RoosterBio Inc, a leading supplier of human Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell (hMSC) working cell banks and hMSC-specific bioprocess systems, announces today it has submitted a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Type II Master File (MF) for its CliniControl™ line of cGMP hMSC working cell banks. This MF complements the MF for the CliniControl RoosterNourish™-MSC-CC bioprocess […]

Renowned communications pioneer Andrew J. Viterbi has given $50 million to the University of California San Diego in honor of his father, ophthalmologist Achille Viterbi. The gift will result in the founding of the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology and the Viterbi Family Vision Research Center as well as establish six new endowed faculty chairs. […]

This has been a year marked by many notable biotech deals, especially in the immunotherapy market. One deal, in particular, has generated more local excitement in the BioHealth Capital Region than any other; that is the BeneVir acquisition by Janssen, a JNJ company. Likewise, of the many startup stories and local entrepreneurs we’ve highlighted this […]

The Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc. (FITCI), Frederick, Maryland’s tech incubator, announced today that it is the recipient of two grants totaling $450,000 from the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund of the Rural Maryland Council (RMC). The Fund provides targeted investment to promote economic prosperity in Maryland’s rural communities. The first grant, for $200,000, will […]

Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics (MDx) company that develops, manufactures, and intends to market advanced MDx systems, today announced receipt of a $3 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Last year Akonni received a 2017 North American New Product Innovation Award from Frost and Sullivan, which highlighted […]

The University of Arizona Health Sciences-Banner Health has received the largest National Institute of Health (NIH) grant award in the state’s history. The $60 million, five-year award will fund the university’s All of Us Research Program, which will include Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaskan Native participants and communities. Launched in May, the program is tied to […]

Patients with a greater than 10 pack/year history of smoking tend to develop an especially dangerous form of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) for which prognosis remains poor and treatments have changed little during the past two decades. However, recent phase 1 clinical trial results by the Head and Neck Cancer Group at […]

An estimated 15 million Americans will develop Alzheimer’s disease by 2060, according to researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The December 2017 study is the first of its kind to estimate the numbers of Americans with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study found that 5.7 […]

TEDCO’s Rural Business Innovation Initiative (RBI2) announced its latest pre-seed investment in two rural-based companies—Nanobiofab and GOEFER. As recipients of RBI2 investments, the companies will receive ongoing mentoring and funding to continue their product development into commercialization. Both based in Frederick, Md., Nanobiofab and GOEFER are part of the non-profit business incubator company, Frederick Innovative […]

Immunomic Therapeutics is pleased to announce the expansion of its technology platform, now called UNITE — or UNiversal Intracellular Targeted Expression. In 2006, the company licensed its foundational investigational LAMP-Vax technology from Johns Hopkins University. Since then, the research program has evolved through partnerships, internal R&D, and the addition of new tools and methods that […]

In recent years there has been a surge of interest in biotech entrepreneurship, with many scientists wanting to take their innovative ideas and develop them into new products and technologies. And what better place to start a business than the up-and-coming BioHealth Capital Region! Entrepreneurship comes with many challenges, though, especially for scientists who are […]

UC San Diego has received federal support to continue its efforts to develop new treatments and, ultimately, find a cure for HIV/AIDS. A five-year, $15 million grant has been awarded to the university’s Center for AIDS Research by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The grant signals the federal agency’s support of […]

Last Fall, UC Davis’ Comprehensive Cancer Center received its first National Cancer Institute (NCI) Moonshot Grant of $2.5 million to research two types of cancers in dogs that are very similar to cancer in humans. UC Davis boasts both a world renowned veterinary school and medical school. Researchers are equipped with the tools to examine […]

Biotech scientists at the University of California, Berkeley received $12.3 million from the Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research Program. The researchers aim to develop an in-depth understanding of drought tolerance in field-grown sorghum. The first paper from this study is out now. And the new research has some interesting findings – it shows […]

UCLA geneticists have created a new technique to hunt for hormones that influence how organs and tissues communicate with each other. The method enabled them to find naturally occurring molecules that play major roles in Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. In particular, they discovered: Two hormones called “notum” and “lipocalin-5″ that speed up […]

Without pesticides farmers would become nearly impossible to feeding earth’s 7.6 billion inhabitants. One third of our global food supply is pollinated by bees. Researchers at Michigan State University’s entomology department may have found molecular tweaks that can allow Pyrethroid pesticides to kill pests without killing bees. Pyrethroids are a special chemical class of active […]

Akonni Biosystems Inc. and Chinese in vitro diagnostics company, Righton, announce a commercial agreement that enables Righton to sell Akonni’s products for nucleic acid purification and molecular diagnostics to researchers, clinical laboratories, and hospitals in China. The products to be sold include TruTip®, Akonni’s best-in-class sample preparation technology, which is low-cost and simple, yet highly […]

The University of Michigan Center for the Discovery of New Medicines (CDNM) has awarded research funding to seven faculty members from across the U-M campus for new drug development projects. The goal of University of Michigan’s CDNM is to accelerate the path toward commercialization for novel and translational approaches to potential therapies. They do this […]

Yale researchers have developed a set of synthetic molecules that may help boost the strength of a key, virus-fighting protein. The protein, RIG-I, is an important sensor in the immune system of humans and other animals. It recognizes and responds to viral RNA by surrounding it, latching onto it, and launching the immune system into […]

Injecting minute amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice can eliminate all traces of cancer in the animals, including distant, untreated metastases, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The approach works for many different types of cancers, including those that arise spontaneously, the study […]