News Archive

Global venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced the appointment of Stephen Oesterle, MD, as Venture Partner. Dr. Oesterle is a former Senior Vice President for Medtronic, Inc., the world’s largest medical device company, and brings to NEA more than two decades of experience spanning health technology investment, corporate strategy, and general management.

“Dr. Oesterle is one of the most widely known and respected leaders in the medical device industry, and it is an honor to welcome him to the NEA team,” said Dr. Josh Makower, NEA General Partner and founder of several medical device companies. “Steve brings with him a vast global network of relationships across the academic, technical, clinical, entrepreneurial, and venture communities. His experience in the health technology investment space coupled with his business development and general management background will be invaluable resources to the companies in our portfolio and to the NEA partnership.”

On September 11, 2015, at 10 a.m. the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), in the A. James Clark School of Engineering, will celebrate the opening of the Texas Instruments Discovery Lab, where first-year engineering students are being exposed to basic electrical and computer engineering concepts in a revolutionary, hands-on way. This lab opening at UMD is part of a company-level commitment by Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) to ensure young engineering students are engineering- and industry-ready by inspiring them at the inception of their academic careers.

The Texas Instruments Discovery Lab is the setting for a unique approach to engineering curriculum. The Lab will house “ENEE 101: What’s Cool in ECE.” This course, being piloted this semester, is an introductory course meant to anchor students in the A. James Clark School’s electrical and computer engineering program. ENEE 101 features hands-on activities that highlight the role of electrical and computer engineering in the real world. Required for all incoming freshman students, it will allow them to understand the relevance of the technical subjects they will study and their relationship to the profession.

Rockville-based RegenxBio Inc. has priced shares for its initial public offering, which could raise as much as $121 million.

RegenxBio will offer 5,555,555 shares of common stock, with a planned price range of $17 to $19 per share. Underwriters also have the option to buy an additional 833,333 shares.

After 16 years, Johns Hopkins University returned to the top 10 on the U.S. News and World Report list of best national universities.

Hopkins ranks No. 10 on the 2016 list, up from No. 12 last year.

Fifteen Maryland technology startups and one medium-sized company are partnering with faculty members from the state’s public universities for projects that bring new products closer to market, University of Maryland officials announce today.

Approved through UMD’s Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program, the research and development projects, worth $3 million, span the state, its universities and technologies, including products that advance clean or efficient energy, biotechnology, software, construction, chemical sensors and aquaculture.

Relative to other affluent countries, the United States devotes disproportionate resources to health care with disappointing results. Complex insurance rules and distorted market signals create massive inefficiencies, frustrated patients, and providers burdened by excessive paperwork. Recognizing these problems, entrepreneurs are increasingly applying information technology to health care equipment, monitoring, treatment, and service delivery, creating a sector known as digital health. These technologies, once embedded and distributed around the country, hold the potential to substantially alter the efficiency and quality of health care through the better generation, processing, and use of information; the reduction of overhead costs; and the empowerment of patients.

The Buzz of BIO at the BIO Investor Forum competition featured 19 nominees pulling in over 3,000 votes. Winners receive one complimentary registration to the BIO Investor Forum, a complimentary Company Presentation and promotion to industry leaders including a spotlight in BioCentury Extra. 

The Buzz of BIO contest drew a record breaking 3,000 collective votes. This year’s winners will join more than 120 companies presenting at the BIO Investor Forum. New presenters are continuously being added. For updates on the list of presenting companies, please visit here. If you are interested in becoming a presenter, please submit an application here. The typical audience for company presentations features public, institutional and private equity investors, research analysts, investment bankers and industry executives.

October 13, 2015, 2-3 pm ET

No one chooses to spend their time or resources on a project that is destined to be unsuccessful; but, 99% of innovative project ideas will indeed fail. While trial and error is a fundamental component of scientific investigation, recent retrospective analyses of biopharmaceutical project failure have determined that in at least 50% of the cases failure could have be predicted prior to experimentation. The objective of this webinar is to identify some of the most common causes for biopharmaceutical project failure, how they can be recognized, scored and, potentially, worked around before they occur. Not only is project success and timely tractability dependent on understanding and avoiding these, but also the attractiveness of one’s project to potential investors and partners.

The Johns Hopkins University and Luminox Health, a digital health startup hub based in Israel, have signed a multi-year deal to work together to co-develop new digital health technology products. The pair expect to be able to enhance funding access and accelerate development for the resulting companies.

The collaboration will include a program to bring Israeli entrepreneurs to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to pair them with multi-disciplinary teams of medical, computer science, and engineering faculty for an intensive three-month program. During that time, the team is expected to develop IP, perform rapid prototyping and conduct sponsored research.

In the growing age of virtual reality (VR), a startup launched by University of Maryland researchers has designed new technology to help transport your senses from wherever you are to wherever you want to be—a music concert or sporting event far away—in a way that will make you believe you are actually there.

The co-founder of VisiSonics Corporation (link is external), Professor of Computer Science Ramani Duraiswami of the University of Maryland Institute of Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) (link is external), explained that it all started with some key inventions in the general area of 3D sound.