News Archive

Who?

A conference and career fair for current postdoctoral fellows working in Washington, D.C. area federal labs and universities, and for companies recruiting high-level S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals.

What?

This event exposes area postdoctoral fellows in the S.T.E.M. fields to the many career options (e.g., government, private sector, entrepreneurship) that are available to them.

The career fair portion connects local job-seeking postdocs with companies seeking that level of talent.

When & Where?

Bethesda North Marriott / Montgomery County Conference Center 5701 Marinelli Road, Rockville, MD 20852

April 24, 2014 

Time: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Watch this space for more information about the next event.

MedCity News, writing about DreamIt Ventures, notes the venture capital firm specializing in incubation and seed investments is calling for applications for DreamIt Health Philadelphia in an environment where more and more applicants are developing smartphone diagnostic tools. “This trend in mHealth devices is prompting a shift in how DreamIt characterizes the accelerator to include not just health IT to health tech. It also wants startups to be more aware of regulatory requirements.”

Elliot Menschik, managing partner for healthcare with DreamIt Health, told MedCity News that DreamIt needs to educate its class members specifically about FDA guidelines and regulatory requirements concerning mobile health settings. “More and more, we will see companies that need to [know how to] navigate the FDA in an mHealth setting,” he said. “We ask them, ‘Have you thought about how the FDA will treat this?’ It’s a big, eye-opening experience for them. But we’re in a much better position to help those companies than ever.”

The size of angel financing rounds in the healthcare industry grew last year, although the share of all angel deals focused on healthcare stayed about the same.

Silicon Valley Bank, the Angel Resource Institute and CB Insights are out with their 2013 Halo Report today looking back at last year’s trends. The data showed deals rebounding from a dip in 2012 and becoming increasingly valuable.

BioSTL announced today a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the Monsanto Company that will support the nonprofit’s work to promote regional economic growth and advance St. Louis’ standing as a leader in bioscience. Funding from Monsanto will allow BioSTL to step up its collaborative efforts to build a strong bioscience ecosystem that capitalizes on St. Louis’ world-class plant and medical science strengths. The announcement came during InvestMidwest 2014, a venture capital conference that showcases 40-45 companies from throughout the Midwest in the three industry tracks of life sciences, technology, and food/ag/bioenergy.

“St. Louis is home to a unique convergence of corporate, university, and entrepreneurial strengths that place our region among the world’s great bioscience centers. Monsanto has been a longtime collaborator with local universities and research institutions as well as an early supporter of regional entrepreneurial activities,” said Donn Rubin, President and CEO of BioSTL. “This contribution will help to advance St. Louis’ economy by further expanding the infrastructure necessary to grow St. Louis’ bioscience community.”

MIPS provides funding, matched by participating companies, for university research projects that help companies develop new technology products.

Benefits to Maryland Companies

• Cost-effective research with world-class university faculty
• Access to university students, state-of-the-art facilities, laboratories and equipment
• Non-dilutive, non-debt funding for research
• Opportunity to work directly with talented students—potential future hires
• Rapid proposal evaluations—MIPS notifies award winners within 60 days of the proposal deadline

Benefits to Maryland Faculty

• Research translates directly to new product development
• Potential for published papers and improved university facilities
• Students gain valuable experience working on commercial technologies

Visit www.mips.umd.edu or call 301.405.3891 for details.

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY MAY 1, 2014!

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will address the University of Maryland graduates at spring commencement on Thursday, May 22, the campus announced Tuesday.

Students announced the second-term governor would be speaking by posting a photo on social media of O’Malley with Testudo, the university’s mascot.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, will address graduates of Johns Hopkins University at commencement on May 22, 2014.

Named one of Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business,” one of Forbes’ “100 Most Powerful Women,” and one of Vanity Fair’s 50 “leading innovators [that] shake the foundations of their industries,” Wojcicki became head of the video-sharing powerhouse earlier this year.

MedImmune, the global biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca, is always enthusiastic about explaining how its science benefits patients’ lives. So taking part in Cambridge’s highly successful Science Festival, which finished last weekend, is a wonderful opportunity for the company to reach out and share its activities with the wider Cambridge community.   

With many thousands of visitors, the Cambridge Science Festival provides the public with opportunities to explore and discuss topics of scientific interest and, importantly, is the perfect place to raise aspirations by encouraging young people to consider a career in science. Over both weekends of the Festival, firstly in the Corn Exchange and then at the Clinical School at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, over 35 MedImmune scientists volunteered their time to demonstrate to a continual stream of visitors to understand how new antibody medicines are found using viruses which grow in bacteria.

Contract research organizations make good money providing critical services to young biotech and drug development companies early on. But often, those companies are cash-strapped at the stage when they need a CRO. That’s why some CROs are becoming stakeholders in the companies they work with, offering cash or services for equity in life science startups.

“We fundamentally believe that we should be aligned with our clients,” said David Gee, strategic business development at Cato BioVentures, the venture capital affiliate of a CRO called Cato Research. “I think it’s reasonable, particularly with early-stage companies, that we have some skin in the game. (Then) we have reason to come to a positive endpoint and to get there as quickly and efficiently as possible, because that’s how part of our value is going to be generated.”

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) announced today that 12 startup companies have advanced to the final round of the InvestMaryland Challenge, the State’s national business competition. The finalists are competing for $100,000 top prizes in four categories — Information Technology, Life Sciences, General Industry, and, new this year, Cybersecurity. All companies who entered the Challenge are eligible for more than $300,000 in other prizes, including grants, software and lab and incubator space. The winners will be announced in May.

“Congratulations to the finalists and all the companies that advanced in the InvestMaryland Challenge. To stand out from the field of 260 applicants is an achievement in itself and a testament to the strength of the companies competing for the top prizes,” said Dominick Murray, DBED Secretary. “For two years in a row, Maryland has been named the #1 state in the country for innovation and entrepreneurship and companies like those competing in this Challenge are the reason why. They are the future leaders of Maryland’s Innovation Economy and we are proud to support them as they grow and create jobs.”