US-based biotechnology firm Tetragenetics will enter into collaboration with AstraZeneca's global biologics research and development arm MedImmune, on multi-target ion channel drug discovery program.

The need to improve and increase research into dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases is widely recognised. In 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron launched his “Challenge on Dementia” and since then a number of initiatives have been announced which mean that the UK is a world-leader in this area. MedImmune, the biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, has built a team of neuroscientists focusing on neurodegenerative research and is deeply involved and committed to its work to discover and develop novel treatments for dementia.

Wednesday January 28, 2015 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST

Join the BioBuzz networking group at our next free event. Along with 100's of the region's bioscience workers, you too could be making new connections, getting jobs and helping to build a stronger, more connected industry through the BioBuzz community!

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels is scrambling to track down funding for young researchers who are increasingly being passed up for federal grants.

Facebook generates about $8 a year in revenue from each of its users. But what if you offered a company not just your photos and updates, but your entire genome?

Then you could be worth as much as $20,000.

Hundreds of research papers are published every day worldwide. But which articles are most discussed and in which circles? To find out, Altmetric in London traced how often papers were noted in 14 digital channels, ranging from the serious (5,000 research blogs and Mendeley, an academic citation network) to the trendy (Twitter, Facebook) and everything in between (including 1,000 news outlets). Altmetric poured data for 2014 into an algorithm that created scores; the top 200 articles are mapped here.

A new $75 million investment fund has been created by Connecticut-based HealthInvest Equity Partners, according to a filing with the SEC.

The investment firm, formed in 2013, focuses on a wide range of areas within healthcare, from woman’s health companies to urgent care providers to medical imaging.

Blend Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering new classes of medicines to treat cancer, announced today that it has secured $21 million in new funding. The new financing includes additional equity investment from a new investor and all of Blend’s existing venture investors in an expansion of the Series B round, as well as debt financing from an institutional investment firm.

The EAGB put together a year-end report on the regional economy for the second year, this time highlighting local universities and the innovation economy. Also in this report, the EAGB lists its most memorable achievements from the previous year. Take a look!

According to a recent article in The National Law Review, universities controlling and supporting the commercialization of their own research is not a new trend in the academic world. Recently, for example, the University of California created UC Ventures, “an independent fund to pursue investments in UC research-fueled enterprises” in September 2014, stated the school in a press release. 

The University of Maryland will be applying for status as a qualified institution to give tax breaks to businesses — particularly startups — located around some of College Park's higher-profile locales, such as the planned hotel-conference center and research park.

The "next generation of science" is at risk unless major changes are made to increase opportunities for young researchers, Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels wrote in a scientific journal article published Tuesday.

Bioentrepreneurship is the process of creating customer defined value by creating, developing, deploying and harvesting biomedical and/or sick care or health and wellness innovation. The definition includes three key elements: process, value creation and innovation.

The hollow Cola tree growing in a remote area of southeastern Guinea was once home to thousands of bats routinely hunted and killed by the neighborhood children. It was also a popular spot to play. A year ago, one child in particular lived within fifty meters of the tree: a two-year-old boy who died in December 2013 and later was identified as the first person in west Africa known to have developed Ebola. The tree was one of the few that loomed over his home village of Meliandou, a hamlet of 31 houses. The question that now haunts researchers: were the tree’s occupants behind how that small boy contracted the virus in the first place?

Montgomery County Executive, Ike Leggett, has named Sally Sternbach Acting Director for the Department of Economic Development effective January 3, 2015.

Funding and Research Opportunities

The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

Notices:

• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2015
• (NOT-OD-15-048) National Institutes of Health
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Health Resources and Services Administration
• Notice of Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts 
• (NOT-OD-15-049) National Institutes of Health
• NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards - FY2015
• (NOT-OD-15-050) National Institutes of Health

Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.

The National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) is holding a Combined University Startups and Global 1000 Meet | Partner | Deal Conference in Washington, D.C., March 10-12. The event will bring together two dynamic conferences:

• to share best practices on creating and funding university startups,
• to showcase world-class startups from the portfolios of universities, angel investors, VCs, incubators and SBIRs,
• to find significant transactions for Fortune 500 corporates, and
• to provide great dealflow for angel investors and VCs.

GLOBAL 1000 TRANSACTION NETWORK COMPANY SHOWCASE

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JANUARY 21

Submit your high-growth and innovative companies to individually meet with and showcase to an exclusive Global 1000 Transaction Network of Corporate Investors, Venture Capitalists, and Angel Investors at the Combined University Startups and Global 1000 Meet | Partner | Deal Conference in Washington, DC, on March 11 and 12, 2015. Know more about this powerful showcase program

Startups face huge challenges. But we can help.

We’ve helped scores of them grow by putting their CEOs in front of a live audience of investors, tech executives and media at our annual Emerging Companies Summits.

With 41 novel drug approvals under the regulators’ belts last year, 2014 represented an 18-year high for the Food and Drug Administration – including a record number of okayed meds for orphan diseases, the Associated Press says...

Finding funds for early stage companies has always been a great challenge. In past venture financing cycles, it's been the gap between the first venture financing (Series A) and the growth capital or mezzanine financing that many emerging companies were unable to bridge. This gap, called the "valley of death," was attributed to a number of factors, but that valley of death has shifted in important ways in the recent past.

Curator: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D

I am intending to do a series of posts highlighting interviews with Philadelphia area biotech startup CEO’s and show how a vibrant biotech startup scene is evolving in the city as well as the Delaware Valley area. Philadelphia has been home to some of the nation’s oldest biotechs including Cephalon, Centocor, hundreds of spinouts from a multitude of universities as well as home of the first cloned animal (a frog), the first transgenic mouse, and Nobel laureates in the field of molecular biology and genetics. Although some recent disheartening news about the fall in rankings of Philadelphia as a biotech hub and recent remarks by CEO’s of former area companies has dominated the news, biotech incubators like the University City Science Center and Bucks County Biotechnology Center as well as a reinvigorated investment community (like PCCI and MABA) are bringing Philadelphia back.

Campus Technology is looking for innovative colleges and universities that have deployed unique technology solutions to campus challenges.

Nominations are now open for our tenth annual Campus Technology Innovators Awards, recognizing institutions, technology project leaders and vendor partners that have used technology in new ways to support teaching, learning, administration and operations. The deadline for entries is Feb. 17.

Health Canada has accepted US-based Sucampo Pharmaceuticals' New Drug Submission (NDS) for Amitiza (lubiprostone), 24mcg capsules, to treat chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) in adults and opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in adults with chronic non-cancer pain.

The pharmaceutical giant Roche has paid an undisclosed price to acquire Bina Technologies, a bioinformatics company. The move sees Roche expand further into the life sciences sector.

For obvious reasons, hospitals are a hotspot for germ exposure, which can increase the risk of infection for those making a visit by up to 10 percent, according to a recent study. What might be surprising though, is that researchers found more bacteria colonization on the hospital elevator buttons than even on the facility’s toilets.

Imagine, a quick pinprick on the sidelines of a football game that could tell athletes whether they’ve concussed. Arizona startup BioDirection is developing a point-of-care device that diagnoses minor brain injury quickly – in 60 to 90 seconds – with just a single drop of blood.

Two-thirds of a wide variety of cancer kinds are largely rooted in undesirable genetic luck and not simply the benefits of traits passed down from parents or risk components like smoking or diet program, according to a new study. Random mutations in DNA are largely accountable for the majority of cancers in humans, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

On Thursday, January 15, 2015 from 4-6:30 pm there will be an open house for the spring courses in the "Advanced Studies in Technology Transfer" program at the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) Graduate School at NIH in the new Classroom & Bookstore complex in NIH Building 10 / B1 level.  For the semester beginning on January 26, 2015 there will be 14 courses offered with details available in the new 2014-15 course catalog ( www.faes.org ). The Advanced Studies in Technology Transfer is an open enrollment program with class credits transferable into various university MBA & MS degree programs. The technology transfer classes will be held at the offices of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer in Rockville as well as the NIH main campus in Bethesda.

U.S. drug approvals in 2014 hit their highest level in 18 years and recommendations in Europe also came at a rapid rate, driven by expensive new treatments for cancer and rare diseases.

United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) announced today the signing of an agreement with DEKA Research & Development Corp. for the development of a potential technology breakthrough in the subcutaneous delivery of Remodulin® (treprostinil) Injection to patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) via a pre-filled semi-disposable pump system.  

U.S. News & World Report is pleased to announce the 2014 STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, honored during the U.S. News STEM Solutions conference. In choosing the honorees, U.S. News sought out leaders who, among other things, have achieved measurable results in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields; challenged established processes and conventional wisdom; inspired a shared vision; and motivated legions of aspiring STEM professionals.

Outgoing D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray gave the city's tech scene some love as one of his final acts, signing a somewhat controversial tax cut into law. The capital gains tax on returns from investments in certain tech companies was lowered to 3 percent.

Here are a few thoughts on the cut from techs I spoke with...

Governmental agencies face a wide spectrum of challenges in creating mHealth apps, ranging from a changing development culture to potential litigious issues, revealed a new report published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.