News Archive

The World International Patent Organization released a report Friday naming Johns Hopkins University among the top 2014 international patent applicants in the world, proving that American universities may not be losing ground when it comes to tech transfer programs after all.

WIPO took a look at overall growth in the applications for its global intellectual property services and found that together, China and the U.S. accounted for 87 percent of the total growth in filings under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty. The PCT received about 215,000 applications in 2014 – a 4.5 percent increase over the numbers reported in 2013.

When Apple announced, last year, that it was developing a watch that had the functions of a medical device, it became clear that the company was eyeing the $3 trillion health care industry; that the tech industry sees medicine as the next frontier for exponential growth. Apple’s recent announcement of ResearchKit shows that it has an even greater ambition: It wants to also transform the pharmaceutical industry by changing the way clinical trials are done.

University of Maryland students might pay for an Uber ride home after a night out in College Park. Now, Uber’s about to pay them.

The company will invest $25,000 over the next two years in student-run startups at the University of Maryland, College Park, one of only three college partnerships for the San Francisco-based ride-share company, the university announced Sunday.

Just because startup incubators don’t employ dozens of people directly, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be eligible for the same economic development tax credit other spaces get.

That’s the argument two Baltimore-based state lawmakers are making with a pair of bills that were heard in Annapolis during the current legislative session.

Photo by Flickr user Maryland GovPics, used under a Creative Commons license

A new diet known by the acronym MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) could significantly lower a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) — even if the diet is not meticulously followed, according to a paper published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

This finding comes from a longitudinal study by Rush University Medical Center and Harvard School of Public Health of 923 volunteers (144 of them developed AD) shows that the MIND diet lowered the risk of AD by as much as 53 percent in participants who adhered to the diet rigorously, and by about 35 percent in those who followed it moderately well.

The NCI Technology Transfer Center offers fellowships under the Cancer Research Training Award (CRTA) program. These fellowships provide people having advanced degrees with training and mentored work experience in technology transfer. For more information on the TTC Fellowship:

Oak Investment Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Revolution should be familiar players now to those companies in Maryland looking to get venture capital funding.

All three were in the top 10 in terms of firms that invested in Maryland companies in 2013; this year, all three made the top five, along with two newcomers. The information comes from our List of Venture Capital Firms that invested in Maryland companies in 2014.

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has entered into a new five year Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP),  an independent public foundation with the mission to foster research and the scientific and technological development of the State of São Paulo in Brazil. This collaboration, which is the result of a cross-functional effort among MedImmune, AstraZeneca Brazil, and the State of São Paulo, will focus on identifying and accessing the best science and scientists in the cardiovascular and metabolic disease areas at São Paulo’s public and private research institutions.

Nimbus Therapeutics will have $43 million to progress clinical trials of its non-alcoholic liver disease drug after the company successfully completed a financing round.

The Series B investment was led by Pfizer Venture Investments and Lightstone Ventures. Previous investors, including Atlas Venture, SR One, Lilly Ventures and Bill Gates, also participated.

Juan González sees one glaring difference between Spain and the U.S.

Just like America, Spain has plenty of ideas, entrepreneurs, investors and even accelerators to support startups.