Biohealth Innovation
Redwood City, California-based medical device company Relievant Medsystems Inc has raised $36 million in funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round with participation from Canaan Partners, Emergent Medical Partners and Morgenthaler Ventures.
Higher education has a business model problem. The business model for U.S. colleges and universities — how they create, deliver, and capture value — hasn’t changed since Harvard, our country’s first college, was founded in 1636. Our higher education system is a national treasure that creates enormous societal value, but its 380-year-old business model fails to deliver affordable access and post-secondary credentials to an increasing percentage of our population. The American social contract was clear throughout the Industrial Era. While many jobs moved out of reach for those without a college degree, there were still ample opportunities for everyone to earn a good living in order to support a family. The U.S. became an economic powerhouse with a robust and thriving middle class.
Historically prizes have been surprisingly effective at kickstarting innovation, will Deloitte's XPRIZE do the same?
Curing cancer is the holy grail of the medical and scientific communities, but a simple prize could make a whole lot of difference.
A partnership between the University System of Maryland and Prince George's County schools led to increased student interest in STEM fields, higher scores on the science portion of Maryland State Assessments and more students entering STEM fields in college, according to the project's final report.
The USM's Math Science Partnership Minority Student Pipeline aimed "to expand the minority student pipeline in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in higher education, by employing strategies engaging STEM faculty, teachers, undergraduates and high school students," the report read. The USM's Education Policy and Student Life Committee reviewed the report on Sept. 20.
Supported by a $9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, a multidisciplinary team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has begun looking for new ways to attack one of the scariest traits of this disease: its frequent refusal to stay in one place.
The new funding, to be allocated over a five-year period, will enable scholars in physical sciences, engineering, applied mathematics, cancer biology, and other disciplines to pool their expertise to solve stubborn cancer-related mysteries.
I have just downloaded the app Uberstand to my phone — the "revolutionary" app that seamlessly converts academics into a standing reserve of mobile, on-demand, adjunct knowledge providers. The app is designed to meet the real-time needs of institutes of higher learning and their customers, who often find themselves operating with a knowledge deficit, or what the industry terms a "need-to-know."
We're pleased to announce the release of the Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures fiscal year 2016 annual report - for the first time in digital format!
Last year, we took tremendous strides in realizing our mission to benefit people around the world through innovation and to invigorate the local Baltimore economy. We saw a record number of disclosures, significant growth in our corporate partnerships, the creation of more startups than ever before, and substantial progress on the buildout of new state-of-the-art facilities.
While we're proud of our accomplishments, there's more to do. We are using the facts and figures in this report to identify the paths that led to success and to develop strategies that build upon our progress.
The National Science Foundation has awarded $3.45 million over the next five years to renew its Innovation Corps program D.C.-area node to support entrepreneurship. George Washington University works alongside three additional collaborating institutions to train entrepreneurial student and faculty researchers and help them bring their discoveries to market.
The innovation hubs, known as I-Corps nodes, provide research infrastructure and training that help researchers transition fundamental science and engineering discoveries to the marketplace, according to NSF. The nodes also support I-Corps sites nationwide and offer seven-week I-Corps curriculum to their teams.
Operations Department
NATURE OF WORK
The Senior Grants and Contracts Manager will be tasked with the preparation, drafting, review and negotiation of contractual agreements with a special emphasis on agreements that support biomedical research initiatives and partnerships. S/he should have a strong customer service orientation and be able to identify process improvements so that transactions are completed with the right balance of efficiency and risk mitigation. S/he will report to the Director of Operations but will serve the contracting needs of colleagues across the Foundation. Strong writing, analytical and organizational skills must be matched with a sense of flexibility, entrepreneurial spirit and good cheer.
Suburban Maryland's tech cluster is among the top 10 biotech regions in the U.S, ranking at No. 6 based on talent, funding availability and its real estate, according to a new report from real estate brokerage JLL.
"The region is the healthiest it has been in about a decade because of tenant growth, number of life sciences companies, mergers and acquisitions, a lowering vacancy rate and rising rental rates," said Pete Briskman, a managing director in JLL's Bethesda office. "However, that could also mean fewer opportunities in the future."
The National Science Foundation awarded a $3.45 million grant to the University of Maryland to expand research as part of the NSF's innovation program, said university Associate Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dean Chang.
The grant, part of the NSF's I-Corps Nodes program, is intended to promote the growth of research and entrepreneurship so that it may be applied on a larger scale, said Chang, the grant's recipient. The grant is slated to go into effect in the beginning of 2017, Chang said.
Chief technologist at the United States Small Business Administration doesn't immediately sound like the most exciting title, which is part of why after three years, G. Nagesh Rao prefers to be known as the Geek In Residence. He's responsible for coordinating and leading programs to boost entrepreneurship via the SBA and in partnership across nearly a dozen federal agencies as with the Small Business Innovation Research program. But Rao ranges far beyond just his job. He's an advisor for half a dozen entrepreneurship related groups including local organizations like Village Capital and LAUNCH, a group jointly run by Nike and a handful of federal agencies.
As a not-for-profit corporation that manages federally funded research and development centers for the government, MITRE is an ideal organization to host challenges. We do not market or manufacture goods and have no financial investment in the results. Our goal is to work with industry, academia, and government to find solutions that benefit all stakeholders and provide our federal sponsors with the capabilities they need to be successful in their missions.
Working across a wide range of government agencies gives MITRE a broad view into the challenges these agencies face, including the challenges that agencies share. We select our Challenge topics on the basis of this knowledge, looking for gaps that need to be filled.
As midterm season reigns on, Howard University’s administration still has one question left to answer: when exactly is its upcoming tech incubator opening?
At the beginning of the school year, those close to the project said they would be opening the incubator in fall 2016. Now, as of Wednesday, that date has been revised; the incubator won’t open until at least early 2017.
Although progress has been made, there is no denying the biotech industry continues to have a large gender gap. Women hold only 16 percent of the senior management posts at the top pharma companies, and of senior executive positions at emerging companies — the 10 companies that raised most in venture capital A rounds in 2014 — only 12 (17 percent) were filled by women.*
A reception for friends and alumni in the Baltimore corporate community to connect with the University of Maryland, College Park
PlantVax, Inc. has been contracted by a tier one US defense contractor as the primary supplier of Recombinant Human Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in support of a Program of Record chemical warfare disclosure spray. The disclosure spray is a first-of-its-kind plant derived enzyme-based sensor that users apply to wide surfaces, enabling rapid visual indication of chemical warfare agents. The spray requires the high expression and stability levels in the AChE that PlantVax specializes in providing. The end product is the first product of its kind that is able to utilize a recombinant, plant-expressed AChE.
This month, we talk with David Narrow, chief operating officer of Baltimore startup Sonavex, which is developing a patent-pending, ultrasound-based system that pinpoints potential postsurgical blood clots.
Narrow started developing EchoSure, Sonavex’s ultrasound system, with Devin O’Brien Coon in 2012, when they were both in their first semester of Johns Hopkins’ biomedical engineering graduate program at the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design.
Marriott Hotels is jumping on the accelerator bandwagon with the launch of TestBED for early-stage startups.
The group is looking for startups with products or services that further the traveller experience and are ready to go to market.
Startup incubator 1776 has selected Accenture (NYSE:ACN) to provide guidance and insights to its growing roster of digital health startups.
“1776 is thrilled Accenture is with us in the mission to drive health care into the future,” said Evan Burfield, 1776 cofounder & co-CEO. “There is so much opportunity to improve health care dramatically, but it can’t be done unless talented new entrepreneurs and prestigious established institutions work closely together.”
Accelerate Baltimore, Emerging Technology Centers' seed accelerator program, landed $250,000 from the Abell Foundation to help fund its sixth year.
The four-month accelerator program gives each participating company $25,000 in seed funding, free office space, access to an advisory team, instructional programming, mentors and connections to potential investors. The program ends with a Demo Day, attended by angel investors and venture capitalists.
Under Armour is partnering with a California tech company to provide more people with access to nearby fitness classes nationwide directly through the MyFitnessPal application.
Through the partnership with San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based Mindbody Inc., millions of MyFitnessPal users in the U.S. will be able to search, book and pay for classes at tens of thousands of fitness studios in the Mindbody network. Classes include indoor cycling, martial arts, boxing and yoga.
Mark Cuban has had a bumpy relationship with the healthcare community, but his approach seems to be evolving with a recent step into the world of healthcare venture capital.
According to Inc., the Shark Tank host is the latest to note the issues with healthcare’s middlemen, and has decided to do something about the problem by specifically targeting pharmacies. Cuban describes his vision as a world without the Main Street staple of modern healthcare delivery, predicting that “over the next 15 to 20 years, medicine will be so personalized there will be no drugstores.”
The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) Request for Proposals (RFP) for FY2017. The solicitation opens today and Letters of Intent (LOIs) are due by Thursday, November 10th. Award announcements are planned for early June 2017.
The CRCF grows Virginia’s economy by supporting high-potential technology commercialization projects at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities, the private sector and nonprofit research institutions. A single solicitation for $2.8 million will be offered in FY2017, with five programs available for funding: Commercialization, SBIR Matching Funds, STTR Matching Funds, Matching Funds and Eminent Researcher Recruitment.
VLP Therapeutics, LLC. announced today that it has received a grant for approximately US$960,000 from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund ("the GHIT Fund") for early-stage research to develop new vaccines for dengue fever using virus-like particles that would target all four strains of the virus. Dengue fever is one of the world's most serious public health problems, threatening more than half the world's population, and infecting 50 to 100 million people every year.
Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI) and Nature Technology Corporation (NTC) announce today that they have entered into a new license agreement. The licensing of NTC’s RNA-OUT™ and HyperGro™ technology is part of ITI’s expansion into developing nucleic acid immunotherapies for cancer.
ITI believes that LAMP-Vax immunotherapy platform has the potential to transform nucleic acid vaccine therapy. Although additional studies are needed to confirm clinical benefit, LAMP-Vax has the potential to specifically direct the cancer antigen into a processing part of the cell for more efficient presentation to the immune system. Last year, this approach gained important commercial validation when Immunomic Therapeutics entered into significant licensing agreements with Astellas Pharma Inc., totaling over $315 million in upfront payments, as well as potential future milestones and royalty payments.
BioBuzz and Elite Sponsor the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) are excited to announce a special event that lands right in the middle of the Oktoberfest season. Flying Dog Brewery will be our guest as we bring together the worlds of biotech and beer to show how closely related they really are. We are proud to have BioBuzz Double Helix Sponsors CRB and BREP along with Azzur IT as Co-Sponsors for this event.
Before the general networking begins, Flying Dog CEO, Jim Caruso, and COO/Head Brew Master, Matt Brophy will be on the IBBR Auditorium stage from 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. to speak about the company and everything that goes into the process of brewing their beer.
The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Emergent BioSolutions a five-year, $198.7 million contract to further mature the development of an anthrax vaccine in preparation for a Food and Drug Administration license.
The HHS office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Emergent BioSolutions will work to validate the effect of the vaccine candidate NuThrax and verify its safety as part of the contract, HHS said Friday.
Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, the pediatrician Priscilla Chan, announced plans last month to spend $3 billion over the next decade fighting diseases. Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan said they hoped their project — including a $600-million investment in the Biohub, a new physical lab space for universities in the Bay Area — would help scientists and engineers cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century.
AstraZeneca’s global biologics research and development arm MedImmune has entered into a licensing agreement with Allergan for the global rights to MEDI2070, which is currently in a Phase IIb clinical trial for moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease and ready for Phase II for ulcerative colitis. Under the terms of the deal, Allergan will make an upfront payment to AstraZeneca of $250m for the exclusive, worldwide licence to develop and commercialise the drug.
The 2017 FLC Awards is now open for nominations. One of the most coveted honors in the technology transfer field, the FLC Awards have been presented to over 200 federal laboratories since their inception in 1984. Many of our winning technology transfer efforts have gone on to become products and devices that are indispensable in our daily lives, including:
Maryland lawmakers voted in March to unite the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. This legislation, which aims to increase the prestige of the university system, goes into effect today. The MPowering the State partnership between the two schools paves the way for new initiatives to bring more funding to the campuses and attract more businesses and services to each respective community.
A mobile health company with Johns Hopkins roots earned the $50,000 top prize Thursday at Beta City’s daylong startup showcase and pitch competition in Baltimore.
Tissue Analytics, founded by JHU biomedical engineering graduates Kevin Keenahan and Josh Budman, presented its mobile application designed to help doctors and nurses track wound healing. It was one of eight startups to present business plans, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Johns Hopkins University will relocate its original FastForward business incubator in April from the Stieff Silver building near the university's Homewood campus on Wyman Park Drive to nearby R. House at 301 W. 29th St. in Remington.
FastForward R. House will be smaller — about 9,000 square feet of office, meeting and lab space, compared to its 13,000-square-foot space at Stieff Silver — but gives Hopkins an opportunity to move its startups into a space designed with startups in mind.
Last week researchers released the first results from the UK Biobank Imaging Study, a massive effort that ultimately aims to scan the brains of 100,000 people and use the data in conjunction with detailed health information to investigate disease progression during aging. The findings from their first 5,000 subjects offer an early peek at an enormous data set that includes a treasure trove of health information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and other measures. The study is one of several projects worldwide taking a population-level approach to better understand diseases, and is part of an ongoing movement in neuroscience toward global, collaborative brain research.