BHI Weekly Newsletter Archives

Epigenomics AG (FSE: ECX; OTCQX: EPGNY) (“Epigenomics” or “Company”), Cathay Fortune International Company Limited (“CFIC”) and Blitz F16-83 GmbH (in the future Summit Hero Holding GmbH, “Bidder”), a subsidiary of CFIC, have tonight entered into a business combination agreement (“BCA”) regarding the takeover of Epigenomics by the Bidder. Other than by CFIC, the Bidder will also be indirectly owned by the currently largest shareholder of Epigenomics, Biochain, the strategic partner of Epigenomics and a subsidiary of Team Curis Group.

The lupus treatment landscape could soon welcome an entrant if a first-in-class anti-interferon monoclonal antibody (mAb) continues to hit clinical-trial targets. AstraZeneca and its biologics R&D branch, MedImmune, are developing anifrolumab, an investigational monoclonal antibody that blocks type 1 interferons to treat moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

BeneVir Biopharm, Inc., a biotechnology company developing oncolytic immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent No. 9,623,059, entitled “Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus and Therapeutic Uses Thereof”, covering the composition of matter for Stealth-1H, BeneVir’s lead oncolytic immunotherapy, as well as other platform assets. BeneVir is a portfolio company within Pansend Life Sciences, a subsidiary of HC2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE MKT: HCHC)

Local business leaders, elected officials, scientists and scholars attended the 2017 BioHealth Capital Region Forum at the campus of MedImmune in Gaithersburg on April 19 and 20th. The forum focuses on the biotechnology cluster in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., which is working collaboratively to become a top three biotech hub in the United States by 2023.

Out of five startup companies selected to present in front of a panel of industry leaders at the 2017 BioHealth Capital Region Forum, LifeSprout was chosen to have the most commercial potential at the 2nd Annual Crab Trap Competition.This year the event was moderated by BHI President & CEO, Rich Bendis. Judges included industry leaders from Verily Life Systems, Roche, Inova Strategic Investments, New Enterprise Associates, AstraZeneca, and Blu Venture Investors. LifeSprout impressed judges with a presentation by Kevin Colbert, Director of Operations, on their next-generation of synthetic soft tissue substitutes for aesthetic and reconstructive medicine. Their first-in-class bioresorbable, nanofiber-hydrogel composites are formulated to match the stiffness of native soft tissues without compromising their porosity.  LifeSprout is a Johns Hopkins University startup.

“This was an exceptionally strong group of participants, and LifeSprout along with the other finalists should be proud of their accomplishments.” said Richard Bendis, BHI President & CEO. “I would like to thank all the participants in addition to our judges and sponsors who helped make this competition possible.”

Founded by BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and MedImmune in 2016, the Crab Trap Competition focuses on companies in therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare services, e-health, mobile health, electronic medical records, health informatics, and biohealth cyber security. The grand prize this year is $10,000, incubation space in either Prince William County, VA or Montgomery Country, MD, and business mentoring.

Caption: From left to right: Ethan Byler (BHI), Mark Fitzgerald (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati), Kevin Colbert (LifeSprout/Johns Hopkins), Rich Bendis (Moderator/BHI)

Sisu Global Health got more recognition for its device that recycles blood for use during surgery, winning the First Mile Innovation Challenge.

The competition, which was run by the Consortium of Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech), GE Sustainable Healthcare Solutions and MGH Global Health, sought applications from around the world that address health hardships in low and middle income countries. About 80 companies from 16 countries applied, according to an announcement.

The Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board (LSAB) was created by the legislature in 2007 to assist in maintaining Maryland’s preeminence in the life sciences industry. Comprised of 18 members, the Board includes the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce, a representative designated by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO), and 16 members appointed by the Governor.

VLP Therapeutics, LLC. (“VLP”), a biotechnology company focusing on the research and development of therapeutic and preventative vaccines and antibody agents, today announced that it successfully received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the composition of matter patent to cover immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1/PD-L2 inserted alphavirus VLP. The patent will be issued on May 2nd. The patent protects key composition of matter of VLP’s proprietary i-α virus like particles platform technology, and the pharmaceutical composition and vaccine for use in the treatment of cancer. Utilizing the platform technology covered by this patent and other patent estates, VLP is currently focused on developing preventative and therapeutic cancer vaccines as well as next generation of targeted antibody agents.

For Charles Li, locating his office at the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus is like coming home.

Li received his MBA from the Carey Business School in 2014 and took the majority of his classes at the Rockville campus. Three years later, when presented with the opportunity to open a business office in Maryland, he chose JHU MCC. He likes the campus library and the proximity to his house.

Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ: CERC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments to make a difference in the lives of patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders, today announced topline clinical results from a small, proof-of-concept clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (“NIMH”) of the National Institutes of Health. This was a Phase 2 trial of CERC-501, a potent and selective oral kappa opioid receptor (“KOR”) antagonist, in treatment resistant depression (“TRD”) conducted under the leadership of Dr. Maurizio Fava of Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”).

Silver Spring-based United Therapeutics Corp. has been clear about its ambitions to build an unlimited supply of certain transplantable organs.

Now, founder Martine Rothblatt said the company’s new multiyear collaboration with a 3-D bioprinting company, announced Wednesday, takes it a big step toward that goal.

RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) (“the Company” or “RegeneRx”), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair and regeneration, today announced that its licensee for RGN-137, GtreeBNT Co., Ltd., received a positive response from the U.S. FDA for its Phase 3 clinical trial design for RGN-137 to treat epidermolysis bullosa (“EB”). RGN-137 is a dermal wound healing gel that incorporates Thymosin beta 4 (“Tβ4”) as the active pharmaceutical ingredient. GtreeBNT is planning to enter into the Phase 3 trial in the U.S. during the third quarter of 2017.

PGDx launched in 2010 to bring innovative genetic analyses to cancer researchers, physicians and patients. PGDx uses cutting-edge next-generation sequencing and analysis techniques to identify mutations in patients’ tumors and facilitate the development of personalized treatment plans as well as novel basic science discoveries. In addition, PGDx has developed exciting liquid biopsy technology that uses patient-specific tumor alterations to create a simple blood test that will enable non-invasive tumor detection and monitoring. PGDx is composed of talented individuals with a variety of scientific backgrounds that are dedicated to advancing medicine through genomic technologies.

The Johns Hopkins University announced today the opening of its state-of-the-art innovation hub, FastForward 1812. The 23,000-square-foot space near Johns Hopkins’ flagship hospital and schools of medicine, public health and nursing provides Baltimore’s burgeoning innovation ecosystem and area startups sought-after office, co-working and wet lab space to accommodate a variety of startups.

AstraZeneca today marks a key milestone in its successful move to Cambridge, UK, with the ‘topping out’ of its new, state-of-the-art, strategic R&D centre and global corporate headquarters at the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC). The Company, including its biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, already has 2,000 employees actively engaged in the city’s vibrant scientific, academic, clinical and business community. Occupation of the site will begin in stages in 2018.

The National Institutes of Health will get a $2 billion funding boost over the next five months, under a bipartisan spending deal reached late Sunday night in Congress. The agreement marks a sharp rejection of President Trump’s proposal to cut $1.2 billion from the medical research agency in the current fiscal year.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to march in Washington, DC, to celebrate and defend science—at a time when many believe that science does, in fact, need defending. President Trump’s budget proposal cuts 31 percent from the Environmental Protection Agency, slashes the Department of Energy’s basic science research program, and zeroes out a program that supports early-stage research into technologies that can reduce our national dependence on fossil fuels. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which spends $32 billion a year on biomedical research — most of which is undertaken in labs at universities and medical schools across the nation — would see a 20 percent cut, bringing the agency’s budget to its lowest level in 15 years. Beyond science, the president’s proposed budget also eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The region has seen serious spikes in venture capital funding in the last decade — and more of our local firms are benefiting.

Apply for up to $3M to support continued development of your Phase II SBIR or STTR-funded heart, lung, blood, or sleep technology requiring approval or clearance by a Federal regulatory agency. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) SBIR Phase IIB Bridge and Small Market Awards programs aim to de-risk your technology and encourage partnerships between small businesses and investors and strategic partners.

NHLBI small business awardees are eligible to apply for a competing revision to your current award. The Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project (RMIP), will support revision projects that propose solutions to widely recognized issues in the development of safe and effective regenerative medicine therapies.

Awards are anticipated in FY 2017

When California voters approved US$3 billion in funding for stem-cell research in 2004, biologists flocked to the state, and citizens dreamed of cures for Parkinson’s disease and spinal-cord injuries. Now, the pot of money — one of the biggest state investments in science — is running dry before treatments have emerged, raising questions about whether Californians will pour billions more into stem-cell research.

Sonavex, Inc., a privately held medical device company dedicated to improving surgical patient outcomes with point-of-care imaging technologies, announced that it received $3 million in recent financing, including the $2.2M first close of its Series A round. The offering, led by Grey Sky Venture Partners, was recently expanded by another $1.3 million following increased demand from investors. Other participating investors include CRCM Venture Capital, TEDCO, the Abell Foundation, medical device executives, surgeons, and successful business executives.

Greater Washington is so much more than a political “swamp.”

But that’s the label a group of life science companies and nonprofits — led by Gaithersburg-based MedImmune — said Wednesday they are still fighting against as they try to sell the year-old BioHealth Capital Region brand.

Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a privately held, Maryland-based biotechnology company, is pleased to announce the winner of their Cancer Discovery Incubator Award, Midissia Therapeutics (Midissia). Midissia is a clinical stage immunotherapy start-up focused on immune intensification.

The Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board (LSAB) today announced a series of strategic recommendations to grow Maryland’s biohealth industry and position the state as a globally recognized Top 3 U.S. BioHealth Innovation Hub by 2023. Maryland is currently one of the most asset-rich states for biohealth in the nation, and is home to top federal agencies, like the National Institutes for Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Cancer Institute; key federal research labs and world-class higher education institutions; and a confluence of more than 500 biohealth companies.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. is launching a $1 million fund to help technology startup firms cover the gap between seed funding and venture capital investments.

When Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan stepped up to address a crowd of more than 1,000 life sciences executives and entrepreneurs on Wednesday, he couldn’t help but take the moment to remember his own brush with their work.

The Biohealth Capital Region Forum continued Thursday in Gaithersburg where guests heard from Senator Chris Van Hollen.    One of the topics of the forum was funding for the biotech industry. Many national health companies are headquartered in Montgomery County and are concerned about federal funding. President Trump’s proposed budget would cut six billion dollars from the National Institute of Health.

Looking for an investment? You’re in luck: Chevy Chase-based venture juggernaut New Enterprise Associates is wrapping up its latest $3 billion fund.

The venture firm has completed a “first close,” which means NEA has finalized its capital commitments and can now make investments. The firm can still raise additional money and will probably conduct a final close in a matter of weeks, according to sources familiar with the company’s fundraising efforts.

Johns Hopkins University – Montgomery County Campus9601 Medical Center DriveRockville, MD 20850

Learn about Bioscience Careers in Montgomery County, meet area businesses looking for talent, and connect to training opportunities to increase your skills! Open to any individual interested in BioCareers. A joint event hosted by Montgomery College, WorkSource Montgomery, MD BioFoundation, and BioBuzz.

Summer R.I.S.E. (Real Interesting Summer Experience) is a locally funded initiative led by WorkSource Montgomery in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and other partners, that will provide MCPS rising juniors and seniors with enriching summer career development experiences. Students will participate in career shadowing opportunities that will introduce them to the structures of businesses and industries, the role of technology, and the importance of customer service in every profession. They will also earn a stipend, learn about financial literacy, and participate in both online and in person professionalism trainings to help prepare them for college and career.

Portable retinal imager developer Vasoptic Medical raised $1.5 million in a new round of equity financing, according to an SEC filing posted last week.

The Baltimore, Md.-based company is developing a portable retinal imaging device designed to capture physiological information from the retinal microvasculature.

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, announced today the appointment of Tom Polen, 43, as president of BD, effective immediately. In his new role, Mr. Polen will oversee all of BD’s operating segments – the Medical and Life Sciences segments, as well as the new Interventional segment, which will include the C. R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE: BCR) businesses following the close of BD’s acquisition of Bard, which was also announced today. Mr. Polen, currently executive vice president and president of the BD Medical Segment, will continue to report to Vince Forlenza, who remains chairman and CEO of BD.

U.S. medical equipment supplier Becton Dickinson and Co will acquire C R Bard Inc, in a $24 billion cash-and-stock deal, adding Bard’s devices to its portfolio in the high-growth sectors of oncology and surgery, both companies said on Sunday.

The deal comes two years after Becton Dickinson acquired CareFusion Corp for $12 billion. It is the latest in a string of deals in the medical technology sector, as manufacturers turn to acquisitions to boost profit margins.

When Johns Hopkins oncologist Drew Pardoll first heard about the plans for Saturday’s March for Science in Washington, D.C., he knew immediately that he wanted to rent a bus for the event.

Though an invitation to speak at an academic conference in China will prevent Pardoll—director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy—from attending himself, he personally paid for two buses to transport more than 100 colleagues and their guests to the rally.

G1 Therapeutics, an oncology therapy developer spun out of North Carolina University. has filed for a $115m initial public offering that will provide an exit for MedImmune, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.

Apply for up to $3M to support continued development of your Phase II SBIR or STTR-funded heart, lung, blood, or sleep technology requiring approval or clearance by a Federal regulatory agency. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) SBIR Phase IIB Bridge and Small Market Awards programs aim to de-risk your technology and encourage partnerships between small businesses and investors and strategic partners.

The DOD SBIR 17.2 and the STTR 17.B Broad Agency Announcements (BAA) have been pre-released on the DOD SBIR/STTR Small Business Portal. You may now view the topics and ask technical questions through SITIS: https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/topics

Evan Savage, one of the organizers of Saturday’s March for Science in Toronto, looks at what’s happening south of the border in the U.S. and is reminded of what Canadian scientists faced under the previous Stephen Harper government, specifically cuts to science funding and the alleged muzzling of government scientists.

The Milken Institute today released a new report ranking more than 200 universities across the United States for their prowess in developing basic research into new technologies, products and companies – a process known as “technology transfer.”

The National Science Foundation has named 24 University of Maryland students as fellows for the foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

The fellowships are awarded to students in STEM fields who pursue research-based masters and doctoral degrees. Fellows receive an annual stipend of $34,000 and $12,000 to offset educational costs such as books and tuition.

The Startup Maryland bus was parked amid the bucolic brick of Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus for Saturday’s Hatch Innovation Conference.

Along with giving the Hopkins entrepreneurs gathered at the event a chance to pitch on the spiffy in-bus video studio, it was the first stop for the 2017 tour of Maryland’s innovation community.

Mentors, Advisors, and Peers (MAPs) programs offer opportunity for WIB members to meet other women who are in various stages of their career, are on different paths, and have a range of backgrounds, in a professional yet social atmosphere. Through MAPs, members share experiences and give advice on everything from personal challenges to professional topics. With this MAPs networking event, we’re bringing these circles together to network and share best practices. What tactics work for running a successful mentoring group? How do you get the most out of your MAPs group? How do groups grow and change, and do they need to? We look forward to seeing everyone there!

This is a members-only event focused on existing MAPs groups and WIB members who are interested in learning more about MAPs groups.

April 25 @ 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm

BDO and Crowell & Moring are proud to present a networking opportunity and a panel discussion on IP Strategy for the BioPharma Industry. This is a “must attend” event for hearing and discussing the company perspective from companies engaged in drug, vaccine, biologic, or medical device research and 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.

John Kilbourne, professor at Grand Valley State U., in Allendale, Mich., came to the March for Science in Washington, D.C., dressed as Galileo, the founder of modern physics and astronomy who was persecuted for standing by his scientific findings.

The world marks January 11 as the 95th anniversary of the date that insulin was first used in humans to treat diabetes. Since then it would seem that barely a week passes without another device or treatment in the works. According to the Centre for Disease Control, more than 29 million Americans are living with diabetes, and 86 million are living with prediabetes, a serious health condition that increases a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Welcome to the first annual compilation of 50+ Innovation Leaders! AARP and the MedCity News team asked readers to nominate digital health companies, entrepreneurs and initiatives they felt best reflect the wide range of technologies and applications that innovatively support the 50+ population. After reviewing more than 150 submissions and tallying more than 5,000+ votes from MedCity News’s audience, we weren’t disappointed with the results.

The startup landscape in Europe is a prime example of how evolving mindsets, hard work and risk-taking can pay off in the form of economic growth and innovation. Investment in European startups is steadily increasing as new tech hubs take shape across the continent and European-headquartered companies expand internationally.

But as startups celebrate their milestones, we should be aware that rules enabling digital growth are giving startups the right environment to grow.

– Winner to be announced during 2017 BioHealth Capital Region Forum –

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, April 11, 2017 – Five companies have been selected to present in front of a panel of judges consisting of industry leaders during the 2017 BioHealth Capital Region Forum, April 19-20 at the MedImmune campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Founded by BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and MedImmune in 2016, the Crab Trap Competition focuses on companies in therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, healthcare services, e-health, mobile health, electronic medical records, health informatics, and biohealth cyber security. The grand prize this year is $10,000, incubation space in either Prince William County, VA or Montgomery Country, MD, and business mentoring. The 2nd Annual Crab Trap Competition is sponsored by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Last year’s winner of the Crab Trap Competition was Sonavex, Inc., a Johns Hopkins University spin-off simplifying point-of-care ultrasound imaging to increase its utility.

You are cordially invited to FastForward 1812 Grand Opening

WHEN: Wednesday, April 26, 20176:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M.

WHERE: FastForward1812 Ashland AvenueSuite 100Baltimore, MD 21205

PARKING: COMPLIMENTARY SELF PARKING AT ASHLAND GARAGE (CORNER OF ASHLAND AVENUE AND WASHINGTON STREET)

April 13, 2017: All Points, Maryland – Today Startup Maryland announced initial dates and the route for Stage One (April 15 – May 31) of the STRT1UP Road Show, the sixth annual state-wide tour and celebration of entrepreneurship and high-growth innovation-centric startup companies.

Additionally, Startup Maryland is announcing that the first stop on the 2017 tour will be the TCO Labs Hatch Innovation Conference being held on the Homewood Main Campus of Johns Hopkins University from 1:00-5:00pm ET. The event is free and open to the public, however, registration is required. Details and additional information can be found here: http://hatch2017.com/

University of Maryland, Baltimore County defeated nine other finalist teams to win the 2017 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition to become National Champions. The championship was held in San Antonio, Texas, April 13-15, with the top 10 college and university teams from across the nation facing off to protect a network against constant cyber attacks.

The Maryland Tech Council (MTC), Maryland’s largest technology trade association, has announced the finalists for its 29th Annual Industry Awards. Winners will be revealed at a celebration on June 1, 2017 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. The event, which draws more than 800 executives from the technology and life science communities, celebrates individuals and companies that have made a significant impact in their sectors.

April 25 @ 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm

BDO and Crowell & Moring are proud to present a networking opportunity and a panel discussion on IP Strategy for the BioPharma Industry. This is a “must attend” event for hearing and discussing the company perspective from companies engaged in drug, vaccine, biologic, or medical device research and 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.

Located in Rockville town center, ReveraGen is a fast-growing clinical-stage drug development company with a focus on developing therapeutics for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We run under a venture philanthropy model, through collaborations and partnerships with non-profit foundations and government agencies in both the US and the EU. We are currently looking for self-motived professionals to join our young, energetic and diverse team.

Position Open: Project Coordinator

Main Duties:

• Takes responsibility and manages defined projects
• Keeps track of and coordinates projects by follow up on tasks and results, tracking and recordingthe projects’ progress by proper tools and software, and reports deviations back to the VicePresident of Operations.
• Creates, revises and implements standard operating procedures
• Produces information by transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving, copying, andtransmitting text, data, and graphics.
• Represents the the Vice President of Operations in the absence of the Vice President ofOperations.
• Protects operations by keeping information confidential.

Strand Life Sciences, a bioinformatics company, introduced liquid biopsy test portfolio called Strand LB that helps in highly sensitive detection of tumour traces from a simple blood draw.

While tumours are usually assessed through invasive biopsies or through radioactive scans, this test will ensure early and precise indication of tumour presence, cancer recurrence, and response to therapy, said the company in a statement.

Inova Health System’s Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) is betting big on personalized and precision medicine.

And the Falls Church, Virginia, organization is hiring to ensure that bet pays off. Current openings include clinical researchers and genetics counselors, but they’re also looking for a senior cloud systems engineer, a bioinformatics software engineer and a personalized medicine data architect to support researchers and clinicians.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has pumped $6.25 million into the new Center for Engineering Complex Tissues (CECT), a tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting lab that will be run by Rice University, the University of Maryland, and Wake Forest University starting April 15.

Until the myth of the fountain of youth proves true, regenerative medicine is the best hope we’ve got for fixing failed body parts and, as a result, living longer. Scientists won’t be able to bottle forever. They are, however, working on engineering human cells, tissues, and organs that can repair themselves.

As my syringe presses against the skin and muscle surrounding a patient’s knee joint, I feel a brief resistance. A gentle increase in pressure, though, and the needle pops through, ready to inject the drug. But this isn’t a real patient or syringe – they’re both virtual.

I am taking part in a training simulation created by a London-based firm called FundamentalVR. It allows me to view my patient in virtual reality and perform knee surgery with a stylus that gives haptic feedback, so I can feel the different layers of tissue. The simulation is designed for surgeons who must learn how to properly inject a drug during surgery to provide post-operative pain relief.

Veni Vidi Vici. It translates into English as “I came, I saw, I conquered.” It also happens to be the name chosen by one of the winners of the recently held America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent Competition.

FDA recognizes that young scientists are our future. Now in its fifth year, America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent is one of a number of initiatives FDA supports to encourage young scientists to pursue careers in the rapidly maturing field of regulatory science.

April 27-28, 2017 – Washington, DC

Secure your spot today at the 8th Annual Health Datapalooza, the gathering place for people and organizations creating knowledge from data and pioneering innovations that drive health policy and practice. The Datapalooza takes place April 27-28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

Join us at this exciting event and gain new knowledge on the use of health data to improve health outcomes, learn about the newest, most innovative and effective uses of health data, and network with peers offering diverse voices and perspectives in the field.

APRIL 27, 2017 TO APRIL 28, 2017

Host: Tech Council of Maryland

Location: Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda,Maryland 20852

Time: 8:00am to 1:00pm

Presented by the Tech Council of Maryland, Bio+Tech17 Conference reflects the changing landscape where life sciences and technology converge by bringing together more than 500 professionals in both fields so that they may meet and forge new partnerships that will lead to great new discoveries. Bio+Tech17 Conference will continue to bring together the life science and technology sectors to meet and leverage the talents of the other to grow their organizations and their industry.

Celebrating 25 years promoting trade and investment between Maryland and Israel

Honoring MIDC Executive Director Barry Bogage with the Hanan Y. Sibel Maryland/Israel Business Leadership Award for 25 years of dedication and professional excellence

Remarks by Governor Larry Hogan and Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer (invited)

MIDC Members $100*

Non-Members $150

Heavy hors d’oeuvres – Dietary Laws Observed

*Higher level members receive complimentary tickets and ad in 25th Anniversary Program Book. You must be a confirmed 2017 member.

Become a 2017 Member and honor Barry Bogage and the MIDC’s 25th Anniversary. All 2017 members will be listed in the 25th Anniversary Program Book. To join the MIDC click here and then register for the 25th.

Proceeds to benefit Maryland/Israel Business Initiatives

For questions about the 25th Anniversary, Ads in the Program Book or 2017 Membership please contact Nancy Boguslaw. All ads for the Program Book must be received no later than March 28th. 2017 Members wanting to be recognized on a special honor roll page need to confirm membership by March 28th.

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland, has been awarded a renewal of its contract to extend and expand its entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) program with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). BHI will place EIRs within the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the NIH Office of the Director and other NIH Institutes and Centers.

The EIR program was established with NIH in 2012 with BHI’s support. The program is set-up to achieve the mission of NIH by applying knowledge gained through discoveries to solutions for patients with unmet clinical needs. EIRs who participate in this program have prior experience maneuvering through multi-disciplinary technical challenges and the business and regulatory environment to deploy new healthcare solutions.

Due to the program’s initial success, the EIR program was expanded in 2015 to include NIH’s associated offices and institutes. The new term extends for an 18-month period from February 2017 through August 2018, with an option to renew for an additional 18 months.

“Expanding and extending our partnership with the federal government’s leading medical research agency is an honor that builds on our work together filling key EIR roles over the last few years,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “We’ve placed some of the most innovative and business-centered minds in biohealth and biotech and will continue to do so as we fill EIR roles that will drive cutting-edge approaches to commercializing medical devices and therapies.”

BHI can retain the services of up to six EIRs as a part of this program with NIH. The EIRs will be assigned to the appropriate facilities, and their task will be to foster collaboration between NIH leadership and the biohealth industry, while providing the agency with industry insights into innovation and commercialization perspectives in research and development. They will also help to guide NIH scientists, academics and small business innovators on best practices.

More information can be found at http://www.biohealthinnovation.org/programs/entrepreneur-in-residence-program.

About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. BHI is known for providing commercial assistance to scientists and founders, educating and infusing Maryland’s life science community with new and young entrepreneurs and fueling startups within Central Maryland’s bio-ecosystem by connecting young companies to funding and business resources. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.

This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Paragon Bioservices, Inova, University System of Maryland and MedImmune/AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are excited to bring you an exceptional line up of speakers. The program will feature sessions that focus on Advancing Science and Accelerating Innovation.

The Johns Hopkins University’s newest business incubator, set to open formally at the end of April, adds more office and lab space to spur the school’s ongoing effort to commercialize research.

FastForward 1812, located in the East Baltimore development area at 1812 Ashland Ave., offers a home to startup companies trying to build products that grow out of research at the univeristy or its medical school. It’s also open to other Baltimore-area entrepreneurs.

Redox, the leading integration platform for digital healthcare applications and health systems, announced today that the Intermountain Healthcare Innovation Fund has invested $1 million as a follow-on to the company’s recently announced Series B, bringing the final closing to $10 million. The round was led by RRE Ventures with participation from .406 Ventures, HealthX Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, and Dreamit Ventures.

Student and faculty entrepreneurs have until April 14 to apply for the first round of funding from the University System of Maryland’s new $25 million venture fund.

Located in Rockville town center, ReveraGen is a fast-growing clinical-stage drug development company with a focus on developing therapeutics for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We run under a venture philanthropy model, through collaborations and partnerships with non-profit foundations and government agencies in both the US and the EU. We are currently looking for self-motived professionals to join our young, energetic and diverse team.

Position Open: Project Coordinator

Main Duties:

• Takes responsibility and manages defined projects
• Keeps track of and coordinates projects by follow up on tasks and results, tracking and recordingthe projects’ progress by proper tools and software, and reports deviations back to the VicePresident of Operations.
• Creates, revises and implements standard operating procedures
• Produces information by transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving, copying, andtransmitting text, data, and graphics.
• Represents the the Vice President of Operations in the absence of the Vice President ofOperations.
• Protects operations by keeping information confidential.

Requirements:

• Pharmaceutical or clinical research background preferred
• Excellent communication skills (both oral and written)
• B.S. or B.A. Degree required
• Familiar with Microsoft Office software package (Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Excel)
• Smartsheet knowledge/experience is a plus

WalletHub recently analyzed innovation nationwide to compile a list of the Most Innovative States. Maryland ranks second among the 50 states and Washington D.C. in WalletHub’s report, reinforcing what many in Maryland already know: Innovation thrives here. Here are five reasons why innovation flourishes in Maryland.

Four years into its existence, Cydan Development, New Enterprise Associates’ orphan drug startup accelerator, has notched its first big win. Vtesse, the first company to emerge from Cydan, has been sold in a deal valued at $200 million.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SCMP), a Rockville, MD-based maker of a drug to treat various bowel conditions, will acquire Vtesse for $170 million in cash and 2,782,678 shares of Sucampo, which closed at $11 apiece on Friday. Vtesse’s shareholders—New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Bay City Capital, Pfizer Venture Investments, and Lundbeckfond Ventures—could also get royalties on sales if Vtesse’s experimental drug, VTS-270, ever reaches the market. The drug candidate is designed to be a potential treatment for the rare genetic condition Niemann-Pick Type C1 disease, which mostly affects children.

Almost four years after the launch of the Ten by Twenty vision plan, Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels today invited the university community to explore a second update on the institution’s progress and share feedback.

Big funding deals across a number of industries propelled the D.C. area to one of its best first quarters in recent venture capital memory, setting the stage for a strong 2017.

With the push to encourage researchers to take steps to commercialize their discoveries, there are grants and awards and tech transfer offices and incubators and competitions and…

But receiving money doesn’t automatically mean that a successful business will appear right away. Like all startups, they need to identify the potential market for a product, and come up with a plan.

With the county’s proximity to the nation’s capital and the federal government, combined with our highly educated workforce, Montgomery County is rapidly growing as a global cybersecurity power hub.

The MCEDC board has identified cybersecurity as a target industry, and commissioned a 2017 report called “Building a Cybersecurity Industry in Montgomery County.”

It’s not the current product lineups that matter the most for big pharma companies. It’s their pipelines.

Three big pharma companies boasting the strongest pipelines are Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and Roche (NASDAQOTH: RHHBY). Here’s what sets these drugmakers apart from their peers.

Standing to address a crowd of biotech business leaders and health experts at a conference hosted by Virginia’s biotechnology association this week, Inova Center for Personalized Health CEO Todd Stottlemyer began with a question.

Much has been written about the role of the creative economy as a key indicator of economic health. The “rise of the creative class” and “creative clusters” are concepts that inform the larger conversation on cities as the economic drivers of regions. As a result, everyone from academics to governments are increasingly looking for ways to measure the scope and size of the creative economy.

It’s been over a year since Mayor Muriel Bowser broke ground on the new Inclusive Innovation Incubator based on Howard University’s campus, and now the space is getting ready to open its doors.

The incubator which, as the name suggests, aims to host and support diverse entrepreneurs, will officially open to the public with a “Week of Welcome” starting April 17. The week will feature a total of 30 events in the space — everything from coding classes to meetups and even a class on fitness for entrepreneurs. Most events are free and will give the D.C. startup (or would-be startup) community a chance to get a feel for the place.

CSSi LifeSciences™, a trusted partner from discovery to commercialization for biologics and vaccines, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with the Prince William Science Accelerator, the only public-private commercially available wet lab space in Northern Virginia. The partnership promotes the development of new businesses and the retention and expansion of existing businesses within the county’s growing and diverse life sciences community, through CSSi LifeSciences’ technical assistance, regulatory, clinical and commercial assessment for all Prince William Science Accelerator tenants.

Entrepreneurship is a thrilling roller coaster ride. There are highs, but there are also lows. What isn’t talked about enough is the struggle that so many entrepreneurs face pursuing success. How do you navigate through the tough times? Where do you turn?

What do you do when you hit rock bottom?

Scientists and policy-makers have long argued that public investments in science have practical applications. Using data on patents linked to U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants over a 27-year period, we provide a large-scale accounting of linkages between public research investments and subsequent patenting. We find that about 10% of NIH grants generate a patent directly but 30% generate articles that are subsequently cited by patents. Although policy-makers often focus on direct patenting by academic scientists, the bulk of the effect of NIH research on patenting appears to be indirect. We also find no systematic relationship between the “basic” versus “applied” research focus of a grant and its propensity to be cited by a patent.

You’re invited to LM’s greatest event of the year! Join us on Tuesday, June 6 as we present the 2017 graduating Core, Senior and Emerging Leaders classes. Meet the newest community members, interact with our honored Award Recipients and network with key influencers in the region. A delicious dinner and an open bar are included.

No two stem cells are identical, even if they are genetic clones. This stunning diversity is revealed today in an enormous publicly available online catalogue of 3D stem cell images. The visuals were produced using deep learning analyses and cell lines altered with the gene-editing tool CRISPR. And soon the portal will allow researchers to predict variations in cell layouts that may foreshadow cancer and other diseases.

As with many new fields, synthetic biology—which incorporates disparate disciplines like engineering, computer science, biotechnology, and molecular biology—is hard to pin down. But a rough working definition says that it is the application of the principles of engineering to biological systems. Instead of using engineering’s discrete modules of code, transistors, resistors, and capacitors, synthetic biology builds things from sequences of genetic material. The field has remarkable potential and has already been used to aid the production of antimalarial drugs and synthetic flavorings. One researcher used mail-order DNA and a genetic map available online for free to create a live polio virus. The implications could be enormous.

Unicorns pranced all over Twitter Sunday as users celebrated an imaginary holiday for an imaginary creature. But some Twitter folk weren’t in the mood for make-believe.

After all, who needs unicorns when majestic, spear-headed animals actually exist?

The National Cancer Institute has picked the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus as the site for a new laboratory building for its epidemiology and genetics researchers.

The planned 70,000-square-foot building will bring together about 134 scientists and employees now working in separate facilities in Gaithersburg and Frederick, about 25 miles apart.

Qiagen said Friday after the close of the market that it has acquired an exclusive worldwide license from Johns Hopkins University for detection of the AR-V7 biomarker in all sample and cell types using nucleic acid tests such as PCR or next-generation sequencing.

As a result, Qiagen will commercialize its research-use-only AdnaTest Prostate Cancer Panel AR-V7 to detect the androgen receptor splice variant 7 from liquid biopsies to investigate resistance to potential drugs for advanced prostate cancer.

Research tools developer Canopy Biosciences announced today that it has exclusively licensed a novel gene-editing technology from Washington University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins University.

The technology, called Tunr, involves targeting translation elongation by introducing consecutive adenosine nucleotides — known as polyA tracks — into a gene coding sequence of interest. As described in Nature Communications earlier this year, inserting polyA tracks into the open reading frame of an mRNA will suppress protein expression by decreasing the efficiency of the translation elongation phase leading to diminished production of protein and mRNA destabilization, thereby diminishing mRNA levels.

Doctors can rebuild parts of the body that have been damaged, but they need soft tissue to do it.

Whether it’s facial reconstruction after trauma, a masectomy as a result of breast cancer or something more cosmetic like stopping wrinkles, the person who needs the procedure is typically the one to provide the tissue.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has signed a modification to its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to manufacture and store bulk drug substance for its botulism antitoxin, BAT® [Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) – (Equine)], valued at approximately $53 million with a five-year period of performance. This modification to the contract will enable future filling and deliveries of final drug product to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). BAT is indicated for the treatment of symptomatic botulism following documented or suspected exposure to botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A, B, C, D, E, F, or G in adults and pediatric patients.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will spend $87.5 million over the next five years to continue a research partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and University of Maryland, College Park and to bring on additional partners, the universities announced Thursday.

Scientists from the participating universities will study high energy astrophysics, gravitational waves, space exploration and planets in the solar system at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, said T. Jane Turner, a professor of physics who runs UMBC’s arm of the program.

A group focused on spurring regional cooperation to boost the economy wants to raise $3 million to $5 million to rebrand Greater Washington and challenge its reputation as an epicenter of politics and gridlock.

The 2030 Group, a consortium of businesses, organizations and executives, will unveil a new video and website Thursday that will serve as a sort of platform for future marketing efforts. Then a call to fund the regionwide branding effort will begin.

Agriculture Innovation to Commercialization (AgI2C) is a new 2017 initiative of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization in agriculture, natural resources, and environmental sustainability. AgI2C will join the University’s innovation network that includes the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship in the Robert H. Smith School of Business, Mtech in the School of Engineering, the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the University’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

Initially, AgI2C will focus on: (a) incubating AGNR undergraduate teams to develop and pitch ideas for products and service, (b) offering an intensive Winter Term course for new graduate students, and (c) developing a learning and doing culture in AGNR academic courses.

2017 AgI2C Undergraduate Ideation Competition

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has partnered with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to launch its inaugural Agriculture Innovation to Commercialization competition. Learn more about the competition at http://agnr.umd.edu/agi2c/ideation-competition.

What do Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Mo., Baltimore, Indianapolis, and New Orleans have in common? According to a recent report, they’re the best places to be if you’re a woman in tech.

Roche’s multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Ocrevus won U.S. approval, putting the potential blockbuster back on track after a brief delay and giving a lift to patients with a form of the disease that until now had no approved treatment.

The drug, also known as ocrelizumab and administered via infusion, becomes the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine for the primary progressive form of the neurological disease (PPMS).

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett will participate in a press conference today hosted by WorkSource Montgomery, Inc. in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and Montgomery County Government to announce the Summer R.I.S.E (Really Interesting Summer Experience) program. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, at Kaiser Permanente’s Mid-Atlantic States Regional Administrative Offices on 2101 East Jefferson Street in Rockville.

This new initiative provides MCPS rising juniors and seniors with enriching summer career development experiences through local Montgomery County businesses and nonprofit organizations.

April 27-28, 2017 – Washington, DC

Secure your spot today at the 8th Annual Health Datapalooza, the gathering place for people and organizations creating knowledge from data and pioneering innovations that drive health policy and practice. The Datapalooza takes place April 27-28, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

Join us at this exciting event and gain new knowledge on the use of health data to improve health outcomes, learn about the newest, most innovative and effective uses of health data, and network with peers offering diverse voices and perspectives in the field.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tagrisso (osimertinib; AstraZeneca) for the treatment of patients with metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by an FDA-approved test, whose disease has progressed on or after EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy.

Silver Spring-based biotech United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) lost a recent challenge to one of its lead patents for its flagship drugs.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that all of the local company’s claims for the particular patent — which impacts its lead products for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension such as Remodulin, Tyvaso and Orenitram — are not patentable.

When President Trump proposed a cut of nearly 20 percent in support for the National Institutes of Health, many wondered how the administration would even attempt to find such reductions. The answer emerged in the congressional testimony last week of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who argued the government could save billions without hurting research by cutting back on the overhead reimbursements to colleges and universities.

Independence Health Group, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. have given a $150,000 seed investment to VitalTrax. This is the group’s first investment from their $6 million digital health funding initiative announced in December 2016.

When: Tuesday, April 11, 2017 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM EDT Add to Calendar

Where: Harbor Launch @ IMET 701 E Pratt St Baltimore, MD 21202

Let’s talk about the startup F word – Finance. It’s a critical component of a company’s success, and it’s more than just spreadsheets. We’re giving this topic its day in the sun, answering such questions as… When does a startup need a CFO? What functions should a CFO serve? What qualities are desirable in a CFO? How can startups without a CFO best attend to their finances?

Join us on Tuesday, April 11th from 5:30-7:30pm at the Columbus Center (701 E Pratt Street) for this fireside-chat style event, moderated by Ken Malone of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. and Early Charm Ventures. We will hear the experiences and perspectives of Eileen O’Rourke, Chief Financial Officer at The Abell Foundation, Steve Dubin, Principal, SDA Ventures LLC; Chairman, Enzymotec Ltd., and Ryan McQueeney, Chief Financial Officer at RedOwl.

Program: 6-7pm with BioBuzz networking before and after.

It’s a bit of a strange world when a company growing at perhaps 5% per year, with downside risks, trades at 23X TTM EPS (historical GAAP numbers), but that’s completely par for the course. The S&P 500 trades near 25X TTM EPS.

Some competitors to Roche Holding AG (OTCQX:RHHBY) trade much pricier than it does. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is at 29X. Before a one-time payment to settle a patent suit that affected Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) Q4 EPS, MRK was around 32X. Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), a smaller player, is at 33X.

The US-based University System of Maryland has set up a $25m fund called Maryland Momentum Fund to support startups formed within the system’s 12 public institutions.

Julie Lenzer, co-director of UM Ventures, a joint initiative of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, said the university system had already committed $10m to the Maryland Momentum Fund.

Celebrate Your Organization’s Excellence in 2017!

Each year, UEDA members compete for our prestigious Awards of Excellence, which recognize outstanding, leading-edge higher education projects and initiatives promoting economic development and engagement. Never content to rest on our laurels, however, last year saw a significant revamping of the Awards program to reflect UEDA’s ongoing research on economic development and engagement in higher education. We hope you will join us!

Four weeks into my first semester of college, my academic confidence was completely shredded. I had back-to-back tests in cell biology, chemistry, and calculus, and my time management skills weren’t quite there yet. I failed my calculus exam, and suddenly I wasn’t sure I had the intelligence or the ability to get a degree in science.

Dreamit Health recently announced its spring 2017 cohort of startups, and it’s medley of eight impressive early stage companies from all around the world.

The new group represents Dreamit’s 22nd cohort, and this cycle represents the accelerator’s fifth year in partnership with Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross. The selected startups are addressing everything from the patient experience to the medical workflow.

Can a pill make you younger?

One of the few drug studies ever carried out in an attempt to address this question was reported by Novartis on Christmas Eve 2014. The company had sought to see whether giving low doses of a drug called everolimus to people over 65 increased their response to flu vaccines.

Saturday, April 15 at 1:00pm

Mudd Hall – 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD

Hatch 2017 brings over 6 speakers, 30 startups, and 3 workshops to the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus for a day of entrepreneurial education, networking, and celebration. Hatch is entirely free & open to the community.

Our Speaker Symposium features some of Baltimore’s biggest entrepreneurs and business leaders from around the nation. The Startup Showcase lets Baltimore and MidAtlantic companies showcase the game-changing products they have been working on, allowing attendees to network directly with the teams. Our BLUE workshop series consists of three, 30-minute breakout sessions focused on various facets of founding startups. Come for the speakers and startups, stay for the free food and swag, networking opportunities, and celebration of the people and companies driving Baltimore forward.

Aging can seem like a scary prospect, but a wealth of scientific studies have found that youth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There are plenty of cases in which human beings peak well into middle and old age.

Teenagers, for instance, may have vitality on their side, but older people are generally more psychologically stable. And so it goes with several phenomena people experience as they age.

Funding and Research OpportunitiesThe following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

Notices:

• Reporting Preprints and Other Interim Research Products
• (NOT-OD-17-050) National Institutes of Health
• Notice of Expiration for RFA-HG-16-016 “BD2K Open Educational Resources for Skills Development in Biomedical Big Data Science (R25)”
• (NOT-RM-17-008)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives
• Notice of Expiration for RFA-ES-16-010 “Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Community-Based Data and Metadata Standards Efforts (R24)”
• (NOT-RM-17-009)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives
• Notice of Expiration for RFA-ES-16-011 “BD2K Research Education Curriculum Development: Data Science Overview for Biomedical Scientists (R25)”
• (NOT-RM-17-010)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives
• Notice of Expiration for RFA-CA-16-020 “BD2K Support for Meetings of Data Science Related Organizations (U13)”
• (NOT-RM-17-011)
• NIH Roadmap Initiatives

Requests for Applications:

• Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science for Research Relevant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (U54)
• (RFA-OD-17-006)
• National Institutes of Health

This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Paragon Bioservices, Inova, University System of Maryland and MedImmune/AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are excited to bring you an exceptional line up of speakers. The program will feature sessions that focus on Advancing Science and Accelerating Innovation.

The University System of Maryland announced this month the launch of its Maryland Momentum Fund, which will provide $25 million to support startups formed within the system.

The university system has already committed $10 million to the initiative, and is working alongside the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as well as UM Ventures — a joint research and innovation program between this university and the University of Maryland, Baltimore — to obtain the remaining $15 million from local venture capitalists and angel investors, said Julie Lenzer, UM Ventures co-director.

The National Cancer Institute has picked the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus as the site for a new laboratory building for its epidemiology and genetics researchers.

The planned 70,000-square-foot building will bring together about 134 scientists and employees now working in separate facilities in Gaithersburg and Frederick, about 25 miles apart.

Patients everywhere take their medication with emocha.

This World TB Day, we want to say thank you to our partners around the world who are uniting to #EndTB.

Patients across three continents are using the emocha platform to facilitate TB treatment, and we’re proud to support hundreds of healthcare workers as they fight to eradicate TB.

Public health departments in California, Maryland, Texas, Missouri, Washington, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico have adopted emocha’s video DOT platform for active and latent TB monitoring. Sites in Australia, India, and Mexico have also implemented the technology, proving that video DOT is an effective strategy for combating global TB.

On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, the University of Maryland (UMD) Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices and RTI International (link is external) welcomed nearly 150 representatives of Maryland’s medical device ecosystem to a daylong event focused on bringing products from invention to market in the state. The event, Medical Device Innovation in Maryland: from Technology to Lab to Market, took place at the UMD campus in College Park, and culminated with a tour of the soon-to-be new home of the A. James Clark School of Engineering: A. James Clark Hall.

“This is the start of an incredibly exciting time for biomedical devices in Maryland – and you’re here at the beginning,” University of Maryland Provost Mary Ann Rankin told attendees.

Millions of bodies suffer a loss of soft tissue — namely skin or muscle — each year. It can result from trauma, natural aging, or even surgery, like a mastectomy for breast cancer patients. Typically, the only option to repair such damage is surgery, and transferring tissue from one part of the body to another.

Symbiomix today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing the Company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for its lead investigational product candidate Solosec™ (secnidazole oral granules), an innovative antibiotic designed to treat bacterial vaginosis (BV). In accordance with the FDA’s priority 6-month review designation, the agency has established a user-fee goal date under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of September 17, 2017. Symbiomix submitted the NDA filing in January 2017.

Solosec™ is a potent, next-generation, investigational 5-nitroimidazole antibiotic with enhanced pharmacokinetic properties, which will be the first and only single-dose oral therapy approved for BV if approved by the FDA. The FDA previously designated Solosec™ as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for the treatment of BV and granted it Fast Track designation, which made Solosec™ eligible for priority review and at least 10 years of market exclusivity.

The co-founders of a Johns Hopkins-backed startup had personal motivations for developing better health care tracking technology.

The mother of Sathya Elumala, who is CEO of Multisensor Diagnostics, suffers from multiple chronic health conditions and spends time in hospitals almost every month. Gene Fridman, the company’s chief technology officer, lost a sister who had a chronic condition that wasn’t detected soon enough.

The University of Maryland University College is tearing itself apart — on purpose.

The university, which gets nearly all of its funding from tuition revenue, has long relied on enrolling large numbers of students associated with the military for financial stability. After teaching students at military bases across Asia and Europe for decades, the university was quick to realize the potential of the internet and became a pioneer in the field of distance education.

May 18, 2017 – 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Hilton Baltimore

Join Governor Hogan for the first Maryland Governor’s Business Summit. Explore topics on human capital, global trends and business strategy. Connect with a wide array of Maryland’s business leaders.

Newsflash: The Association of University Technology Managers met in Hollywood, Fla., and had its own Final Four last week.

All of the finalists of the conference’s pitch competition had a common bond: They each had ties to Maryland universities such as Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland. All four also received funding from TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative.

Across the commonwealth, families are feeling squeezed by stagnant wages and rising costs. Too many Virginians are working part-time instead of full-time; too many college graduates are working in jobs that don’t require a four-year degree.

Virginia’s anemic economic growth rates have trailed the national average for five straight years. We even fell to the bottom ten states for economic growth in 2014. More people are moving out of Virginia than moving in. Our tax climate ranking fell to 33rd in 2017. We’ve dropped out of the top 10 on the CNBC list of Best States for Business, after being number one just five years ago.

GlaxoSmithKline and Regeneron have given their backing to a new project that will use patient data held by the UK Biobank.

The firms will get free access to the samples in return for covering the cost of sequencing it and, after a period of exclusivity, they will then allow the data to be plugged back into the resource for wider use.

Eli Lilly and Company has publicized plans to invest $850 million in the United States throughout 2017.

The media release, delivered Friday, follows a meeting between Lilly executives, federal, state and local government officials at Lilly Technology Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Once again, more than three-quarters of U.S. venture capital (VC) dollars went to companies in California, New York and Massachusetts in 2016, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/CB Insights’ Moneytree Report Explorer. Approximately 53.3 percent of all VC capital went to California companies, down nearly 4.4 percent from the states peak in 2014 (57.7) and down 3.9 percent from 2016. While California’s share declined, both Massachusetts and New York saw increases in their share of VC dollars invested:

Get a sneak peak of the Mobile eXploration Lab (MXLab) – the country’s largest, most advanced mobile STEM laboratory! MdBio is launching the MXLab for the 2017/2018 school year, and we want to give teachers across the state the first chance to see the lab in action and provide feedback on our activities for Maryland high schools.

Join us at one of five events across the state to get a sneak peek of the MXLab plus a hands-on teacher professional development activity for your classroom.

What’s next for the pharmaceuticals industry, amid digital disruption and rapid technological advances? McKinsey’s Martin Dewhurst sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with David Epstein of venture firm Flagship Pioneering to explore ways the sector could shift in coming years. In this interview, part of our Biopharma Frontiers series on how the pharmaceutical industry is evolving and how leaders can adapt, Epstein discusses the next horizon of innovation, critical elements of an effective business, and the kind of culture he tries to foster. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.

Host: UM BioPark & Wexford + Technology

Location: UM BioPark Life Sciences Conference Center, 801 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201

Date: March 30, 2017 – 5:00pm to 6:30pm

Please join the BioPark’s Monthly Networking Event along with collegues from the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Mingle with MPTC leadership and staff, BioPark tenants, and UMB faculty and staff.

Vaccines may be available for pneumococcal infections, but none of them, including the widely used Prevnar 13, can cover all strains. SutroVax is one of the startups trying to solve that problem, and today raised $64 million to test its approach in humans.

New investors Frazier Healthcare Partners and Pivotal bioVenture Partners led the Series B financing round for Foster City, CA-based SutroVax. Also participating in the round were earlier investors Abingworth, Longitude Capital, Roche Venture Fund, and CTI Life Sciences Fund. In addition to the $60 million Series B investment, SutroVax says the earlier investors are also putting another $4 million into the company.

Pulmocide raised $30.4 million in a Series B round of financing to support the early clinical development of its lead inhaled drugs against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and pulmonary aspergillosis. The fundraising round was led by new investor SR One and included the Longwood Fund and existing investors SV Life Sciences, F-Prime Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation–JJDC, and Touchstone Innovations.

Patients could one day self-administer vaccines using a needleless, pill-sized technology that jet-releases a stream of vaccine inside the mouth, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted at UC Berkeley.

The study did not test vaccine delivery in people, but demonstrated that the technology, called MucoJet, is capable of delivering vaccine-sized molecules to immune cells in the mouths of animals. The technology is a step toward improved oral vaccine delivery, which holds the promise of building immunity in the mouth’s buccal region of cells, where many infections enter the body. When patients hold the MucoJet against the inside of their cheek, the device releases a jet stream that directly targets the buccal region. This region is rich in immune cells but underutilized in immunology because of the challenge of efficiently penetrating the thick mucosal layer in this part of the oral cavity with existing technologies, such as the oral spray often used for influenza vaccination.

Dear Friends of CONNECTpreneur:

I hope everything is well! This is a “Last Call” for our April 4 Big Idea CONNECTprenuer SPRING FORUM at the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, MD. We expect over 500 CXOs, founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, etc., and we will be completely SOLD OUT again. So, please sign up now! We have unparralled CXO to CXO networking, plus an amazing program: Fireside chat with DAVID TRONE, Co-Founder and Owner, Total Wine & More Awesome Entrepreneur “War Stories” Panel (moderated by GLEN HELLMAN (aka Mr. Cranky), angel investor and CEO of Driven Forward) featuring:· NIGEL JONES, CEO of Koolspan and Managing Director of TWJ Capital· BETH MALONEY, President of Palladian Partners· D.P. VENKATESH, VP of Broadsoft and CEO of mPortal PLUS 9 awesome early stage companies will present their companies.

The National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides small business with equity-free funding to conduct research and development (R&D) work and de-risk technology for commercial success. The NSF SBIR program accepts innovative proposals that show promise of commercial and societal impact in almost all areas of technology.

SBIR Phase I proposals are expected to undertake R&D with the aim of establishing technical feasibility or proof of concept. Successful applicants will receive a grant of up to $225,000 over a period of 6 to 12 months (the period to be decided by the company).

Successful SBIR proposers will receive funding about 6 months after the solicitation deadline. Companies that receive a Phase I award are eligible to apply for a Phase II award (award amount up to $750,000; duration 2 years).

In order for America to maintain its innovative and technological competitive advantage, it is imperative that current policy design favor high growth formation through the catalytic means of institutional financing. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs have historically served as crucial financing to help de-risk early-stage technology development and enable validation that encourages follow-on private institution capitalization. With new trends in the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, genomics, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, national security, and many other areas evolving over the years ahead, national governments bear the responsibility for helping seed the inventive fire that enables economic growth as we move forward.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017, 8:30 AM – 12 PM | WASHINGTON, DC

If you do business with the government, you are a target for cyber-attacks!

If you are a government contractor, join us to learn how to implement a strong and cost effective cybersecurity program that will strengthen your company’s cybersecurity posture and help you meet requirements necessary to do business with the federal government. As an attendee, you can receive two customized assessments to help identify your company’s level of exposure: (1) a mini cyber-risk review from CyberRx that will assess your company’s cyber capabilities within the Cybersecurity Framework; and (2) a threat intelligence assessment from Wapack Labs that can help to identify if your organization has been or will be the victim of an attack. Space is limited. Register today.

Friday, April 14, 2017 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM

Bethesda Marriott – 5151 Pooks Hill Road Bethesda, MD 20814

With the transition to the Trump administration, change is coming rapidly in the form of legislative proposals, regulations (or repeal thereof), and policy statements. How will all this affect the ability of tech companies to raise the capital they need to grow. Amid this shifting ground, we’ve asked an expert panel of our own Maryland technology companies to talk about their recent successes and challenges in raising capital and their outlook for the ability of Maryland technology companies to do the same. Our panel, moderated by David Straut of Wells Fargo, includes two long-time local tech CFOs who have had recent success raising money and the Director of the Maryland Venture Fund, which oversees investments in approximately 50 local technology ventures

Financial Executives Forum: FEF is devoted to peer-to-peer connections and programs that highlight the latest topics of interest for the region’s leading business and financial executives. FEF encourages participants to connect as well as learn from some of the area’s preeminent executives, policymakers and thought leaders.

Please join the Maryland Women’s Business Center for an Open House at our Rockville office.

Learn about our program and expanded services

Celebrate and meet MWBC clients who are growing their businesses

Meet our business counselors from Montgomery, Frederick and Prince George’s Counties

Network with local government officials, women entrepreneurs, sponsors, partners, and the local business community.

And, if you’ve been thinking about entering our 2017 StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition, it’s a great opportunity to ask past participants and winners about the process.   

Light refreshments will be provided by MWBC clients.

There is no cost to attend, but RSVPs are requested. Click the register button below.

For questions or more information, contact Donna Gallagher, donna@marylandwbc.org, 301-315-8091. 

Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 02:00pm – 04:00pm

USDA ARS and the USDA SBIR program formed a partnership to encourage USDA SBIR applicants to develop research collaborations with ARS scientists and/or to license ARS technologies. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of success by providing both money and technologies to small U.S. businesses. The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission.”

This webinar will include an overview of the USDA SBIR program and crafting a competitive SBIR proposal. Also an overview of ARS and how to develop a successful research collaboration (CRADA) with an ARS scientist and/or license an ARS technology will be discussed. The webinar will address coordinating the statement of works in an ARS CRADA and a USDA SBIR proposal.

March 31st, 2:30-4:30pm

Join us to learn more about bioscience as an industry and career opportunities available in Montgomery County

Presentation on BioScience + Tour of Montgomery College BioLab for staff and partners working with job seekers

To RSVP, email Heather Henry at hhenry@worksourcemontgomery.com

You thought the Shark Tank was tough? The second annual BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap is now accepting applications!

Submit your application for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the BioHealth Capital Region Forum.

Grand Prize:  $10,000, Incubation Space in Prince William County, VA or Montgomery County, MD, Business Mentoring

Deadline for entries is March 31st – Finalists will be announced by April 7th

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has signed a two-year contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response, valued at $100 million for the delivery of BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). This contract satisfies BARDA’s notice of intent to sole source BioThrax that was issued on December 8, 2016 and is separate from and in addition to the company’s $911 million BioThrax procurement contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). BioThrax pricing under this BARDA procurement contract is the same as BioThrax pricing under the CDC follow-on contract.

“Emergent is pleased to support BARDA in its efforts to enhance the nation’s preparedness against the threat of anthrax,” said Adam Havey, executive vice president and president biodefense division at Emergent BioSolutions. “Emergent is committed to developing and manufacturing preparedness solutions that address our customers’ needs to protect against a broad spectrum of public health threats.”

Pharmaron, a fully integrated contract research organization offering R&D services to the life sciences industry, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement under which Pharmaron will acquire a majority stake in Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Clinical Pharmacology Center, Inc. (“SNBL CPC”) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. This clinical center is a leading provider of moderate and highly complex Phase I/II clinical development services for the life sciences sector. Current shareholder Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd. (SNBL) (TSE:2395) will retain a minority stake in the business following the transaction.

Monday, April 3, 2017 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM EDT

SMC Campus Center 621 West Lombard Street Elm Room A & B Baltimore, MD 21201

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Network (EIN) is pleased to present the 1st annual Entrepreneurship and Innovation Expo at University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Join us for a half day event celebrating all of the entrepreneurial and innovative endeavors at UMB. Events will include talks entrepreneurs at the student, faculty and student levels as well as a keynote presentation from the UMB Presidents White Paper Fellows. Other events will include tabling sessions from local entrepreneurial entities and groups.

A new 40,000-square-foot accelerator space for Johns Hopkins is officially online in East Baltimore, and set to be home to nine startups by April.

FastForward is housed in the newest, $65 million building in the Hopkins biotech park, at 1812 Ashland Ave. It was designed to help young companies with all of their growing business needs, from conference rooms to office space to lab space. The new space replaces the former six-office hub near the Hopkins medical campus.

Digital health leader WellDoc® and the Healthy Trucking Association of America (HTAA) announced today their partnership to help truckers living with diabetes. Additionally, WellDoc unveils its consumer diabetes health app, BlueStar® C, which is designed to aid individuals living with diabetes to manage their chronic condition.

Both organizations, through this initial launch, will introduce BlueStar C to truckers and fleets at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Kentucky, which takes place from March 23-25. Renegade Radio Nashville (RRN) is also partnering with HTAA and WellDoc, as the national media partner for BlueStar C. RRN’s President and COO Jack Aponte (also known as on-air personality “Captain Jack”) will join the HTAA and WellDoc teams at the MATS Booth (#76 173) to help introduce BlueStar C to truckers and fleets in attendance at the meeting. Access to and set up for BlueStar C will be available at MATS for the trucking audience.

Tue, March 21, 2017, 7:30am-10:30am

The March EAGB Breakfast Series panel features leaders who are shaping the future of economic development through placemaking strategies and innovation districts. The EAGB invites you for breakfast and an engaging discussion on this topic of particular interest to the Greater Baltimore region. The Breakfast Series seeks to shine a light on the region’s assets and share the wisdom of its thought leaders – including those from industry, government and education. Join us!

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) today announced the appointment of Marco Chacón, PhD, as Assistant Vice President, Industry Alliances. In this role, Dr. Chacón, a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur, will work with the Office of Research and Development, UM Ventures, and University of Maryland BioPark teams, leading special projects to grow the BioPark tenant base and strengthen the University’s research collaborations with industry.

“Marco is a distinguished scientist, entrepreneur, and biopharma CEO who has spent many years working as a valued member of the UM BioPark community,” said James L. Hughes, Vice President and Chief Enterprise & Economic Development Officer and president of the corporation that manages the UM BioPark. “His accomplishments leading a successful contract development and manufacturing organization, along with his deep industry and government connections, make him a superb addition to our team at UMB.

The 2017 Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards publicly recognizes achievements by current clients and graduates of Maryland incubators and provides a forum for the nominees to increase their visibility in the business, technology and investment communities.

Business incubators support new and early-stage businesses in Maryland. In 1986, the first public incubator was established at the University of Maryland in College Park. Recognizing the economic challenges facing new companies, business incubators are facilities that provide reasonable market rents, shared services and technical assistance to start-ups and early-stage companies, including manufacturing, biotech, service and technology firms.

A pair of medicine and nursing alumni have made a $1.5 million gift to the University of Maryland’s Health Science & Human Services Library to establish a health care innovation center.

The center intends to provide an encouraging environment where doctors, medical students, nurses and other practitioners think in new ways about how to improve the doctor-patient relationship as a means of improving health care delivery, according to university officials who announced the funding Thursday.

University of Maryland Colony Ballroom, Stamp Student Union April 12, 2017 4:30-6:30 pm

Please join us to honor inventors, entrepreneurs, innovators, and partners.

The Trump Administration’s skinny budget proposal released today calls itself, “A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” From the information contained in the document, it is clear the Administration does not view science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and the economic development efforts built around those activities as the path forward to making “America great again.” The program eliminations and drastic cuts are not the way to move the country forward economically. So what is behind this proposal? Two things: 1) a fight over the proper role of the federal government in the economy, and 2) a negotiating tactic to attempt to lull advocates into thinking program survival or lesser cuts are a victory. A full community response is needed and all of us must get off the sidelines and on to the playing field.

SineWave Ventures wants to bring money and ideas together. Vornado’s got the office space to make it happen. And Arlington County wants to back the pairing to boost jobs, tax revenue and the economy.

The three are working together on The Venture Hub, which will locate at Vornado Realty Trust’s (NYSE: VNO) 2231 Crystal Drive in Crystal City — the same building where stalwart incubator 1776 leases space.

Under Armour has hired a former General Motors executive to serve as chief innovation officer.

Clay Dean, who will help the Baltimore sports apparel brand shape its global innovation vision and strategy, will work from the Baltimore headquarters and report to Kevin Haley, president of category management and innovation, the company said Monday.

The University of Maryland is planning to expand entrepreneurship space and activities at its campus in Baltimore, and a new innovation center on the southwest side of the city is part of the plans.

The aim is to open a new space during the summer, UM Ventures Director Jim Hughes said at a President’s Symposium event at the UMB campus. The location of the new space has yet to be finalized.

If you are a seed, early stage or start-up high technology company in the areas of Life Sciences, Biotech, Alternative Energy or Cyber Security, then you do not want to miss this seminar. This year the MWBC is rolling out a new Advanced Technology Program, and we want you to join us for our FREE introductory session on the resources that will help you grow. We will feature a panel discussion with representatives from TEDCO, MTECH, and MD Department of Commerce to discuss competition, alternate sources of funding, tech transfer/licensing, and commercialization. Also to be featured are incubator programs and their services in Montgomery, Frederick and Prince George’s Counties. This informative seminar will acquaint you with resources and programs that will help lay out a strategic approach for your company to take it to the next level. Register today as space is limited.

The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) Program provides funding for university-based research projects that help Maryland companies develop technology-based products, combining the creative expertise of Maryland’s university faculty with the drive of the state’s entrepreneurs and companies. Up to $100,000 per year is available for each project.

Tue, April 4, 2017 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT Add to Calendar LOCATION

Hyatt Regency Bethesda, One Bethesda Metro Center (7400 Wisconsin Ave) Bethesda, MD 20814

The Big Idea CONNECTpreneur Spring Forum BETHESDA April 4, 2017

First time attendees use code “LORE” for 40 percent off!

“The Best Networking Event in the MidAtlantic.”

This will be our 23rd consecutive SOLD OUT event over the last 5 years! Over 70% of previous attendees surveyed say that CONNECTpreneur is the “Number One” tech and investor event in the Mid-Atlantic region!

DCInno calls CONNECTpreneur “The Best Networking Event in DC” and a “NETWORKING JACKPOT” of the Region’s TOP Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders, CXOs, Angels, and VCs.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Old Town Pour House, 212 Ellington Blvd, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

The Maryland Tech Council (MTC) is hosting our inaugural Young Professionals Society event at Old Town Pour House in Gaithersburg. Join us for a networking cocktail reception to meet and mingle with other young professionals in Maryland.

The Maryland Tech Council’s Young Professionals Society advances young professionals through leadership and professional development, networking opportunities, educational events and community outreach. The society strengthens the life science and technology communities in Maryland by providing an opportunity for collaboration among these two industries.

The Mid-Atlantic Life Sciences Showcase is quickly becoming the show to attend. We have had overwhelming interest in this show and we’ve made improvements again this year. The show features:

Over 75 exhibitors expected from all areas of the biotech and pharmaceutical industry including: universities, manufacturing, research, government, suppliers, and more.

It’s fair to say we’ve entered a new era in biotech and pharma. Whether it’s diagnostics, drug development or medtech; informatics, mathematics and machine learning are marching their way in. Biology is being digitized. Big Data is taking population-wide information and distilling it down for treatment plans at an individualized scale.

The science within startups is evolving.

On an afternoon in early February, Richard May, the head of a new Baltimore nonprofit, stands braced against the wind and sketches out a vision for West Baltimore. It begins here, on a blighted section of North Avenue not far from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where a graveyard of a public housing project, unoccupied for almost two years, is currently being torn down.

A growing tech industry is often considered the ultimate sign of a healthy local economy. By that measure, the Bay Area still stands at the top of the heap in the United States, but our survey of the metropolitan areas with the strongest tech job growth turns up some surprising places not usually thought of as tech meccas.

The Da Vinci Surgical System is a set of four robotic arms that are controlled by a surgeon, mimicking and miniaturizing their hand gestures.

It allows for more precision and dexterity, while reducing blood loss and tissue damage.

When Americans think about U.S. leadership in the world, they often think of military power, famous presidents, or economic achievement. But they might be less likely to name an area in which the United States has led the world for decades: science.

From lifesaving vaccines for devastating diseases like smallpox and polio, to novel materials like semiconductors and superconductors, to robotic rovers that can explore Mars, science has made possible discoveries that revolutionized the world, and much of it started right here in the United States.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding immigration laws, five of the city’s colleges are teaming up in an effort to help foreign student entrepreneurs stay in Chicago to build their startups.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to announce this afternoon that Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago and Northwestern University each will adopt global entrepreneur-in-residence programs.

Wed, Mar 29, 2017 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT

USDA ARS and the USDA SBIR program formed a partnership to encourage USDA SBIR applicants to develop research collaborations with ARS scientists and/or to license ARS technologies. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of success by providing both money and technologies to small U.S. businesses. The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission.”

This webinar will include an overview of the USDA SBIR program and crafting a competitive SBIR proposal. Also an overview of ARS and how to develop a successful research collaboration (CRADA) with an ARS scientist and/or license an ARS technology will be discussed. The webinar will address coordinating the statement of works in an ARS CRADA and a USDA SBIR proposal.

Bill Schmidt, Managing Partner of Cultivation Capital’s Life Science Fund, is optimistic about the future of Life Science investment in St. Louis. He said, More capital is flowing in St. Louis, with us, BioGenerator, RiverVest Venture Partners, Lewis & Clark Ventures, Ascension Ventures, iSelect Fund, St. Louis Arch Angels, Missouri Technology Corporation, and others. And, we are starting to get attention from upmarket VC firms on the coasts, which is great, as our companies are going to need it.”

For industries that depend on innovation, sustaining it is a constant challenge. This is particularly the case in biopharmaceuticals, where turning molecules into medicines is notoriously fraught with risk, and failure.

When one of us (Vivek) and his team launched Roivant Sciences in 2014 and began developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease — they were determined to learn from the pharma industry’s innovation issues and build a more sustainable innovation engine. After extensive assessment, they settled on two initiatives: realigning incentives for employees and systematically introducing outside talent and practices.

I’m in the process of writing an e-book for publication this summer called A Bold Approach to Grants Research. This book encourages grantseekers to challenge their thinking when it comes to identifying funders for a particular program or project.

I am writing this book because I think we often get stuck in a rut when it comes to seeking support. We tend to drift toward those grantmakers who have supported us in the past, or grantmakers we think should have supported us! We rely on the regional community foundation, or the family fund that is most active in our area. We turn to those two or three businesses that seem to support everything (even if it is a small amount). It is hard to break out of this mold not only because we are familiar with these grantmakers, so approaching them seems easier, but also because we really don’t know where else to look or how to think about funding in a different way.

March 23rd

Join us at the Sinai Hospital BioIncubator in Baltimore on March 23rd for 2 great events. First hear from Yair Flicker, CEO of SmartLogic, who will share advice on hiring your first 10 employees. Then, stick around for some great networking at the BioBuzz event. Come for one, or come for both, just don’t miss it! 

Event Details:

4-5:30 pm: Distinguised Speakers Series featuring Yair Flicker

Topic: How Not to Hire Your First 10 Employees: Lessons from the Trenches (Sinai Hospital Board Room)

5:30-7:30 pm: BioBuzz Networking @ the Sinai BioIncubator

Location: Sinai Cafeteria

If you are an emerging biotech or life science company, the Sinai Hospital BioIncubator could be the ideal solution for your laboratory needs.

Their Mission as a business incubator is to improve human health by bringing together emerging businesses, innovative technologies and leading physicians. The future of healthcare is here and they invite you to be a part of it.

March 23rd

One of the most important and difficult jobs for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs is raising money. This workshop is built on the foundations of Pitch Creator, an online self-paced learning resource for CEOs to develop their pitch. Join us for an in person experience to ask questions, get feedback, meet the experts and build your strongest pitch. Over a two-part series we will guide you through an efficient process of developing an effective pitch, while also explaining the “why” behind many of the topics so you will be able to adapt your presentation to your audience and over time as your business changes.

NextGen Venture Partners, a young, Washington, D.C.-based venture firm that’s quarterbacked by a handful of investors but fueled financially by a network of hundreds of part-time investors who help with its portfolio, has raised $22 million for its debut fund. (This if you don’t count a $1 million pool of capital that it raised from its network in 2015.)

We had a quick chat with Jon Bassett, one of the firm’s five partners, late last week to talk about what NextGen is trying to create. That conversation has been edited for length.

Many global cities want to be named the next tech innovation hub. But who’s really in the running?

It’s a question on which there are myriad perspectives and theories — the latest taking the form of a survey by professional service company KPMG. The company recently released part one of it’s yearly technology industry innovation survey (now in its fifth year) — a survey of over 800 “global technology industry leaders” in which KPMG asks about the changing landscape of tech. Part one the survey explores “the rise of new ecosystems of incubators, accelerators, and venture capital alongside government incentives across the world.”

The Next Step: VC Investment Update

Entrepreneurs, investors and others: Join the NVTC Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee for the second part of this practical series on raising investment capital. This expert panel will feature some of the most active VCs investing in Greater Washington region companies. The panelists represent active venture investors who have participated in venture rounds in the last year in Greater Washington and are looking to make more investments. The panel will discuss their recent experiences, their desired investee profiles and offer practical advice on raising venture stage capital.

Moderator:

Norm Snyder, CPA, Partner, Aronson LLC

Speakers:

J.S. Gamble, Co-Founder, Blu Ventures Todd Klein, Managing Director and CIO, SWaN & Legend Ventures Adam VeVerka, Director- Business Development, NewSpring Capital Kristin Gunther, Vice President, Revolution Growth

REGENXBIO Inc. (RGNX), a leading biotechnology company focused on the development, commercialization and licensing of recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced that Kenneth T. Mills, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Cowen and Company 37th Annual Health Care Conference on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 10:40 a.m. ET at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston. In addition, REGENXBIO representatives will be holding one-on-one meetings at the conference.

A live webcast of the presentation can be accessed in the Investors section of REGENXBIO’s website at www.regenxbio.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the same website for approximately 30 days following the presentation.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) 9700 Great Seneca Hwy Rockville, MD 20850

Recent, high-profile hotel hacks have brought increasing attention to the hospitality sector and its cybersecurity challenges. While hospitality organizations have long supported the internal flow of information and data (e.g. allowing a hotel guest to charge dinner from the hotel restaurant to his/her room), technological improvements and customer demands have pushed hotels to offer increasing amenities, such as free Wi-Fi or mobile check-in. Through collaboration with the hospitality industry, the NCCoE is developing an example solution to help organizations strengthen the security of their property management system to better protect the business against network intrusion, data breach, fraud loss, and damage to reputation, while continuing to allow customers and guests to utilize and appreciate a hotel’s technological amenities. Join us for a lively discussion on the unique trends and challenges to improving cybersecurity in the hospitality sector.

Wed, April 5, 2017 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT

Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research 9600 Gudelsky DriveRockville, MD, Maryland 20850

From patient engagement to data analytics, the Health IT space is one of the hottest sectors in healthcare today. Join our next SoPE event and learn from developers, investors and entrepreneurs how to best get your innovative idea from inception to consumers while anticipating and avoiding the common pitfalls you are bound to encounter along the way.

Moderator: Jeffrey N. Hausfeld MD, MBA, Founder and Chairman – Society of Physician Entprepreneurs, Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Officer – BioFactura, Inc.

You thought the Shark Tank was tough? The second annual BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap is now accepting applications!

Submit your application for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the BioHealth Capital Region Forum.

Grand Prize:  $10,000, Incubation Space in Prince William County, VA or Montgomery County, MD, Business Mentoring

Deadline for entries is March 31st – Finalists will be announced by April 7th

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today launched DrugCostFacts.org, a new interactive web tool designed to help healthcare stakeholders gain a better understanding of the true facts surrounding drug costs, spending and value.

The site features a series of commonly asked questions—ranging from “Why are some drugs expensive?” to “What role do PBMs, insurance companies and wholesalers play in determining what patients pay for their drugs?”—and then answers these questions using infographics, videos and interactive tools. The site also has additional research and reading materials for those who want to dive deeper into these issues. The tool is mobile responsive, allowing users to access information on their phones and tablets.

Scott Gottlieb, a former deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the agency, according to an emailed statement from the White House.

Gottlieb, 44, served in several senior positions at the FDA during the George W. Bush administration. He has talked extensively about how to lower the cost of prescription drugs by modernizing the agency’s approval process and speeding cheaper generic competitors to market.

American University’s Business In the Capital Initiative (BCI), in cooperation with BioHealth Innovation, Johns Hopkins University, MedImmune and area governments and universities, is conducting a study of BioHealth Exports in the Washington Region. As part of the study, BCI is seeking input from area life science companies which are either currently exporting products or services– or are not exporting but would like to do so in the near future. The study goals are to increase exports of life science products and services into the global health care markets, and to identify and remedy the barriers to entry to the global healthcare markets for BioHealth Capital Region companies.

To make this exercise a success, we are seeking life science companies in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. to participate in a survey. Participating companies will be interviewed either in person or via voice. Confidentiality of companies and the information they choose to provide is assured. To participate, contact Prof. Erran Carmel at carmel@american.edu or 202-885-1928.

This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Paragon Bioservices, Inova, University System of Maryland and MedImmune/AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are excited to bring you an exceptional line up of speakers. The program will feature sessions that focus on Advancing Science and Accelerating Innovation.

At University of California Berkeley researchers have developed an innovative new way of delivering vaccines that may one day be an option over scary, and slightly painful, needle injections. The MucoJet device is a pill that, when pushed against the cheek, releases its cargo in the form of a microjet. The pressure generated is enough to push large molecules through the mucosal layer and into tissue that’s usually highly concentrated with immune cells.

The conviction that competitive differentiation will require effective digital initiatives has led many life-sciences companies to create a new leadership role, chief digital officer (CDO), to guide their digital initiatives.

To understand how these leaders see the digital future and how they are managing for success, we spoke to CDOs and their equivalents at ten pharma companies. These conversations suggest three imperatives for digital efforts: focus on the team applying the tools, not on the tools themselves; make bold, disruptive bets; and optimize the portfolio of initiatives to achieve company priorities, while taking finite resources into account.

The Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) today released new data showing record growth in entrepreneurial activity at the state’s universities as part of its Illinois Innovation Index, which reports on the key metrics of the state’s innovation economy. The report found that during the past five academic years, students and faculty at Illinois universities created 804 startups through technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs, competitions and other university initiatives. A record number of these startups, nearly 500, are also staying in the state.

USDA ARS and the USDA SBIR program formed a partnership to encourage USDA SBIR applicants to develop research collaborations with ARS scientists and/or to license ARS technologies. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of success by providing both money and technologies to small U.S. businesses. The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission.”

This webinar will include an overview of the USDA SBIR program and crafting a competitive SBIR proposal. Also an overview of ARS and how to develop a successful research collaboration (CRADA) with an ARS scientist and/or license an ARS technology will be discussed. The webinar will address coordinating the statement of works in an ARS CRADA and a USDA SBIR proposal.

When Subra Suresh was tapped to lead the National Science Foundation (NSF), in 2010, he saw that many of the pathbreaking discoveries developed through the agency’s grants weren’t finding their way to the marketplace, so he sought to foster better links between government and industry.

This, of course, was not an entirely new idea. Over the years, there have been numerous efforts, ranging from the Bayh-Dole Act, of 1980, to numerous initiatives to revamp technology transfer offices within government agencies, but nothing really seemed able to speed new discoveries out of the labs and into the marketplace.

Knowledge of an individual’s skin condition is important for pressure ulcer prevention. Detecting early changes in skin through perfusion, oxygen saturation values, and pressure on tissue and subsequent therapeutic intervention could increase patients’ quality of life drastically. However, most existing sensing options create additional risk of ulcer development due to further pressure on and chafing of the skin. Here, as a first component, we present a flexible, photonic textile-based sensor for the continuous monitoring of the heartbeat and blood flow. Polymer optical fibres (POFs) are melt-spun continuously and characterized optically and mechanically before being embroidered. The resulting sensor shows flexibility when embroidered into a moisture-wicking fabric, and withstands disinfection with hospital-type laundry cycles. Additionally, the new sensor textile shows a lower static coefficient of friction (COF) than conventionally used bedsheets in both dry and sweaty conditions versus a skin model. Finally, we demonstrate the functionality of our sensor by measuring the heartbeat at the forehead in reflection mode and comparing it with commercial finger photoplethysmography for several subjects. Our results will allow the development of flexible, individualized, and fully textile-integrated wearable sensors for sensitive skin conditions and general long-term monitoring of patients with risk for pressure ulcer.

The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) today announced the release of its 2016 annual data report, offering an in-depth look at trends and metrics for the cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering and broader global regenerative medicine sector.

Using data provided by ARM’s data partner Informa and compiled and analyzed by ARM’s staff, the report details industry-specific statistics and trends from more than 730 leading cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering and other regenerative medicine companies worldwide. Key features of the report include total financings for the sector, partnerships and other deals, clinical trial information, major clinical data events, current legislative and regulatory priorities and ARM’s strategic priorities for 2017.