The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a contract to researchers at The Johns Hopkins University to launch a new center devoted to developing innovative ways to identify and track influenza viruses worldwide.
One top goal is to rapidly identify new influenza virus strains that may emerge as the next seasonal influenza or global pandemic that could threaten public health.
Michael Spinosa overflows with enthusiasm about the team that helped his Columbia company figure out new strategies for growth — at no charge.
That might not sound like economic development, if your conception of it is multimillion-dollar incentives to tempt big employers to move in. The assistance Spinosa got is a different approach with the same goal: more jobs.
Novavax Inc. believes it has created a vaccine against the Middle East Respiratory Virus, or MERS, which has been causing pandemic concerns.
The Gaithersburg biotech, working with University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, said their vaccine candidate blocked MERS infections in laboratory studies. It is based on a platform for a vaccine candidate that is said to protect against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS; both MERS and SARS are coronaviruses.
Emocha, one of nine graduates of the first class of startups from the DreamIt Health Baltimore accelerator, announced at Demo Day on April 30 that it’s opening an investment round this summer.
The mobile health platform is already being used in three separate pilot programs to allow physicians and clinicians based at health organizations to monitor patients’ symptoms, recovery and rehabilitation from a variety of diseases via smartphone.
QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that its artus C. difficile QS-RGQ MDx Kit has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to qualitatively detect Clostridium difficile, a widespread healthcare-associated infection (HAI). In addition, the FDA has granted 510(k) regulatory clearance for the QIAsymphony RGQ MDx system, QIAGEN’s flagship automation platform that is transforming laboratory workflows and driving dissemination of molecular diagnostics. The U.S. milestone for QIAGEN’s global rollout of its sample-to-result automation platform, together with the FDA clearance of the first in a portfolio of tests for HAI infections, supports the expected growth in QIAsymphony placements globally to more than 1,250 by year-end 2014 and 1,500 by year-end 2015.
“Our QIAsymphony RGQ platform is revolutionizing laboratory workflows with flexible, efficient automation from sample to result – and the U.S. clearance affirms that we are well on track with our targets for this important growth driver,” said Peer M. Schatz, Chief Executive Officer. “QIAGEN is now positioned to rapidly expand the menu of standardized, regulator-approved diagnostic kits running on QIAsymphony. Our FDA cleared artus C. difficile QS-RGQ MDx Kit provides reliable detection of both the Toxin A and Toxin B of the infection. artus C. difficile QS-RGQ MDx Kit is the first test of our planned HAI portfolio in the United States. As we continue to deliver on a deep pipeline for infectious diseases and personalized healthcare diagnostics, the growing menu adds value for customers and patients by allowing consolidation of more tests on this platform.”
The rising prevalence of smartphones and mobile phones has made their use as a way to help people manage their health more viable. So much so that the National Institutes of Health has started an mhealth grants program and is looking for submissions.
It plans to offer awards of up to $500,000. Self management of chronic conditions and improving patient-provider communications are among the sought-after areas. It begins accepting applications today through May.
Economic Gardening initiatives, including the Advance Maryland program, are gaining momentum across the State, but to understand the origin of the term, one must first look to Littleton, Colorado.
In the late 1980s, with the closing of a major missile manufacturing plant, the Denver suburb faced thousands of layoffs. Town leaders were left with two thoughts: What to do next and how to be less vulnerable in the future?
Funding and Research Opportunities
The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:
NIH Guide Notices:
The Cyber Incubator@bwtech of Baltimore, Md., has been named a finalist for the National Business Incubation Association’s 2014 Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year award in the technology focus category. The winner of the prestigious award will be announced May 20 at NBIA’s 28th International Conference on Business Incubation in New Orleans.
The Cyber Incubator is located at bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park, adjacent to and affiliated with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). The Cyber Incubator’s mission is to provide a unique, innovative approach to business incubation for early-stage cyber security and IT-focused businesses, including women-owned, minority-owned, and small disadvantaged businesses, and to foster economic development for the state of Maryland. When built in 2011, 5 companies occupied the incubator’s 10,000 square foot Class-A office space. Today the incubator houses over 30 companies and consists of an additional 3,000 square foot co-working space called the CyberHive.
Afraid of spiders, needles, or heights? There’s an app in development to help remedy that.
Speaking of nascent mobile applications, how about one that manages and tracks patient populations spread out over hundreds or even thousands of miles?
The solutions to many vexing health care issues could reside right in our pockets, according to founders of several IT startup companies that pitched their products on Wednesday at the 2014 DreamIt Health Baltimore Demo Day.
