News Archive

The Biden administration today began to flesh out a proposal for a new agency—modeled on the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—that would seek to speed the development of medical treatments by funding risky, innovative projects. The agency, dubbed ARPA-Health (ARPA-H), would be housed at the National Institutes of Health and have a 2022 budget of $6.5 billion, according to a White House spending request released today.

I am delighted to announce that FREE Registration is open for the annual Conference, Targeting Metabesity2021, organized by our colleagues Kinexum and the Kitalys Institute. This four-day event will be virtual from 9:00 am-5:00 pm eastern time each day, October 11-14. Many of you attended last year, and once again we are notifying you of the event and the benefits of early FREE registration.

This year, Targeting Metabesity tackles the barriers to translating scientific breakthroughs into a national policy for increased healthy longevity, with outstanding speakers that challenge convention thinking about our aging.

To learn more about the Conference and review the roster of eminent speakers and provocative topics; please visit www.Metabesity2021.org

To go directly to the registration page, visit https://www.xcdsystem.com/metabesity/attendee/index.cfm?ID=3wsGCbK .

The Office of the County Executive at Montgomery County, Maryland recently announced the appointment of Judy Costello as Special Projects Manager. As Special Projects Manager, Judy supports a wide range of business and economic development-related projects (i.e., business/large employer recruitment and retention, education and workforce, small business and innovation, climate change, and transportation). Her focus covers multiple industries within the County.

Friday, June 11, at 10:30 a.m.

Universities at Shady Grove,
Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Building
9631 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville
(Parking in Lot 2, directly in front of BSE building)

Montgomery County, the University System of Maryland and Montgomery College will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create the Montgomery/Maryland Life Sciences Education and Innovation Partnership to facilitate collaboration among industry and the academic partners on cutting-edge research, and allow students from across Maryland opportunities to gain work experience and conduct translational research with Montgomery County’s industry leaders. It is envisioned that the Montgomery/Maryland Life Sciences Education and Innovation Partnership will guide the future of post-pandemic education leveraging existing assets to create an economic development powerhouse for Maryland in life and regulatory sciences.

The year 2020 tested the biotech industry and the entire nation. Maryland’s life sciences community can be proud that it passed those tests with distinction. As COVID-19 spread across the globe, Maryland companies stepped up to help save millions of lives. Maryland-based leaders such as AstraZeneca; Becton, Dickinson and Company; GlaxoSmithKline; Emergent BioSolutions; Novavax; Pfizer; and Qiagen Sciences were among the Maryland companies involved in these efforts.

Image: https://www.fiercebiotech.com

The quantum-computing power of IonQ Inc. could eventually be put to work in some of SoftBank Group Corp.’s portfolio companies as part of a recently-announced strategic partnership with the tech investor.

SoftBank Investment Advisers, which runs its SoftBank Vision Funds 1 and 2, has taken a “large” equity stake in the College Park, Md.-based startup, though not a majority stake, said Peter Chapman, chief executive of IonQ, without giving specifics.

IonQ is SoftBank’s first investment in quantum computing, said Kirthiga Reddy, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.

Image: IonQ’s trapped-ion chip, pictured above, will eventually be placed in a quantum-computing device about the size of an Xbox video-game console, expected to be completed by 2023. PHOTO: IONQ