Baltimore gene analysis firm Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. has raised $4.32 million in a larger financing round underway.
The new funding is a convertible note that is part of a Series A financing round the company expects to complete later this year. Officials declined to give details about investors, the total amount the company seeks to raise or a timeline for closing the round.
Southern Research has been awarded a seven-year contract of up to $22 million to support research that could contribute to the cure of HIV disease. Under this contract, Southern Research will develop and standardize assays that quantitate latent reservoirs of HIV.
“This is a revolutionary area in HIV research that is opening up new avenues for us in infectious diseases,” said Southern Research President and CEO Art Tipton, Ph.D. “It supports our 24-year legacy in HIV drug discovery and development for government and pharmaceutical clients.”
The Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea announced an agreement with industry partners, Marathon Oil Corporation, Noble Energy Inc. and AMPCO, to sponsor the clinical development of Sanaria® PfSPZ Vaccine against malaria, including a series of clinical trials from 2015 until 2018.
Malaria is one of the leading causes of infant and childhood mortality in the world, particularly in Africa. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2013 there were 198 million clinical cases and 584,000 deaths caused by malaria, primarily by Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Malaria directly reduces the Gross Domestic Product of African countries by at least 1 percent annually. This economic impact is estimated based on lives lost, healthcare costs, reduced learning capabilities by students, loss of worker productivity, and a range of other factors.
Trophogen, Inc., a U.S.-based emerging biotechnology company founded in 2001, today announced that it was awarded the second year of its Phase 2 Fast Track component of $756,000 for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop novel VEGF analogs for targeted imaging of undifferentiated thyroid cancer. The two principal investigators, Dr. Mariusz W. Szkudlinski, Vice-President & CSO and Dr. Bruce D. Weintraub, President and CEO, have now brought their total NIH and FDA highly competitive SBIR funded grants to 10 for a total of nearly $10 million.
The Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Health System is now accepting proposals for its “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition. Two top prizes of $50,000 each will be awarded to the winning presentations at the Third Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium in October.
The competition invites proposals from innovators – researchers, entrepreneurs, clinicians, and patient families – who have identified a significant, yet unmet medical device need within the pediatric population. For competition details, click here.
Proteus Digital Health won FDA approval for what the company calls “the only device with an FDA-sanctioned claim for measuring medication adherence.” Proteus technology, the development of which we’ve been covering for a number of years now, uses tiny injestible sensors attached to drug tablets and a patch that can detect when they’ve been swallowed. The patch then uses its built-in Bluetooth antenna to share when every pill was swallowed with the matching smartphone app, which in turn passes the readings to family, caretakers, and the patient’s physician.
Innovator of the Year was created in 2002 to honor Maryland businesses and/or individuals who have had a positive effect and tremendous impact in Maryland.
To nominate someone for this prestigious award, please submit a short description addressing how your nominee meets the criteria.
Nominations are due July 10, 2015.
Has your lab had a successful technology partnership or program experience with its state or local government office? If so, we want to hear about it! The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is now accepting submissions for its 2015 edition of the Federal Laboratories & State and Local Governments: Partners for Technology Transfer Success publication.
The goal of this publication is to highlight the value that state and local government entities can obtain for their regions by forming strategic partnerships with federal laboratories. Federal labs play a significant role in creating technology-based regional economic development. The State & Local Government (S&LG) publication works to raise awareness about the impact federal labs can have on their surrounding areas.
Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, College Park, will this month open a shared $30 million high-power data center.
The 3,786-square-foot facility, called Maryland Advanced Research Computing Center (MARCC) will be used by researchers from the two universities for work involving big data and is expected to be fully functional by the end of July. The facility, located near Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, was paid for with $30 million in state funding. Hopkins and University of Maryland will share ongoing costs for maintenance, staffing and power.
The University of Maryland is part of the reason that Maryland, as a state, is producing some really innovative entrepreneurial talent. Their student-run incubator and co-working space Startup Shell (shell, because the UMD mascot is the Terrapin -very clever, guys), which opened in 2012, is home to a lot of really interesting student-led projects. Most of the startups focus on students’ issues or problems related to fields that students are studying.
