News Archive

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded 36 Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) to enable new technologies to better understand how complex behaviors emerge from the activity of brain circuits.

These awards will contribute to NSF’s growing portfolio of investments in support of President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative, a multi-agency research effort that seeks to accelerate the development of new neurotechnologies that promise to help researchers answer fundamental questions about how the brain works.

A team of Biomedical Engineering undergraduate students from Johns Hopkins recently won the 2014 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge for developing a device that aims to help surgeons safely and accurately place screws during spinal fusion procedures and surgeries for spinal abnormalities.

The AccuSpine pedicle probe was designed by eight undergraduates: Clay Andrews, Eric Xie, Adarsha Malla, Bradley Isaacs, Anvesh Annadanam, Erica Schwarz, Ravi Gaddipati, and Luis Herrera. Their project began in July 2013 as part of a Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design design team class. Their goal was to address a clinical need for an effective guidance system for the safe and accurate placement of screws.

There are approximately 1,250 business incubators in the United States, including about 120 with some life science focus, according to the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA). These programs vary greatly in their structure and services.

Often associated with universities or medical centers, life science incubators frequently offer affordable office space attached to shared wet lab facilities. Others focus on accelerating companies’ progress by offering intensive coaching, networking and support services. Some programs include seed funding up to $250,000 at a stage when few others are willing to invest.

Digital health incubator Rock Health is investing in eight new startups and teaming up with three new corporate entities – Blue Shield of California, Deloitte and global healthcare firm Abbott.

The new startups being incubated span the healthcare spectrum, from HIPAA compliance to life sciences and biotech. Among them:

The annual global confidence survey from the National Venture Capital Association produced an unusual apparent contradiction.

Investors around the world think the U.S. is the best place to back startups but confidence in our country’s government among domestic VCs is dropping.

Innovative technologies and methodologies fuel progress in biomedical and behavioral research and represent an increasingly important area of the economy. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides support for research and development (R&D) of new or improved technologies and methodologies that have the potential to succeed as commercial products.

The purpose of this notice is to (1) announce the issuance of the Solicitation of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Small Business Innovation Research Contract Proposals (PHS 2015-1) with a receipt date of November 5, 2014, 4:30 PM ET; and (2) inform the public about the opportunities that the SBIR program offers to small business concerns as well as to scientists at research institutions.

The SBIR legislation requires the Public Health Service (PHS), Department of Health and Human Services, and certain other Federal agencies to reserve 2.8 percent (for FY 2014) of their extramural research or R&D budgets for an SBIR program. (The NIH SBIR set-aside requirement for FY 2014 is $663 million.)

Wrap up a great summer with one last BioBuzz networking event on August 27th from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. at American Tap Room in Rockville, MD. This location is a short walk from the Metro located in the Rockville Town Center so there are no excuses not to come.

New this month, join us for Table Talks at BioBuzz.

This month’s featured Table Topics will be on Project Management & Navigating your Life Science Careers.

Life Science Career Talks with;
Shira Harrington, President of Purposeful Hire
Multiple corporate recruiters from local Biotech companies

Project Management discussions with;
Tariq Allana, Project Manager at GlycoMimetics
Allen Bolden, Experienced GMP Manufacturing Project Manager

The National Institutes of Health is challenging science innovators to compete for prizes totaling up to $500,000, by developing new ways to track the health status of a single cell in complex tissue over time. The NIH Follow that Cell Challenge seeks tools that would, for example, monitor a cell in the process of becoming cancerous, detect changes due to a disease-causing virus, or track how a cell responds to treatment.

“Advances in cellular analysis promise earlier diagnosis and improved therapies for diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer’s,” said James Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIH’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI). “These prizes will also help to stimulate new businesses and economic growth in our biomedical communities.”

For the third year in a row, Johns Hopkins has been recognized as one of the nation’s best college campuses for dining.

Hopkins ranks second on the list of the “Best Colleges for Food in America” compiled by the website The Daily Meal, up from a No. 42 ranking a year ago. The site praised JHU’s commitment to sustainability, the diversity of food offerings, and its special programming, including on-campus cooking classes and food and wine pairings for seniors.

For an incubator set on changing perceptions of where startups need to be to succeed in regulated sectors such as healthcare, education and energy, the decision to set up 1776 in Washington D.C. was a smart move. Mentors abound in a city where lawmakers, think tanks, regulators and Fortune 500 companies come to do business. In a phone interview, co-founder Donna Harris talked to MedCity News about its approach to finding and working with startups.

Harris co-founded 1776 in 2012 with Evan Burfield. Harris had previously worked at Startup America Partnership (which later changed its name to UP America) as managing director, and before that she was Vice Chair of Interpoint. Burfield founded netDecide and Synteractive.