News Archive

Today, EDA announced that 50 organizations — including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, state government agencies, and other entrepreneurship-focused organizations — from 26 states will receive grants totaling $36.5 million to support programs that fuel innovation and tech-based economic development. (Read full press release)

The grants are part of the “Build to Scale” program, which is administered annually by EDA. The program aims to accelerate technology entrepreneurship by increasing inclusive access to business support and startup capital.

Barbara Schilberg retiring as Managing Director and CEO;
Shahram Hejazi, Ph.D., appointed as Managing Director and CEO

Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2021 – BioAdvance, a $70 million early-stage life sciences fund with a focus in the mid-Atlantic region, announced today that it has added six new companies to its portfolio in the last 18 months and has made follow-on investments in eight of its existing companies. Combined, these investments represent a commitment of $6.875 million to the success and growth of life science companies in the region. BioAdvance also announced a transition in leadership with long-time Managing Director and CEO Barbara Schilberg retiring and Shahram Hejazi, Ph.D., appointed as incoming Managing Director and CEO effective October 1, 2021.

“Like many investors, when the COVID pandemic began, we focused on helping our existing companies survive the various disruptions to product development and product sales,” said Schilberg, outgoing CEO of BioAdvance. “Within six months, we were able to resume investing in new companies and also have a robust pipeline of opportunities in active diligence.”

Nearly 4% of the world’s population is affected by one of more than 80 different autoimmune diseases, according to the National Stem Cell Foundation, and incidence is rising.

However, of the 30 million patients diagnosed with moderate-to-severe forms of chronic immune diseases, only 5 million receive advanced therapies and only 2 million experience adequate responses.[1] A key barrier to the development of novel therapies and treatment paradigms has been the complexity and heterogeneity of these diseases, which consist of different disease states with distinct unmet medical need and biology.

September 28, 2021 RESTON, Virginia—During a year of unprecedented reliance on intellectual property rights to solve massive global challenges through business collaborations, namely the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 and its profound disruptions of personal and business lives, today the Licensing Executive Society (USA & Canada) announced  that it is making a President’s Award and three Deals of Distinction™  Awards, along with the Frank Barnes Award. The Deals of Distinction Awards are given each year, to recognize major business transactions involving licensing, that exemplify best practices and creativity to achieve strategic business objectives, with a significant impact on advancing innovation in the industry Sectors that comprise LES.  Similarly, the Frank Barnes Award is given each year to celebrate an exceptional individual who embodies the highest cultural values of LES by selflessly investing their time and expertise in developing the careers of others – an outstanding mentor. 

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Cartesian Therapeutics, a fully integrated, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering RNA cell therapy in and beyond oncology, today announced the hire of Miloš Miljković, M.D., as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Miljković will oversee the strategy and execution of the Company’s growing clinical pipeline of RNA cell therapies.  In addition, the Cartesian appointed co-founder Metin Kurtoglu, M.D., Ph.D., as the Company’s first Chief Operating Officer, responsible for bridging clinical operations with the cGMP manufacturing and translational medicine groups.  Cartesian also announced that it has expanded its cGMP manufacturing facility in Gaithersburg, MD to support its growing clinical pipeline.

Universities have long nurtured the development of new ideas. Over the last decade, they’ve increasingly become key incubators of new ventures. Throughout the Baltimore region, university leaders are seeing students and faculty just as interested in entrepreneurship as they are in an academic discipline. In response, they’ve invested a wave of new resources to bolster these activities. Every nearby university now has a hive of startup activity, educating community members on starting new businesses and showcasing their work through pitch competitions. In many cases, universities have specifically created entrepreneurship centers and hired teams to lead these efforts.

Image: (Photo by Stephen Babcock)

BARDA’s Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health, are partnering with three non-government organizations to advance the development of microphysiological systems (MPS), also known as tissue chips technology, as part of the BARDA-NCATS ImmuneChip+ Program.

MPS can replicate components of vital human tissues and immune system functions and monitor their interactions. MPS  are 3D biophysical platforms comprised of cellular constructs that mimic the structure and function of human tissues and organs, including the lungs, liver, and heart.

On September 20^th,  BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) hosted a delegation from KOSME, the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency.  Leading the overseas team was KOSME’s President, Dr. Hakdo Kim, who met with BHI board members, Entrepreneurs in Residence, and recorded a “BioTalk with Rich Bendis” podcast episode in which Dr. Kim discussed a new partnership with BHI and a Memorandum of Understanding KOSME signed with the State of Maryland.

KOSME is a Korean-government funded non-profit created over forty years ago to support small and medium enterprises in Korea.  In 2001, KOSME opened the Northern Virginia-based KBDC as an outpost to support Korean companies interested in joining the US marketplace.   

Philophos, Inc. is an innovative Med Tech device company headquartered near Seoul in South Korea.  We develop and manufacture quality, portable and value priced optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices for retina imaging.  We have a functional prototype that is in pilot testing, and we are in the process of securing medical device approval in both Korea and the U.S.  We seek a key management hire who can focus on accelerating sales, marketing and relationship development efforts for the U.S. market.

We are seeking a full-time, Business Development & Relationship Manager to represent Philophos, Inc. in the U.S..  Duties will include identifying, developing, and maintaining vital relationships as the primary role.  Duties will also include supporting a variety of activities associated with launching our operations in the U.S. Our culture is a fast-paced environment that requires the ability to independently support multiple activities and manage deadlines with great coordination and communication skills with our headquarters team. Preferred traits are someone who is organized, adaptable, high-energy, a self-starter and good critical thinker who can overcome challenges.  The candidate must possess excellent presentation skills including both oral and written communication abilities.