News Archive

The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) today announced a transformative partnership to establish the University of Maryland 3 – Institute for Health Computing (UM-3-IHC), which is being led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), in collaboration with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Montgomery County, Md. This new Institute will leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and computing to create a premier learning health care system that evaluates both de-identified and secure digitized medical health data to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases in patients across the state of Maryland.

Image: Bruce Jarrell, MD, FACS

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich signed Thursday a multiagency agreement to launch a new higher education institute in North Bethesda dedicated to artificial intelligence in health care, with the goal of establishing a magnetic academic-industrial complex akin to what’s envisioned for Northern Virginia’s National Landing.

The budding collaboration — dubbed The University of Maryland 3 – Institute for Health Computing, or UM-3-IHC — involves Montgomery County, the University of Maryland campuses in Baltimore and College Park and the University of Maryland Medical System Corporation (UMMS), a hospital network. 

Image: https://www.bizjournals.com/

November 9, 2022 — Johnson & Johnson Innovation, together with Johnson & Johnson Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, announced that AmacaThera, Hawkeye Bio, Inc., Garwood Medical Devices, LLC, Immunophotonics, Limax Biosciences, and Nanochon have been selected as the awardees in the Innovations for Vets QuickFire Challenge: Lung Cancer & Physical Trauma.

The challenge invited innovators to submit potentially groundbreaking ideas that aim to directly address the unique healthcare needs of the military community.

When London-based artificial-intelligence (AI) company DeepMind unveiled predicted structures for some 220 million proteins earlier this year, the trove covered nearly every protein from known organisms in DNA databases. Now, another tech giant is filling in the ‘dark matter’ of the protein universe.

Researchers at Meta (formerly Facebook, headquartered in Menlo Park, California) have used AI to predict the structures of some 600 million proteins from bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that haven’t been characterized.

Image: The ESM Metagenomic Atlas contains structural predictions for 617 million proteins.Credit: ESM Metagenomic Atlas (CC BY 4.0)

November 08, 2022 08:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of LAMP-mediated nucleic acid-based immunotherapy, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track Designation (FTD) to the ITI-3000 program for the treatment of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma. The company is currently enrolling a phase 1 study evaluating ITI-3000, a plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccine targeting patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer that is typically caused by the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV).

“The FDA’s decision to grant FTD underscores the potential for the ITI-3000 program to address a serious unmet need and serve as a meaningful therapeutic option for patients with Merkel cell carcinoma,” stated Dr. William Hearl, Chief Executive Officer of ITI. “We are committed to unlocking the full potential of ITI-3000 in patients with this aggressive form of skin cancer. We expect to report top-line data from our ongoing phase 1 trial of ITI-3000 in MCC patients next year and look forward to working closely with the FDA on a potential next phase clinical study design, while simultaneously continuing dialogue with possible partners.”

Catalio Capital Management, an investment firm with offices in Baltimore and New York City, this week announced the close of a new fund that already counts a Johns Hopkins University-borne cancer detection company and patient-monitoring software system in its portfolio.

According to Catalio executives, the $85 million Catalio Credit Opportunities Fund I partners with what a statement called “39 world-renowned serial scientist-entrepreneurs at top-tier academic institutions in the US and Europe in order to vet opportunities to fund founders.” The fund, also described as a “special situations fund,” targets small and mid-sized private companies.

Image: (L to R) Catalio Capital Management cofounders R. Jacob Vogelstein and George Petrocheilos.

(Courtesy photo)

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, November 8, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Linshom Medical was awarded a $2.4 Million Fasttrack SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

“This award further validates our technology for critical bedside respiratory monitoring and adds to the list of Linshom Medical’s achievements,” said Richard Hughen, CEO. “This award funds a clinical study to prove Linshom’s early detection capability of patient respiratory decline. It also funds the further miniaturization of our technology to reach more patients in more settings such as a nasal cannula and a wearable sensor for home monitoring.”

Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., who is performing the duties of the National Institutes of Health director, has selected Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., as director of NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Dr. Rutter has served as NCATS acting director since April 2021. She officially began her role as NCATS director on Nov. 6, 2022.

Image: NCATS Director Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D.

Researchers have identified shared genetic risk factors for systemic lupus erythematosus and coronary artery disease, according to data published in Cell Reports Medicine.

The findings may open the door for early testing for coronary artery disease risk in patients with lupus, the researchers wrote.

Under the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 (the Act), signed into law last month, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs were extended through fiscal year 2025. These programs provide grants or contracts to small businesses to fund early-stage research and development. Over a dozen agencies participate in the SBIR or STTR programs, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, and NASA. According to the Small Business Administration, more than 5,000 new awards, amounting to over $3 billion, are made each year under these programs. The complete list and link to each agency’s website (including current opportunities) can be found here.