These are the 50 winners of the Washington Business Journal and DC Inno Fire Awards of 2021.
Image: We’re recognizing 50 D.C.-area companies, people and organizations on fire. CAT FRANCIS, AMERICAN INNO
Rockville, Md. — Montgomery County, Maryland, home of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and more than 480 life sciences companies, continues its momentum as a magnet for new life sciences development with a major surge in leasing and investment. With rising demand and just 5.2% availability for the county’s existing lab space, an additional 1.6 million square feet (SF) of lab space is in development—joining the current 10.6 million SF of total lab inventory already in Montgomery County.
Eight hospitals and health systems have opened or announced plans to establish new centers focused on healthcare innovation this year.
Editor’s note: The innovation center launches are listed in the order they were reported.
1. Cleveland Clinic in January said it plans to launch a new infectious disease research center through the new $500 million Cleveland Innovation District backed by the state of Ohio and JobsOhio. The health system in March also partnered with IBM to create a healthcare artificial intelligence discovery center.
2. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s joint biological innovation center secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., in January.
George Mason University, the largest public research university in Virginia, has a strong tradition of conducting research of consequence, from our pioneering work in cybersecurity to developing new ways of testing for COVID-19.
Since earning our R1 designation for “very high research” from Carnegie in 2016 and joining the elite group of the 131 best U.S. research institutions, our research enterprise has grown rapidly, reaching more than $200 million in funding in 2020, an all-time high for the university.
The formula for launching a machine learning company in health care looks something like this: Build a model, test it on historical patient data in a computer lab, and then start selling it to hospitals nationwide.
Suchi Saria, director of the machine learning and health care lab at Johns Hopkins University, is taking a different approach. Her company, Bayesian Health, is coming out of stealth mode on Monday by publishing a prospective study on how one of its lead products — an early warning system for sepsis — impacted the care of current patients in real hospitals.
Image: Suchi Saria, the chief executive officer of Bayesian Health. COURTESY SUCHI SARIA
Are you a biohealth start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your feedback session with BHI EIRs on one of the following dates. Pre-registration is required; Sign up here tinyurl.com/EIRfeedback
For questions/more information, contact BHI.
Quantum computing could change the world. It could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionise communications and artificial intelligence. Companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google are racing to build reliable quantum computers. China has invested billions.
Recently, Google claimed that it had achieved quantum supremacy – the first time a quantum computer has outperformed a traditional one. But what is quantum computing? And how does it work?
What is quantum computing? Let’s start with the basics.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. and SUZHOU BIOBAY, China, July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Sirnaomics Ltd., a leading biopharmaceutical company in discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, announced today that it has sealed $105 million in a Series E financing. This round of funding was led by Rotating Boulder Fund, an investor that has been supporting the company since its Series B round, with participation from existing investors and a well-recognized syndicate of new investors.
Development veteran Tom Sadowski has been appointed to take over Maryland’s quasi-public economic development agency this summer.
Sadowski will take over the executive director role from Robert Brennan, who is retiring at the end of July. Sadowski is currently vice chancellor for economic development at the University System of Maryland, a post he has held for five years. Prior to that, he led the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, a nonprofit business group downtown, for eight years.
Image: Tom Sadowski was just selected in a national search to head the Maryland Economic Development Corp. following the retirement of Robert Brennan. JASON WILLIAMS
If a virtual world has ever left you feeling nauseous or disorientated, you’re familiar with cybersickness, and you’re hardly alone. The intensity of virtual reality (VR)–whether that’s standing on the edge of a waterfall in Yosemite or engaging in tank combat with your friends–creates a stomach-churning challenge for 30-80% of users.
Image: A test subject experiences a potentially stomach-churning virtual reality fly- through of a space station while her brain activity is monitored. CREDIT Maryland Blended Reality Center