News Archive

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20

Join us for an open house to learn more about the Master of Liberal Arts program, which is expanding in January 2015 to the Montgomery County Campus. Classes will be available on evenings, Saturdays and online.

The Johns Hopkins Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) is a unique, non-traditional graduate degree. Whereas most graduate programs ask you to become more and more specialized, the MLA expects you to both broaden and deepen your educational experience. Established in 1962 and administered by the Center for Liberal Arts at Johns Hopkins University, the program has gained national recognition for the quality of its teaching and the breadth of its course offerings. The MLA thrives on the curiosity, passion and diversity of its students. Our community of scholars eagerly embraces the Master of Liberal Arts interdisciplinary approach and flexible curriculum to better understand more about the world—and in so doing, learn and understand more about themselves.

At the Sept. 20th open house, you will have the opportunity to meet the program directors and ask questions about the MLA degree.

Opticul Diagnostics has won a BioMaryland Center grant to work on a medical device with a France-based company that would immediately identify microorganisms in a wound at a point-of-care setting, such as a hospital.

The device would be used on burn injuries and cutaneous wounds. The rapid identification of the bacteria in the wound would allow for quicker patient treatment.

Opitcul Diagnostics, based at Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County Campus, is collaborating with Diafir of Rennes, France. The two companies have received funding through a partnership between BioMaryland Center and Medicen Paris Region.

Image: http://mcc.jhu.edu

Montgomery County, MD DED Tech Transfer Programs Monthly Event – Second Wednesday of every month: 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM (EDT) Germantown, MD

Innovators and startups pride themselves on being creators of disruptive technologies. We expect them to introduce game-changing solutions that improve our quality of life and enable administrations to govern better.

But the journey from innovative solution to government adoption is far from easy and can seem impossible for smaller companies with cutting-edge technologies.

Image: http://www.statetechmagazine.com

Qiagen has agreed to partner with AstraZeneca to develop a liquid biopsy-based companion diagnostic test to accompany one of the pharmaceutical company’s lung cancer drugs.

Building on a master framework agreement signed by both companies in 2013, the partnership will involve the creation of a diagnostic test that analyses plasma samples to assess EGFR mutation status in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

The healthcare system in the U.S. is a slow-moving, slow-changing beast, but it’s also riddled with inefficient parts that beg for data-driven reinvention. That’s created huge opportunities for startups — and some of them are already seeing the payoff. The Affordable Care Act and accompanying legislation like the HITECH Act have lit a fire under the movement to rethink they way we deliver and pay for healthcare. Accordingly, investment in the digital health space has accelerated in 2014; at the end of June it totaled $2.2 billion, already exceeding 2013’s total funding just halfway through the year.

Johns Hopkins researchers Aleksander Popel and Jordan Green knew their research could serve a greater purpose outside their laboratory. But without any business experience, they knew they couldn’t do it alone.

With help from Hopkins’ tech transfer office and the Maryland Innovation Initiative, a state grant fund that invests in research projects with commercialization promise, the pair’s biomedical research is now a company — AsclepiX Therapeutics. The company is developing a better way to treat eye conditions caused by blood vessel abnormalities. Macular edema, which is common among people with diabetes and can lead to blindness, is an example.

Image: Jaclyn Borowski – At left, Niranjan Pandey, senior director of research and development, and Eric Bressler, research specialist, work in the lab at AsclepiX Therapeutics. 

Report: “Safe Science: Promoting a Culture of Safety in Academic Chemical Research”

Author: Committee on Establishing and Promoting a Culture of Safety in Academic Laboratory Research

Organization: National Research Council

Summary: The National Research Council formed a panel of university lab-safety experts after a series of campus accidents, including several deaths, emphasized that academic labs have a far worse safety record than their corporate counterparts do.