The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) awarded its 2019 Newcomb Cleveland Prize to University of Maryland entomologists Raymond St. Leger, Brian Lovett and their seven West African collaborators.
The prestigious award is given to the authors of the most impactful paper published in AAAS’s flagship journal Science during the previous year.
Image: CREDIT: ETIENNE BILGO
The Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) is an independent and established conference series considered to be the preeminent precision medicine conference that attracts recognized leaders, top global researchers and medical professionals, and innovators across healthcare and biotechnology sectors to showcase practical content that helps close the knowledge gap between different sectors, thereby catalyzing cross-functional fertilization and collaboration. Since 2009, recognized as a vital cornerstone for all constituents of the health care and biotechnology community, PMWC provides an exceptional forum for the exchange of information about the latest advances in technology (e.g. DNA sequencing technology), in clinical implementation (e.g. cancer and beyond), research, and in all aspects related to the regulatory and reimbursement sectors.
Alexandria LaunchLabs™ in Maryland, will provide fully equipped, affordable laboratory/office space with flexible lease terms, supporting infrastructure, access to amenities, and supporting services and programming through the project’s consortium of world-class partners, including Alexandria Venture Investments, BioHealth Innovation, Montgomery County, and the City of Gaithersburg. This unique, startup environment will accelerate the growth of local early-stage life science companies.
Hilden, Germany, and Germantown, Maryland, January 9, 2020 – QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the 2,500th placement of QIAsymphony, the leading Sample to Insight workflow automation solution for molecular laboratories worldwide, in Tübingen, Germany.
Cenata GmbH is a medically led genetic diagnostic laboratory offering prenatal testing, and repeat customer of the QIAsymphony, purchasing this milestone QIAsymphony SP as the third unit in their lab, expanding capabilities for circulating DNA purification and other applications.
Emmes today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a prescription-only medical device used to estimate the weight of infants who are up to 90 days of age.
The Mercy babyTAPE is a tape-measure-like device that permits health care professionals to estimate the body weight of preterm and full-term infants when a scale may not be available or practical to use. Accurately estimating pediatric patient weight is important for drug dosing, resuscitation interventions, and nutritional assessments. This easy-to-produce device could be especially useful in emergency or resource-constrained situations such as remote or rural areas, and in developing countries.
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced that it has received agreement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to pursue its proposed development plan for its chikungunya virus virus-like particle (CHIKV VLP) vaccine candidate. The company has proposed conducting a safety and immunogenicity Phase 3 trial using Serum Neutralizing Antibodies (SNA) as an immune correlate of protection to predict clinical benefit of the vaccine candidate.
“Emergent is encouraged by the concurrence we have received from EMA in paving the path for chikungunya vaccine development based on SNA as the surrogate endpoint,” said Abbey Jenkins, senior vice president and vaccines business unit head at Emergent BioSolutions. “As a leading provider of travel health vaccines, Emergent seeks to address the threat posed by this highly debilitating virus by defining a realistic and optimal path to bring to market a much-needed chikungunya vaccine that could potentially serve patients worldwide. We look forward to continuing to work with regulators, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with whom we had our End-of-Phase 2 meeting last December, as we plan to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 trial this year and define the approach for a post-approval confirmatory efficacy trial.”
When Robert Lord cofounded Protenus with Nick Culbertson in 2014, it required choosing to put medical school on hold. After six years and plenty of growth at the Fells Point-based healthcare analytics company, Lord is returning to Johns Hopkins this month to complete training to become a physician. With that move, he will transition from a day-to-day leadership role to chairman of the board. The transition has been in the works for several months, and his responsibilities were apportioned across the company in that time.
Image: Protenus cofounder Robert Lord. (Courtesy photo)
Engineered Medical Systems, Longeviti Neuro Solutions and The LaunchPort™ announced today that they have entered into an agreement to place new, low temperature, low toxicity hydrogen peroxide sterilization capacity at The LaunchPort™/EMS facility in Port Covington. The systems are being procured by Longeviti to support the Maryland production of their Low-profile Intracranial Devices (L.I.D.) platform. The Longeviti L.I.D. Platform has led to several innovative FDA cleared products thus far, the ClearFit and InvisiShunt, and more are in development. The systems will be operated by Engineered Medical Systems within EMS’s regulated medical manufacturing facility at LaunchPort™. These new systems are expected to have completed initial validations by the end of Q1 2020.
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Herndon, VA, Jan. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today released the 2019 CIT GAP Funds Impact Report, detailing both return on investment and socio-economic impact made since the fund’s inception in 2005. A family of funds placing equity investments in Virginia’s high-growth based technology, life science, and cleantech companies at the earliest developmental stages, CIT GAP Funds has deployed $28.8 million in capital across 223 investments. CIT GAP Funds investment leadership has attracted national recognition and continues to demonstrate why CIT has been named Virginia’s Most Active Investor for the last five years by CB Insights.CIT GAP Funds has yielded four times their capital invested across Tech Fund “Roadmap” investments in cybersecurity, data analytics, enterprise software and deep tech sectors and helped position the fund for return of all capital deployed. The report highlights several other figures that capture the overall impact CIT GAP Funds has on the Commonwealth, including:
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The seller converted the office space — leased heavily by local biotech companies — to lab suites, then sold the buildings just three years after buying them.
Image: The buildings at West Watkins Mill Road and Clopper Road collectively sold for $53.25 million. COURTESY TRITOWER FINANCIAL
