Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC and Children’s National Health System (Children’s National) today announced a collaboration to launch JLABS @ Washington, DC, a 32,000-square foot facility to be located at the new Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C. This Children’s National expansion is set on a nearly 12-acre portion of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in the nation’s capital. The co-location of the Research and Innovation Campus with key partners in the areas of public health research, innovation and incubator space is critical to accelerating the translation of potential breakthrough discoveries into new treatments and technologies. The JLABS @ Washington, DC site will be open to pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies that are aiming to advance the development of new drugs, medical devices, precision diagnostics and health technologies, including applications in pediatrics.

You’re about to go under the knife and the anesthesia is taking hold. Is it better to look up and see a robot surgeon with autonomous capabilities looming over you, or an old-fashioned human doctor?

When: Wednesday, April 10, 2019 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. EST

Where: Hosick Lecture Hall655 West Baltimore StreetBressler Research Bldg.Baltimore, MD  21201United States

This Baltimore Meetup is free for members and students, and members may bring up to two guests at the member price (free). If you're new to WIB and interested in checking it out before becoming a member, please reach out via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Program:

Six panelists share their expertise on social media and personal interactions, with a facilitator 

Applied Biosciences Corp. (OTCQB: APPB), a diversified cannabinoid therapeutics company focused on the medical, bioceutical, testing and pet health industries, announced that is has retained the Emmes Group to assist with the development and execution of the Company’s partnership and technology licensing initiatives and strategies.

The Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced on Thursday that it has been awarded $17.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to fund omics-based infectious disease research.

MIMETAS announces the opening of a brand-new office and laboratory in Gaithersburg, MD, USA. The new location provides MIMETAS with capacity for further growth in the USA and to strengthen local customer support, product development and sales of the OrganoPlate®, a versatile, high-throughput 3D microfluidic cell culture device.

Date And Time: Tue, April 16, 2019, 1:00 PM – 5:30 PM EDT

Location: Science and Engineering Hall, Lehman Auditorium, 800 22nd Street NW, Lower Level, Washington, DC 20052

The George Washington University and the Technology Commercialization Office are pleased to invite you to the 2019 Innovation Competition!

The Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) is showcasing promising and impactful GW research with commercial potential. This event provides a forum for idea sharing between GW researchers, entrepreneurs, and members of the venture community, as well as the opportunity to present technologies available for licensing to a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals. Finalists will pitch their technologies for a chance to win $30,000 in prizes!

As head of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb has been outspoken about drug pricing, chiming in on an area that is typically tangential to the agency commissioner’s purview. In the first announcement of his next steps — made one day before he’s scheduled to officially end his shorter-than-expected tenure — Gottlieb says he’s returning to the American Enterprise Institute as a resident fellow focused on these exact issues.

Scientists, engineers, life science executives, academics, government officials and other constituents recently gathered to discuss the state of the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) at the annual Mid Atlantic Science & Technology (MAST) Showcase, hosted by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering – Chesapeake Bay Area Chapter’s (ISPE-CBA).

The announcement comes from LinkedIn, who compiled a list of the organisations Brits would most like to work for.

GSK came in at number four beating the likes of Marks & Spencer, BP and Johnson & Johnson.

The 2019 MAST Showcase, hosted by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering – Chesapeake Bay Area Chapter (ISPE-CBA), kicked off this year’s event with an inspiring keynote address by Aaron Vernon, VP Engineering & Supply Chain at Autolus Therapeutics, a leading CAR T-cell therapeutics company.

June 2 - 3, 2019

Held in advance of the BIO International Convention, at AURP’s BIO Health Caucus, we will explore trends in life science research, funding resources, the marriage of life science and engineering in global partnership opportunities. Discover the unique roles that biomedical innovation districts and research parks play in innovation ecosystems in the U.S. and around the globe. Translating discoveries from the laboratory to the market has never been more important.

The move is intended to position the business for growth with a stronger focus on health care.

Pharm-Olam, a global, midsized CRO offering full-service clinical development solutions for oncology, infectious diseases and vaccines, and rare and orphan diseases, has been named a winner in Life Science Leader magazine’s 2019 CRO Leadership Awards.

Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. will present late-breaking preclinical data which shows that its’ investigational nucleic acid platform, UNITE, may enhance antitumor immunity when used in connection with its investigational DNA vaccine, ITI-7000. In preclinical studies, ITI-7000, an investigational DNA vaccine targeting ErbB2/HER2, demonstrated robust activation of known anti-tumor CD4 and CD8 cells in vivo and promoted tumor infiltration with activated CD8 T cells. These data will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2019 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

A sampling of recent reports shows just how much immuno-oncology continues to grow. Last month, GrandView Research projected a more than doubling of the global cancer immunotherapy market, from the $58.1 billion it tallied in 2018, to $126.9 billion by 2026. As GEN noted when it ranked the top immuno-oncology startups in February, market projections range from $124.88 billion (Transparency Market Research) to $173 billion (Market Research Engine) by 2024.

Emmes today announced that it provided the data management support for a study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to safely use Acyclovir to treat infants infected with the Herpes Simplex Virus. Acyclovir, known by the brand name Zovirax, now includes recommended usage and dosage for newborns and infants up to three months of age on its label.

CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASI), a U.S. pharmaceutical company with a platform to develop and accelerate the launch of pharmaceutical products and innovative therapeutics in China, the U.S., and throughout the world, announced that Wei-Wu He, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of CASI, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Dr. He will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. He succeeds Ken K. Ren, Ph.D. who for personal reasons is stepping down from his role as Chief Executive Officer but will remain on the Company’s Board of Directors.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:  ARE), an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative life science and technology campuses in AAA innovation clusters, today announced the launch of new strategic agtech business initiatives to provide much-needed infrastructure and capital to the rapidly growing agricultural technology (agtech) industry and address the challenge of advancing human health by improving nutrition. Alexandria's timely launch includes the opening of the Alexandria Center® for AgTech – Research Triangle, the country's first and only integrated multi-tenant, amenity-rich agtech R&D and greenhouse campus, located in North Carolina. The campus opens with a fully leased first phase, a 175,000 RSF redevelopment at 5 Laboratory Drive in the heart of the Research Triangle, the most important, dense and diverse agtech cluster in the United States. The company has already initiated development of the campus's second phase, a 160,000 RSF property at 9 Laboratory Drive, further expanding the office/laboratory and greenhouse space at the Alexandria Center for AgTech. Construction and pre-leasing of this future value-creation development project are underway with expected delivery in 2020.

Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced that Claire Roddie MB, PhD, FRCPath, honorary senior lecturer, Cancer Institute, University College London (UCL), presented today initial data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 ALLCAR19 trial of AUTO1 in adult acute lymphoblastic B cell leukemia (ALL) as a late-breaking poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

April 4, 2019 3pm-6:30pmUniv. Shady Grove Convention Center 9630 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850

Welcome to the Spring 2019 Meeting of the Metro DC Chapter of the Laboratory Research Interest Group! Although we have deep roots in Laboratory Automation, we also invite you to learn about other research technologies, new tools, and projects that are available and ongoing in the Capitol Bioscience hub!

This years theme is Emerging Technologies at the Forefront of Bioscience, with emphasis on 3D Cell Printing, Organoids, Tissue-On-Chip models, and Artificial Intelligence in Bioscience.

Attendance is free with your Eventbrite reservation, and we encourage you to register early.

– Winner to be announced during 2019 BioHealth Capital Region Forum –

Five innovative companies focused on the diagnosis or treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, TBI, Autism, Spinal misalignment, and Metastatic Cancer will present their innovative technologies to a panel of judges and industry leaders on April 9^th during the 2019 BioHealth Capital Region Forum, at the AstraZeneca campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Founded by BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and AstraZeneca in 2016, the annual Crab Trap Competition highlights biohealth companies with strong commercial potential. The five finalists were selected from a competitive field of almost fifty entries. The 4^th Annual Crab Trap Competition is sponsored by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. The grand prize this year is $10,000.

In 2016, the initial prize was awarded to Sonavex, a commercial stage Johns Hopkins spin-out focused on Empowered Patient Care.  The company’s first technology is a dual-component system comprising an FDA-cleared bioabsorbable implant (EchoMark) and an FDA-cleared custom automated ultrasound (EchoSure) to detect post-operative vascular complications prior to catastrophic surgical failures that represent a $3B annual market and cost hospitals up to $577,000 per instance. The company closed a $4.5M Series A in 2018, recently secured a $3M NIH grant and is currently raising its Series B. In 2017, the winner was another Johns Hopkins (JH*) spinout, LifeSprout, developer of a suite of products to address soft tissue needs in the aesthetic and reconstructive markets. Last year’s winner, Galen Robotics, is developing, in partnership with JHU, a surgical robot to make minimally invasive surgeries faster, safer and more precise. The company plans a 510k submission next year, is raising Series A financing, and will be relocating the HQ team in CA to join their engineering experts in Baltimore.

The 2019 BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap Finalists presenting at the forum at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 9^th, are:

BeCareLink - Predictive Artificial Intelligence Digital Therapeutic Mobile Platform for Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological conditions.

BRAINBox Solutions - Multi-Modality capability to diagnose and provide prognostic information for mild Traumatic Brain Injury. 

Floreo Inc. - Leveraging the power of virtual reality to develop a subscription platform that delivers immersive, fun, and affordable lessons for children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

Spine Align - Spine Align is a medical device company developing technologies that enable spine surgeons to make real-time intraoperative measurements of spinal alignment.

Unleash Immuno Oncolytics - Developing armed, oncolytic viruses to treat metastatic cancers.  Our platform combines tissue-specific control of both viral replication and the expression of human cytokines to provide a dual punch in cancer cells.

AstraZeneca is spearheading the creation of a new life sciences park, in Wuxi, China, that aims to nurture innovation by bringing together local and international companies, government, and medical and academic institutions to help create a world-class healthcare innovation ecosystem.

AstraZeneca signed a global development and commercialization deal with Daiichi Sankyo for trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).

An ADC is a chemotherapy agent attached by a molecular linker to an antibody focused on a specific cancer marker. This way, the antibody delivers the toxic chemical directly to the tumors, minimizing the effects of the chemotherapy on healthy cells.

Pediatric orthopedic and spine medical device innovators –good news---the deadline has been extended until Tues., April 9 at midnight EST to apply for the NCC-PDI “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition with $250K in awards.

This is your chance to capture up to $50,000 in funding and gain access to the first-ever NCC-PDI “Pediatric Device Innovator Accelerator Program” led by MedTech Innovator.

Innovators earning a spot at this one-of-a-kind pediatric accelerator will receive mentorship and support from NCC-PDI’s network of medtech executives, investors, specialty pediatricians and FDA regulatory and business consultants. All finalists will be offered pitch perfect coaching by Entrepreneurs-In-Residence at BioHealth Innovation.

The competition will be held April 30, 2019 at the University of Maryland, College Park. Be part of it!

Jump start your journey to commercialization. The first step is applying here before the April 9, 2019 midnight EST deadline.

Creatv MicroTech, detecting and diagnosing cancer when it matters most, will present its latest findings on cancer diagnosis and treatment at the Annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Meeting at Atlanta, Georgia, March 29 – April 3, 2019.  Two posters will showcase the clinical utility of cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) biomarker.

Abstract No. 437 / 9: “Combining circulating stromal cells with cell free DNA for increased sensitivity in profiling oncogenic mutations and indicates highly aggressive non-small-cell lung cancer,” investigating the clinical potential of Circulogene’s Patient Mutation Load (PML) analysis from matched cfDNA, CAMLs, and tumor tissue to evaluate progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

AstraZeneca has signed on to be a founding partner for a new life sciences research hub in China, to be housed just west of Shanghai.

These are boom times for gene therapy, an innovative type of medicine that works to treat disease at the genetic level to offer a longer-lasting treatment and potentially even a cure.

BrainScope®, a medical neuro-technology company focused on concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) assessment, announced today that it had concluded both algorithm development and clinical validation studies in adolescent and young adult populations using its objective, EEG-based technology. The purpose of the studies was to create and validate an objective, personalized capability for assessment of concussion and readiness to return to activities in males and females between the ages of 13-25. The studies conducted from 2015 through 2019 at 52 clinical sites included nearly 1,700 patients and healthy controls, with over 4,000 evaluations. Funding sources for the studies included a $9.9 million research contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, award funding from the NFL-GE Head Health Challenge (in which BrainScope was a two-time awardee), and BrainScope private funding.

Outside of the private sector, colleges and universities perform the vast majority of R&D in the United States – but where do these funds come from? An SSTI analysis of data from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF NCSES) finds that, across the country, the federal government was the source of more than half (53.5 percent) of all R&D performed at colleges and universities in 2017. Institutional funds (25.1 percent), nonprofit organizations (6.8 percent), businesses (5.9 percent), state and local governments (5.6 percent), and other sources (3.0 percent) comprised the remaining sources of higher education R&D funding. The interactive chart below shows the breakdown of funding sources for research and development at colleges and universities for each state.

Thursday, July 19, 20184:30 - 7:00 PM EST

Spend an inspiring 10 minute ‘ideastorming’ session with the some of the most influential innovation leaders in the greater Baltimore area. To schedule a session with one of our experts, please complete the application (in addition to the event registration) at www.anchorventures.org.

Join us today as we speak with Dr. Kurt Newman from Children's National Health System about innovations in pediatrics.

Fina Biosolutions is pleased to announce that the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL), has completed a Phase 3 study for Pneumosil® a 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, in which the Serum Institute indicates all primary and secondary objectives were met. Pneumosil covers over 70% of invasive pneumococcal-disease causing serotypes and employs conjugation chemistry licensed from Fina Biosolutions under a 2007 technology agreement.

Last week, the Greater Washington Partnership (the Partnership) and Business Roundtable (BRT) held an event showcasing the Capital CoLAB (Collaborative of Leaders in Academia and Business). The Capital CoLAB is an action-oriented partnership of university and business leaders across the Capital Region, from Baltimore to Richmond, who have come together to position the region as a leading global hub for innovation.

A company that makes products for science researchers has bought one of the largest contract manufacturers of viral vectors for gene therapy.