and lots of laughter!

Listen now!

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is in the news lately and for good reason. Diseases that were once easy to treat are becoming increasingly difficult to cure. But the largest contributor to AMR is a disease that rarely makes headlines – drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), the world’s only airborne drug-resistant infection. DR-TB makes up a third of the world’s burden of AMR and in 2017, there were more than half a million cases of DR-TB globally – including some right here in the District of Columbia. It is estimated that two-thirds of individuals with DR-TB do not even know they are infected, posing a threat to their own health and to global health security.

One company gets absorbed into a larger brand and a host of companies flower as a result. The Biohealth Capital Region’s (BHCR) cycle of creative destruction has continued with Harpoon Medical. This was the story shared at the TEDCO Entrepreneur Expo’s session titled, “Success Breeds Success.” 

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Leeds, UK, 14 November 2019: LUNAC Therapeutics (LUNAC), a UK based drug discovery company focused on the identification and development of advanced anticoagulants with minimal bleeding risk, today announced it has spun out of the University of Leeds with £2.65M funding in the first close of a Series A financing round. The investment is being led by Epidarex Capital and the University of Leeds. The Company was founded based on IP generated by Prof Helen Philippou and Dr Richard Foster, through unique insights built on a decade of academic research into Factor XII which has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council.

Qiagen NV shares jumped the most in 17 years after people with knowledge of the matter said Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is considering a takeover of the molecular testing firm.

Thermo Fisher has approached the Dutch company about a potential purchase that could become one of its biggest-ever acquisitions, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of Qiagen rose 13% to 33.20 euros at 1:10 p.m. in Frankfurt, giving it a market value of $8.3 billion.

Earlier this year we reported on the First of Its Kind Apprenticeship Program at GSK’s Rockville, Maryland Site. We are happy to provide an update on that story with news that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has expanded their apprenticeship program to now include Biopharmaceutical Associates.

GSK is an industry-leading pharmaceutical, consumer products and healthcare company and is known for taking a future-oriented approach to their talent strategies. The Validation Technician Apprenticeship was the first of its kind in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. They have also begun to explore Virtual Reality training as a model that can be used to speed up employee development.

Virginia Tech is coming to Children’s National Hospital’s new campus at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The partnership will bring a 12,000-square-foot biomedical research complex to the 12-acre Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, slated to deliver in December 2020 as part of the project’s first phase. In the university's first D.C. location, Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion will establish a D.C. team to work with Children’s National on translational research projects, faculty recruiting, intellectual property work and commercialization, and trainings for students and fellows — all focused on pediatric cancers of the brain and nervous system.

Newswise — If the saying that two heads are better than one is true, then joining two fields of science may be better than one to spur more advances in medicine. With a $6.7 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers will bring together immunologists, oncologists and biomedical engineers in an effort to build new tools to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

November 14, 2019, Baltimore, MD – Rasio Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel medicines using cutting-edge computer-aided drug design technology, today announced the appointment of Todd Chappell, a veteran medtech and pharmaceutical industry executive, as the company’s CEO.

FRANKFURT, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Qiagen NV shares jumped to their highest in almost 19 years on Monday after the German genetic testing company said it would start talks with several potential suitors.

Germany-listed shares in the company were up 12.6% at 0926 GMT, giving the group an equity market value of about 8.7 billion euros ($9.6 billion).

Johns Hopkins University has become the first university in the world to partner with Innovation for Defense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Innovation Hub's new initiative. Also called I4D, the Norfolk, Virginia–based center aims to bring together a variety of partners to design solutions to challenges the organization faces.

Join the world's largest multi-sector technology commercialization program. The Innovation Showcase offers a unique and vetted pipeline for corporate, federal and VC prospectors to discover and connect with emerging technologies.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire State Development (ESD) announced the 10 companies selected to take part in the Round III of New York State’s Luminate NY accelerator competition in Rochester. The finalists selected include optics, photonics and imaging startups which were selected after pitching their innovative ideas to an advisory panel comprised of industry experts during the Lightning Awards at the Strong National Museum of Play on Nov. 7. Each company will receive an initial investment of $100,000 and will be a part of Luminate’s third cohort, which will begin in January 2020 at the Sibley Building in downtown Rochester. The six-month program will help the selected companies speed the commercialization of their technologies and business. In June, the teams will compete during Demo Day for $2 million in follow-on funding. Funding for the $25 million program is being provided through the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative award and is being administered by NextCorps.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 12, 2019—Montgomery County Council President Nancy Navarro will be joined by County Executive Marc Elrich, Councilmembers, and business and community leaders for a press conference today at 11 a.m. at the Council Office Building (100 Maryland Ave., fourth floor) in Rockville to announce a new County Economic Development Platform that is focused on business development, housing, transportation, and workforce development. In addition, at the Council’s Nov. 12 meeting at 1 p.m. Council President Navarro will introduce a resolution to unify and formalize the Council’s focus on economic development.

Join us for a final event of the year where several of the region’s experienced entrepreneurs will share the lessons they have learned along their journeys in building their current and past companies.

Hear from an amazing panel of entreprenurs who have collectively been founders and CxO's of 12 companies, raised hundreds of millions of dollars and negotiated more than a half dozen acquisitions and exits.

BHI is seeking a full time energetic and motivated individual with relevant marketing experience and an interest in growing with our organization to serve as our full time Marketing and Communications Coordinator. The Marketing and Communications Coordinator will perform a variety of duties that support the organization’s mission, including formulating and executing a strategic marketing plan for the organization that encompasses BHI’s goals for the next three years and providing ongoing marketing collateral creation and marketing administrative support.

Click here for more information.

BHI is seeking a full time energetic and motivated individual with relevant marketing experience and an interest in growing with our organization to serve as our full time Marketing and Communications Coordinator. The Marketing and Communications Coordinator will perform a variety of duties that support the organization’s mission, including formulating and executing a strategic marketing plan for the organization that encompasses BHI’s goals for the next three years and providing ongoing marketing collateral creation and marketing administrative support.

Click here for more information.

BHI is seeking a full time energetic and motivated individual with relevant marketing experience and an interest in growing with our organization to serve as our full time Marketing and Communications Coordinator. The Marketing and Communications Coordinator will perform a variety of duties that support the organization’s mission, including formulating and executing a strategic marketing plan for the organization that encompasses BHI’s goals for the next three years and providing ongoing marketing collateral creation and marketing administrative support.

Click here for more information.

Are you an experienced biohealth industry executive seeking full time or part time employment as a consultant or start-up C suite executive? BioHealth Innovation is updating its database of experienced industry executives who may be able to share their expertise with early stage/growing companies. To be considered by companies or technology transfer organizations seeking leaders for their spin-out companies and/or advisors to support their business growth, please this form and upload a copy of your resume. (For questions/more information, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

Are you an experienced biohealth industry executive seeking full time or part time employment as a consultant or start-up C suite executive? BioHealth Innovation is updating its database of experienced industry executives who may be able to share their expertise with early stage/growing companies. To be considered by companies or technology transfer organizations seeking leaders for their spin-out companies and/or advisors to support their business growth, please this form and upload a copy of your resume. (For questions/more information, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

The rising trend of domestic venture capital investments contributed to M&A activity increasing 14% from 2017 to 2018.

Venture capital investments in U.S.–based healthcare startups totaled nearly $131 billion in 2018, according to a Sage Growth Partners survey released Monday morning.

The rising trend of domestic venture capital investments contributed to M&A activity increasing by more than 14% from 2017 to 2018.

M&A activity has consistently risen in several segments of the healthcare industry in recent years, including pharmaceuticals, insurers, and provider organizations.

County Council, Elrich to announce new economic development platform

Council President Nancy Navarro and County Executive Marc Elrich will hold a joint press conference on Tuesday to announce a new economic development platform for Montgomery County.

The announcement, at 11 a.m., will also feature Gigi Godwin, president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, and Bill Tompkins, chief operating officer of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation.

DALEVILLE — Virginia has several economic development agencies, and recently they’ve been crossing wires on technology innovation.

This can run the risk of inefficiency and mismanaging and wasting government resources, said Robby Demeria, deputy secretary of commerce and trade for technology. That’s why Demeria wants Virginia to create the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority to consolidate and streamline efforts at enhancing technology-based economic development in Virginia.

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Universities at Shady Grove (USG) – a regional campus of the University System of Maryland that offers degree programs from nine different Maryland public universities – celebrated today the opening of its fourth academic building, a $175 million, state-of-the-art Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (BSE) education facility.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, USM Board of Regents Chair Linda Gooden, University System of Maryland Chancellor Robert Caret, university presidents from around the state, USG Executive Director Stewart Edelstein, and the USG Board of Advisors were joined by an array of elected officials, business and community leaders, faculty, staff and students for the grand opening celebration and ribbon-cutting. Hundreds attended the grand opening event, which was followed by tours of the BSE and a STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medical studies) Showcase to highlight programs that partner universities will be bringing to the new facility, as well as area science and technology businesses that are partnering with USG.

Sonavi Labs, the Pigtown-based company that’s bringing to market digital stethoscope technology combining noise cancellation and AI that was initially developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, has raised $1 million in seed funding.

It’s the first official fundraising round for a company that’s been bootstrapped over its first two years, and Sonavi Labs reached the seven-figure milestone without raising from institutional venture capital firms. Instead, the investors, whose names are not being disclosed by the company, come from the healthcare and scientific community, as well as friends and family, said CEO Ellington West.

Image: Sonavi Labs CEO Ellington West at the Startup World Cup 2019 finale in San Francisco. (Courtesy photo)

Danaher has agreed to sell three of its life sciences tools businesses to Sartorius Stedim Biotech for approximately $750 million cash, the companies said today—a deal that according to Danaher was prompted by its planned $21.4 billion acquisition of GE Life Sciences’ Biopharma business.

Sartorius has agreed to acquire Danaher’s label-free biomolecular characterization, chromatography hardware and resins, and microcarriers and particle validation standards businesses. Sartorius said the three Danaher businesses employ around 300 people worldwide combined, and enjoyed a “strong” growth profile and double-digit profit margins.

The gleaming biomedical sciences and engineering building that just opened in a technology corridor of suburban Maryland testifies to the power of a novel idea: Offer degrees from several public universities through one commuter-friendly campus, and the students will come.

The Universities at Shady Grove, near Interstate 270 in Montgomery County, has enabled thousands of transfer students to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the past two decades from an array of schools in the University System of Maryland.