
Novartis scatters its VC seeds widely by leading rounds across a variety of therapy areas, although oncology still represents a big share of its funding activity.

Novartis scatters its VC seeds widely by leading rounds across a variety of therapy areas, although oncology still represents a big share of its funding activity.

The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) is now certified to offer a groundbreaking treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in which a patient’s own immune cells are genetically engineered to recognize and attack the cancer.

Maryland has the most computer and data scientists in the U.S., and the second-highest concentrations of engineers and life scientists.

Microsoft outlined how emerging technologies can support diagnosis of rare diseases among children in a report released Feb. 20.
Rare diseases affect almost 350 million people globally, and they can take an average of five years to diagnose, according to the report.

Under a new licensing deal, Qiagen will gain access to a big genetics database from Vienna-based Ares Genetics, which could help tackle the global health crisis of antibiotic resistance.

To spare you all a power point presentation, I thought I’d share some thoughts today about how and why our tech transfer system was created and the importance of practitioners continually developing best practices to maintain it.
Woody Allen said that half of life is showing up. Perhaps the other half is working with people who give you the opportunity to show what you can do.
Are you a start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Sign up by noon 3/26 to schedule your feedback session with BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, who have industry experience in therapeutics, Dx, medtech and more, next Wednesday, February 27th. (Future sessions scheduled for 3/20 and 5/22.) Pre-registration is required; sign up here (“EIR resource” at BHI). For questions/more information, contact BHI.

Kelly M. Schulz, the newly appointed state secretary of commerce, could be called the secretary of opportunity. Her vision for the state of Maryland is for economic development, job growth, full employment and economic prosperity for all families around the state.

The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) announced today that Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been selected to receive the 2019 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research. The Prize selection committee awarded Dr. Rosenberg for not only revolutionizing—if not originating—the field now known as cancer immunotherapy but also remaining at its forefront. Chief of the NCI Center for Cancer Research’s surgery branch in Bethesda since 1974, his basic, translational and applied research efforts have contributed immeasurably to groundbreaking advances in therapy and the later development of drugs such as Chiron’s (later Novartis and Prometheus Labs’) Proleukin, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy and Gilead’s Yescarta.

QIAGEN N.V. today announced a broad agreement with Ares Genetics, a subsidiary of Curetis N.V. CURE, -0.10% to develop innovative bioinformatics and assay solutions to accelerate research targeting the growing global health challenges posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.