News Archive

The University of Maryland, Baltimore has given a Baltimore-based biotech company worldwide, exclusive licensing rights to the university’s patents and technology to develop a faster, cheaper way to identify dangerous pathogens, University of Maryland Ventures said Wednesday.

Biotech firm Pataigin LLC, founded by university researchers, has created a library of pathogens with chemical barcodes that can be used to identify types of infection. Infectious diseases are responsible for more than 18 million deaths a year, but the technology to detect potential infectious agents is slow, expensive and labor intensive.

Johns Hopkins University spent more on research and development than any other high education institution for the 36th year in a row.

The Baltimore institution spent a total of $2.2 billion in fiscal 2014 on research and development — nearly twice the amount as the second highest spender, University of Michigan, which spent $1.3 billion, according to an annual report by the National Science Foundation.

Roche, a leader in research-focused healthcare, announced regulatory clearance to finalise acquisition of Kapa Biosystems, Inc. (Kapa), a privately-held company headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. Kapa Biosystems is a provider of genomic tools in the life sciences sector that employs proprietary technologies to optimize enzymes for next-generation sequencing (NGS), as well as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR applications.

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced today that Illumina Accelerator—the world’s first business accelerator focused solely on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry—has selected four new investments from a competitive pool of highly qualified applicants to be a part of its third funding cycle.

“Illumina Accelerator is pleased to have such a promising group of startups join our growing genomics community,” said Mostafa Ronaghi, Ph.D., Illumina’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Illumina Accelerator. “We’re here to provide access to our best-in-class sequencers, a support team of genomics professionals and entrepreneurial coaches, and the tools each of these startups need to advance breakthrough applications in genomics.”

The selected startups for the third funding cycle are:

If you are interested in submitting a NSF Innovation Corps Sites Program (I-Corps Sites) proposal, send an abstract no more than three pages in length to esoto2@iit.edu by the internal deadline of Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at noon. Follow Illinois Tech’s guidelines for internal competitions available here.

Institutional Limit: One Internal Deadline: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at noon Full Proposal Deadline Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The digital revolution continues to transform healthcare fundamentally, and many people believe that a tipping point is finally within reach. In 2014, digital health investments topped $6.5 billion, compared with $2.9 billion a year earlier.

The critical question now for pharmaceutical companies is how to stay ahead of these changes. To answer it, we sought to learn the trends and implications of digital health by interviewing 20 thought leaders across a variety of segments, including analytics, biotech, data, pharma, providers, technology, and venture capital. 

Baltimore will be well-represented at a “Shark Tank”-inspired event focusing on teacher professional development this week.

The virtual competition, organized by Edsurge and the Gates Foundation, is set for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Three companies will pitch four educators. But it’s the audience who decides the winner.

Virginia’s Mach37 cybersecurity accelerator gained an important endorsement this week with a four-year platinum sponsorship from General Dynamics Mission Systems.

The agreement will help further Mach37’s public-private partnerships that leverage Virginia’s university, industry and government cybersecurity assets to produce new innovative products and companies.

University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Pataigin, LLC, announced today that the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has granted Pataigin worldwide, exclusive licensing rights to UMB patents and technology to develop a method to quickly and accurately identify dangerous pathogens. Robert Ernst, Ph.D., professor of microbial pathogenesis at University of Maryland School of Dentistry, and David Goodlett, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences at University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, are patent inventors. The University of Washington is also a co-owner on one of the patents Pataigin (the Irish word for pathogen) is licensing. Erik Nilsson, who has headed software and mass spectrometry companies for nearly 20 years, will serve as Pataigin’s CEO and President.

Infectious diseases remain a major global killer, responsible for 18 million deaths worldwide every year. And yet, detecting potential infectious agents remains hampered by current technological methods that are slow, require cell culture and are expensive and labor-intensive. The licensed technology exploits the presence of lipids in the outer membranes of pathogens that are unique to each pathogen strain. A “barcode” for each lipid coating is created that allows laboratory staff to quickly use available mass spectrometry methods to identify specific strains of bacteria, fungi and yeast that cause disease. The technology will allow pathogen identification directly from tissues like blood, urine, and wounds, without the need for cell culture. And importantly, the technology can differentiate between drug-susceptible and drug-resistant variants; thereby allowing for quicker medical treatment decisions as well as containment of dangerous pathogens.

Biopharmas come and go, but the places to find jobs remain largely the same 10 regions highlighted by GEN last year and in 2013. The cornerstones of their success are hardly secrets: they include strong research universities, anchor biopharmas, younger startups, and networks that connect those budding businesses to expertise and, especially, capital.