News Archive

I’m thrilled to let you know that our gut-on-a-chip work has been published this week in Nature Communications. 350 mini-guts on-a-chip, 20,000 data points, the largest organ-on-a-chip dataset ever published! The paper features the all new 3-lane OrganoPlate®, supporting barrier integrity and transport assays in even more complex tissue models.

Our colleague Elena Naumovska is a major contributor to this work. She joined us last year from the arctic circle to work on gut-on-a-chip models in a collaboration with Galapagos and Sheffield University.

And finally, we’re looking forward to see you at no less than 6 conferences in the coming 6 weeks, starting next week at the WC10 Congress 2017 in Seattle.

With kind regards, Jos Joore Managing Director, MIMETAS

GlaxoSmithKline opened its new $56.6 million vaccines plant in Montrose, Scotland, that will manufacture sterile aluminum salts and includes a microbiology lab. But the small addition comes as a much bigger project has been canceled. 

Creatv MicroTech, a biotechnology company developing noninvasive diagnostics for cancer, has received a $250,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) to test the company’s CellSieveTM system for determination of residual disease in lung cancer patients after chemoradiation therapy, and for early detection of lung cancer recurrence. Creatv MicroTech’s discovery of a very large cell, the cancer associated macrophagelike cell (CAML), in patient blood has enabled more informative and reliable blood based cancer diagnostics. The presence of the CAML biomarker indicates the presence of cancer. Creatv developed CellSieveTM technology to capture and analyze CAMLs. In collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Creatv will assess the use of CAMLs in lung cancer patients to determine residual disease following treatment. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, with an estimated 158,040 deaths (86,380 men and 71,660 women) from this disease in 2015. Ideally, treatment should be continued as long as necessary and stopped only after the cancer has been eradicated. The problem is that standard imaging techniques, CT and MRI, cannot detect small residual cancers, and thus treatment regimens may be insufficient for a patient’s individual need. The goal of Creatv’s study is to determine the point at which chemoradiation should be stopped, reducing the likelihood of recurrence. “We are honored to be recognized for the progress we have made in developing precision blood-based cancer diagnostics,” said Cha-Mei Tang PhD, President and CEO of Creatv MicroTech. “Our collaboration with the world renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center and support from the NIH will further demonstrate the value and utility of the CellSieveTM system and CAMLs in the battle against cancer and will ultimately save lives.”

Join us on Thursday, August 24 for the 2017-18 Fall Term FAES Graduate School Open House to meet and mingle with FAES faculty. Bring yourself, a friend, and your questions about registering for the Fall 2017 courses. The event will be held in the FAES Academic Center, Building 10, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 4:00 – 6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served!

Once considered a potential Democratic challenger to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan next year, John Delaney has set his sights higher — much higher. The three-term representative of Maryland’s 6th Congressional District is aiming to unseat President Trump with a promise to jump-start the U.S. economy by bringing innovation and entrepreneurship to Washington.

Job Summary: BioFactura is seeking highly motivated applicants with an entrepreneurial spirit for an open position in our biosimilar development programs. We are looking for qualified candidates with a masters or doctoral degree in the life sciences with highly relevant skills and bench experience. The selected candidate will participate in the development and validation of various biosimilar product assays. In this position, the candidate will be responsible for planning, conducting, execution and analysis of experiments using various techniques in protein analysis. Relevant skills include HPLC/U-HPLC (HILIC, RP, SEC, CEX, AEX, affinity), capillary electrophoresis (CE), mass spec, SDS-PAGE, IEF, ELISA, qPCR. Knowledge of protein purification methods and process development/scale-up is a plus. Knowledge of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) including analytical method qualification/validation and current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) are desired. Experience in the preparation and delivery of oral and written presentations as well as participation in the preparation and submission of grants and/or manuscripts for publication are a plus. Excellent communication skills and the ability to analyze and interpret data, design appropriately controlled experiments independently, and maintain up-to-date laboratory notebooks are a must. This is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable experience with an innovative, small, young Biotech company and build a career in the biopharmaceutical industry. Candidates should feel comfortable working in a high risk/potential high reward environment and able to work overtime and weekends as project needs are determined.

Wed, October 25, 2017

PITCH. NETWORK. LEARN. BE INSPIRED.

TEDCO’s 7th Annual Entrepreneur Expo will bring together all of Maryland’s entrepreneurial resources from across the state into one place, at one time.

You can expect to see 700+ of the region’s top entrepreneurs, small and large business executives, angel and venture capital investors, federal and state economic development officials, university leaders and legislators.

Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and Natco announced the final ANDA approval of Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The product, as the first generic, will be launched shortly.

Natco’s Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) are generic equivalents of Shire Development LLC’s Fosrenol Chewable Tablets 500 mg, 750 mg and 1000 mg. Lanthanum Carbonate Chewable Tablets 500 mg (base), 750 mg (base), and 1000 mg (base) are indicated to reduce serum phosphate in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD).

CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE American: CVM) today announced it has received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stating that the clinical hold that had been imposed on the Company’s Phase 3 cancer study with Multikine* (Leukocyte Interleukin, Inj.) has been removed and that all clinical trial activities under this Investigational New Drug application (IND) may resume.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Sucampo) (Nasdaq:SCMP), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the publication of results from a Phase 1/2a study of intrathecal administration of VTS-270, a 2-hydoxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) under investigation for treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C1 (NPC-1). The results of the study were published in the August 10, 2017 issue of The Lancet and can be found at http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)31465-4.pdf.