Along with announcing a merger of two of the state’s big tech councils on Tuesday night in Annaoplis, Gov. Larry Hogan talked about how the state wants to help the tech community.

He talked about meeting with Israeli cybersecurity companies during a trip last year and opening the upgraded version of the MdBio Foundation’s mobile eXploration lab earlier that day.

The Germany Federal Ministry of Health's Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) has approved Emergent BioSolutions' (EBS -1.4%) large-scale Lansing, MI-based manufacturing site, Building 55, that will make its anthrax vaccine BioThrax. The approval allows product made there to be marketed in Germany, the only anthrax vaccine so licensed.

Pig embryos that had been injected with human stem cells when they were only a few days old began to grow organs containing human cells, scientists reported on Thursday, an advance that promises — or threatens — to bring closer the routine production of creatures that are part human and part something else.

A Johns Hopkins initiative has grant money available for research projects that take a cross-disciplinary approach to urban policies and issues.

The 21st Century Cities program has seven grants available of about $35,000 each, according to the JHU Hub. The projects must have Johns Hopkins faculty members acting as leads, but also must include a community organization or business.

From striving to increase sales to recognizing the need for larger facilities, growth is often on the minds of business owners. If you’re a business owner who set out to grow your Maryland business in 2017, use the infographic below as a guide.

Computers can classify skin cancers as successfully as human experts, according to the latest research attempting to apply artificial intelligence to health.

The US-based researchers say the new system, which is based on image recognition, could be developed for smartphones, increasing access to screening and providing a low-cost way to check whether skin lesions are cause for concern.

EVERY year about 120,000 organs, mostly kidneys, are transplanted from one human being to another. Sometimes the donor is a living volunteer. Usually, though, he or she is the victim of an accident, stroke, heart attack or similar sudden event that has terminated the life of an otherwise healthy individual. But a lack of suitable donors, particularly as cars get safer and first-aid becomes more effective, means the supply of such organs is limited. Many people therefore die waiting for a transplant. That has led researchers to study the question of how to build organs from scratch.

Redox, a Madison, WI-based integration platform for digital healthcare applications, closed a $9m Series B financing.

The round was led by RRE Ventures with participation from existing investors .406 Ventures, HealthX Ventures, and Flybridge Capital Partners.

Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in the engineering and industrialization of biology to improve the quality of life and health of the planet, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GenVec, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNVC), a clinical-stage company and pioneer in the development of AdenoVerse™ gene delivery technology. 

Last evening, during the 29th Annual Maryland Policy and Leadership Dinner, the Technology Council of Maryland, Inc. (TCM) and the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council (CRTC) announced a merger of the two organizations, effective immediately. The merger is designed to expand and regionalize Maryland’s technology and life science hubs, while also creating a consistent, unified voice for the industries statewide and a platform to attract more companies and leverage synergies.

“This is an exciting and obvious next step for our region—bringing together two powerhouse councils under one roof to benefit the tech and life science industries in our region,” said Tech Council of Maryland Chairman Rene B. LaVigne, President & Chief Executive Officer, Iron Bow Technologies. “We believe this will propel Maryland to become one of the elite hubs in the country for the life science and technology industries. We also believe that together, we will create a larger technology footprint in the region.”

Introducing The Medical Capital Innovation Competition to be held April 25-26, 2017 at the Global Center for Health Innovation, Cleveland OH in the HIMSS Innovation Center. Where innovators with big ideas on the collection, management, analysis and optimization of healthcare big data can submit their idea(s) and present their innovation.

With $100,000 in cash prizes, the competition will reward the best innovations with meaningful funding, mentoring, and potential access to three world class healthcare systems and collaborators who can turn big ideas into new big business realities. The Medical Capital Innovation Competition is open to and encourages participation from professional and collegiate teams.

The Greater Washington Partnership, a group of chief executives and business leaders from the Baltimore-Washington area, has tapped a former White House staffer as its CEO.

Jason Miller, who previously worked as deputy assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, begins his tenure as CEO of the newly formed business group April 1.

“John knows exactly what he’s doing and needs little management. He works rapidly but without any mistakes so he delivers an amazing amount of high quality work. No one can do what he does.”

This was the response I received when I asked a manager how John was doing. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Read on.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, an audacious biotech billionaire who has pledged to “solve health care,” has been in talks with the Trump administration about the possibility of serving in a senior role overseeing the US health care system, according to individuals familiar with the discussions.

Soon-Shiong, a trained surgeon, has met with President Trump and his advisers at least twice in recent weeks. During those discussions, he raised the possibility that he could serve as a “health care czar” with a broad portfolio in the administration as it seeks to reshape the health care system and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to two individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A few weeks before I began my freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I received an official- looking envelope from a student group. Expecting information about a club or event, I was surprised to find such sentences as "MIT certainly lowers standards for women and ‘underrepresented’ minorities" and "The average woman at MIT is less intelligent and ambitious than the average man at MIT. The average ‘underrepresented’ minority at MIT is less intelligent and ambitious than the average non-‘underrepresented’ minority." (MIT’s Association of Student Activities later stripped the student group of its official recognition as a result of the unapproved mailing.)

The MdBio Foundation, a non-profit that provides STEM education and workforce development to underserved communities, will unveil its new mobile laboratory, the Mobile eXploration Lab (MXLab), in Annapolis, Md., on January 24. The event will include an open house and tour of the MXLab, as well as a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Gov. Larry Hogan, state officials and business leaders.

The MXLab is the largest mobile laboratory of its kind in the U.S. and will enable MdBio to expand its mission of giving students the opportunity to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The lab provides students with access to cutting-edge technologies and techniques not typically available at schools and experience with practical, real-world applications in use by today’s scientific and tech communities.

So, here we are: With a new president come new concerns over surveillance powers that could so forcefully bite us in the ass.

The public has good reason to believe that President Donald Trump would love to expand data-collection programs in his administration. He's said, repeatedly, that he'd like to surveil mosques. Rep. Mike Pompeo—Trump's pick for CIA director who's likely to be confirmed in the next few days—has also advocated for expanded spy efforts. All signs point to lots of little electronic eyeballs, watching us always.

President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze will last only as long as it takes his administration to come up with an alternative attrition plan, according to a memorandum released by the White House Monday, and could provide broad exemptions for agency leaders.

Trump said his hiring moratorium would “be applied across the board in the executive branch” and apply to any positions vacant as of Jan. 22. It would bar agencies from creating new positions. Agency heads can exempt positions they deem “necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities.”

NHLBI seeks to facilitate and accelerate the development of new clinical interventions by bridging the gaps between mechanistic, discovery, and early translational research. This includes providing appropriate mechanisms to support investigator-initiated research, addressing resource and knowledge gaps, and creating initiatives to support career development of translational scientists and biomedical entrepreneurs.

The NHLBI is considering providing support for the earliest phases of developing a target/compound/biologic for use as a therapy or diagnostic. It is envisioned that projects assisted by such a program would be investigator-initiated grants of relatively short duration, designed to answer one to two specific questions (which may or may not be hypothesis driven), and focused on whether the target in question is reasonable to pursue as a therapy or diagnostic.

Psyadon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders, announced today that its lead product -- ecopipam -- produced significant reductions in total tic severity scores in children (7-17 years) with Tourette’s Syndrome.

The study’s primary endpoint was a statistically significant reduction in the mean Yale Global Tic Severity Score Total Tic Score (YGTSS-TTS). This is a well-validated and standard measure of the clinical efficacy of drugs treating Tourette’s Syndrome. Ecopipam caused significant reductions in the YGTSS-TTS at both two- and four weeks after initiating treatment. Furthermore, the side effects seen in the subjects taking ecopipam were comparable to those seen in the placebo-treated subjects, including no clinically significant changes in standard clinical lab tests or ECG’s, and no increases in body weights.

The premiere medical technology start-up competition has just announced they are accepting applications for their next batch of world changing companies. Medgadget had the chance to be present at the last MedTech innovator finals held at AdvaMed in Minneapolis this past October, which was clearly the highlight of the entire conference. Attendees were on the edge of their seats as the finalists laid out their personal stories and health-oriented technologies. The crowd, by popular vote, laid down judgement on our hopeful finalists awarding the grand prize to Green Sun Medical.

Horizon 2020 is the European Union's largest research and innovation initiative, with nearly €80 billion in funding allocated for over seven years. The program focuses on three overarching priorities: excellent science, industrial leadership, and solutions to global challenges. Horizon 2020 is open to participants from anywhere in the world as the program recognizes the growing importance of internationalizing how knowledge is produced and used.

Please join our speakers to hear their testimonials and to learn about the different types of international cooperation that Horizon 2020 supports, namely on an individual, collaborative, or program level. The presentations will also address in detail the main elements of Horizon 2020 with regards to content, types of activities funded, forms of participation, and application procedures.

Dr. Francis Collins is being held over as the director of the National Institutes of Health by the Trump administration, his office announced Thursday afternoon. Collins had been prepared to step down from the post on Friday, after Trump’s inauguration, and return to his lab at the NIH Bethesda campus. However, with Thursday’s news, he will remain as director for the time being.

As Donald Trump is sworn into office today, we look at what the next 100 days and indeed the next four years could mean for the biopharma industry through his recent candidates for the top healthcare roles, his policies (which are still coming into focus), and the power that 140 characters can have.

Machfu Inc., a technology solutions company based in Germantown, filed to raise an added $1 million in private equity and extend the life of its 2016 offering.

The company has raised $425,000 since February of last year, when it initially reported raising $125,000, one quarter of its total offering amount at the time, according to a Thursday filing. The amended offering amount is $1.5 million.

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine today announced that they signed a five-year collaboration agreement with the goal of advancing medical oncology research and discovery at both organizations.

Designed to build strong collaboration between AbbVie and Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, the agreement will focus on several areas of oncology research, which could include lung, colorectal, breast, prostate and hematological cancer.

It’s been more than a decade since California launched an unprecedented experiment in medical research by direct democracy, when voters created a $3 billion fund to kick-start the hunt for stem cell therapies.

Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures released photos of a new incubator space that’s set to open later this year.

FastForward 1812 is located within 1812 Ashland Ave., which is near Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Eager Park development (and the FastForward East incubator space).

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the acquisition of OmicSoft Corporation, providing access to OmicSoft’s powerful multi-omics data management infrastructure solution as well as expertly curated ‘omics’ data sets that complement QIAGEN’s bioinformatics portfolio that are relied upon by customers worldwide to gain valuable insights into complex biological data.

Paragon Bioservices received a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide product development services for a variety of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) medical product development activities. The IDIQ mechani

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is advancing its anthrax preparedness strategy with multiple contract actions for the company’s anthrax vaccines.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's state budget proposal puts most of its economic development bets on life sciences and biotech rather than semiconductors and nanotechnology. Cuomo's fiscal 2018 budget proposal, which he revealed to the public late Tuesday, includes the first $300 million of a previously announced $650 million five-year plan to build up the state's life sciences research cluster to support biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Digital health leader WellDoc announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the Company 510(k) class II clearance for a non-prescription version of the BlueStar® digital therapeutic. This BlueStar® option will allow WellDoc more flexibility in offering the product through additional channels to adults living with type 2 diabetes.

“This FDA clearance is a significant milestone for WellDoc,” said Kevin McRaith, WellDoc President & CEO. “We can now integrate BlueStar® more seamlessly into the healthcare ecosystem as we commercialize the product and significantly scale it by working with our existing partners as well as others with which we are actively engaged.”

Tuesday, February 7, 2017
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM (Eastern)
Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research
9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850

BDO and Crowell & Moring are proud to present a two-part panel discussion on IP Strategy for the BioPharma Industry. This is a "must attend" event for companies engaged in drug, vaccine, biologic, or medical device research and strategic product development. IP and the strategy to procure and sustain it is one of the most critical aspects to revenue generation and commercial success. Our panel members are admired veterans in this field and will present intriguing case studies that will emphasize lessons learned and practical solutions to creating a successful IP strategy.

Scientists have created a new soft robot that successfully reanimated several pigs’ hearts after they failed. The technology could one day keep an ailing human heart pumping as a patient waits for a transplant.