Qiagen North American Holdings has announced plans to renovate and expand its U.S. headquarters and R&D and manufacturing facility in Montgomery County, Md.
More specifically, Qiagen plans to renovate its 146,000-square-foot facility at 19300 Germantown Road in Germantown, Md., to accommodate expanded production of testing products for COVID-19 and other diseases, as well as lease additional space in the area.
Image: Image by DarkoStojanovic via Pixabay.com
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers are working to reduce the uncertainty associated with climate-change measurements using a mobile temperature-sensing technology made for tracking delicate or perishable, high-value packages in transit. Developed by international shipper FedEx and tested with help from NIST, the device connects to cell phone networks to provide users with near real-time information on the package’s precise location, temperature, humidity, pressure, acceleration, elevation and exposure to light.
Image: Credit: Strouse/NIST Developed by international shipper FedEx and tested with help from NIST, the Senseaware device connects to cell phone networks to provide users with near real-time information on a packages precise location, temperature, humidity, pressure, acceleration, elevation and exposure to light. NIST researchers plan to deploy the technology as part of a pilot project to monitor and improve climate measurements.
GlaxoSmithKline is stumping up $85 million upfront and up to an extra $730 million in biobucks for Surface Oncology’s early-stage antibody asset.
The drug the U.K. pharma is betting on, known as SRF813, is a fully human, IgG1 antibody targeting PVRIG (also known as CD112R), an inhibitory protein expressed on natural killer cells and T cells.
In preclinical tests, Surface Oncology says, SRF813 has shown the “potential to elicit a strong anti-tumor response and promote immunological memory.” It’s still only in IND-enabling studies, but the company has an IND planned for next year.
Image: (GlaxoSmithKline)
Work on the $5.5 billion project has been at a standstill since April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Image: Work on the $5.5 billion redevelopment at Port Covington was shut down in April amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Developer Marc Weller previously said it would not resume until the TIF bonds were sold. MELODY SIMMONS
“5 Questions With…” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features 5 Questions with Brian Darmody, CEO, Association of University Research Parks (AURP).
Brian Darmody is CEO of AURP, a global nonprofit representing research parks and innovation districts sponsored by universities, federal labs, communities, hospitals, and other institutions in the US and 12 other countries.
Philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott is donating tens of millions of dollars to historically black universities in Maryland.
The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that the schools are Morgan State, Bowie State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Image: As shipments of Moderna’s vaccine begin, health officials warn the public not to get complacent. News4’s Darcy Spencer has the warning from a local doctor about Christmas travel and gatherings. – https://www.nbcwashington.com
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ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Creatv MicroTech, a privately-held biotechnology company has pioneered a blood test to predict treatment response in patients with newly diagnosed Stage I-III esophageal cancer (EC) treated with chemoradiation therapy (CRT). The results were published in the Journal of Translational Medicine. Creatv’s collaborator MD Anderson Cancer Center recruited patients for the study under standard of care CRT and IRB approved protocol. “We are delighted to present a method to stratify patients with EC who are responding to CRT using a single tube of blood,” said Dr. Cha-Mei Tang, CEO of Creatv. “Now, patients who are not responding to CRT can be identified quickly for alternative therapy.” Currently, no other blood test predicts treatment response for Stage I-III esophageal cancer therapies.
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ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX), a leading clinical-stage biotechnology company seeking to improve lives through the curative potential of gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced interim data from Cohorts 1 and 2 of the ongoing Phase I/II trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of patients up to 5 years old diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II). In addition, REGENXBIO announced plans to evaluate a higher dose of RGX-121 in a third cohort of patients at an increased dose of 2.0×1011 GC/g brain mass. REGENXBIO expects to begin enrolling patients in Cohort 3 in the first quarter of 2021.
