A biotech entrepreneur wants to arm physicians with an electronic companion diagnostic tool to help hospitals reduce hospital-acquired infections.
Last year, antibiotic-resistant infections caused more than two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 70 percent of those antibiotic-resistant infections were caused by hospital-acquired infections.
The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) are pleased to invite you to attend the 2014 BIO International Convention to be held June 23-26, 2014 in San Diego.
BIO 2014 is the largest venue for private company-to-company meetings (“partnering”) in the world and offers tech transfer, licensing, and intellectual property professionals with unparalleled access to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, investors, and other potential partners from around the globe. According to the Campbell Alliance’s Deal Makers’ Intentions report from 2013, partnering events such as BIO 2014 drive the majority of successful deals in the biopharma industry.
Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana), a member of the Roche Group and MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced they are jointly developing a PD-L1 (SP263) immunohistochemistry assay to enroll patients in clinical trials for MedImmune’s MEDI4736 anti-PD-L1 therapy for non-small cell lung carcinoma. This includes the recently commenced MEDI4736 ATLANTIC trial that will enroll only patients who express PD-L1 as determined by the VENTANA assay.
MEDI4736 is an investigational, engineered, human monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Signals from PD-L1 help tumors avoid detection by the immune system. It is believed that by targeting PD-L1, MEDI4736 may block this ligand from sending out signals to T-cells to ‘ignore’ tumor cells, thereby countering cancer’s immune-evading tactics.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the Chesapeake Innovation Center are teaming up to teach cyber entrepreneurs how to pitch to investors.
The seven-week program — Perfect Pitch — is scheduled to begin in September and conclude at the end of October. The program will end just before the start of the CyberMaryland Conference on Oct. 29.
Early June is Health Datapalooza time, and this year’s event was again a whirlwind of energy, insights, and over 2,000 very motivated and passionate health data enthusiasts (health datapaloozers doesn’t sound right). The hallway conversations provided tons of of pragmatic, productive and engaging conversations, inspired by keynotes and presentations from Todd Park, Bryan Sivak, Jeremy Hunt, Atul Gawande, Steve Case, Jerry Levin, Vinod Khosla, Kathleen Seblius, Dwayne Spradlin, Francis Collins, Fred Trotter, and many more (if you haven’t heard of some of them, look them up, it’s worth your time).
The University Economic Development Association (UEDA) is currently seeking nominations for its annual Awards of Excellence program, which recognizes cutting edge university-based economic development initiatives from across the country. The Awards of Excellence Program recognizes higher education institutions and their partners who are transforming their campuses into engines of economic prosperity through creative initiatives in five categories:
ERIC KING, 30, of Northern Liberties, is founder and CEO of Grand Round Table, a startup on 3rd Street near Market that develops software to help doctors make complicated diagnoses. GRT, which launched in 2012, is getting the correct diagnoses about 70 percent of the time. The company, which was part of the first DreamIt Health accelerator in 2013, has three full-time employees and has raised $110,000 from the Wharton Venture Initiation Program and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
PRESENTER:
Karen Ambrose, Program Director, Business, Professional Licensure and Certification Programs
Montgomery College, Workforce Development and Continuing Education
ABSTRACT:
Montgomery College has joined with the world renowned Kauffman Foundation in support of current and future business owners before, during, and after the start-up process. Our plethora of courses is designed to meet the entrepreneurial needs of the aspiring business person and those who dream of business ownership.
Free monthly program offered through the Gateway to Innovation: Montgomery County Welcome Center for Federal and Academic Tech Transfer. For more information and additional calendar items, please visit TechTransferConnection.com.
Engage with others in the tech transfer field by joining the Gateway to Innovation LinkedIn Group.
Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students have designed a lightweight, easy-to-conceal shirtlike garment to deliver lifesaving shocks to patients experiencing serious heart problems. The students say their design improves upon a wearable defibrillator system that is already in use and should help persuade patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest to wear the system around the clock.
“In two studies, up to 20 percent of patients who received the defibrillator garment that’s already available did not keep it on all the time because of comfort and appearance issues, problems sleeping in it, and frequent ‘maintenance alarms,’ which occur when the device does not get a good signal from sensors on the patient’s skin,” says Sandya Subramanian, who led the undergraduate team that built the new prototype. “We set out to address these issues and design a device that heart patients would be more likely to wear for longer periods of time—because their lives may depend on it.”
Rockville-based CytImmune Sciences Inc. has raised $400,000 from the Maryland Venture Fund, Montgomery County and an unnamed venture investor to push Aurimune — a drug that pairs a decades-old tumor-fighting agent with gold nanoparticles — into phase 2 trials.
The Maryland Venture Fund led the round with $200,000, with another $100,000 coming from the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and the unidentified investor.
