To us, biomedical research is not an abstract idea funded by wasteful government spending. It is work done by driven and passionate young people like ourselves who want to save lives -- but that work requires money, resources, and time.

We are a group of graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program, earning our joint MD-PhD degrees with the goal of becoming physician scientists. We aim to be well versed in both scientific research methods and clinical practice so that we can expand and improve medical care, save lives, decrease the cost of health care and drive medicine forward. Thus far, the discussion surrounding the sequestration has lacked the perspective of trainees in biomedical research and the implications that budget cuts have had on our training and future careers.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, has broken ground on its largest building ever, a $305.4 million, 10-story, 428,970-square-foot biomedical research facility called the Health Sciences Facility (HSF) III. University of Maryland President Jay A. Perman, MD, was joined by Gov. Martin O'Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, and several hundred invited guests at a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 17 on the site of the new building ý the old dental school facility on North Pine Street.

"This is a proud day for the University of Maryland, Baltimore," Dr. Perman told the crowd. The campus has expanded from 1.9 million square feet in 1975 to occupy 5.9 million square feet in 2013, he noted. "The University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University System of Maryland's founding campus, has experienced robust growth in recent years. The Health Sciences Facility III further strengthens our footprint in west Baltimore and, as a result, our economic impact on the city and the state. We're privileged to be able to help revitalize our critical important Baltimore neighborhoods and the state of Maryland as a whole, and at the same time, enable biomedical research and education that has the potential to save lives."

The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM), Maryland’s largest trade association for bioscience and technology companies employing more than 200,000 in the region, today announced that Philip Schiff, formerly chief strategy officer of the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), has been named CEO.

“Maryland has a dynamic technology sector, which has been leading the state’s economic recovery during the past few years," said Doug Doerfler, chairman of TCM’s Board and founding president and CEO of MaxCyte, Inc. "Phil understands the major role our enterprises play today, and will use his extensive experience managing a national association, combined with his understanding of complex technology, to execute TCM's vision and lead critical advocacy efforts on behalf of Maryland's technology entrepreneurs for the future.”

Rockville biotechnology company Emergent BioSolutions plans to buy a Gaithersburg building and move its 112 employees at its headquarters there, as well as add 133 jobs over the next five years, executives said Monday.

As part of the deal, the Gaithersburg City Council was expected to consider awarding a $250,000 economic development grant to Emergent during its meeting Monday evening.

The University of Maryland (UMD) and Siemens Corporation announced today the largest ever in-kind software grant from Siemens PLM Software. The in-kind grant has a commercial value of more than $750 million. Siemens' product lifecycle management (PLM) software will provide UMD students and researchers with a uniquely valuable and sophisticated design and simulation tool for course work, research, academic projects and team-based competitions.

This in-kind grant from Siemens gives students and faculty access to the same technology that companies around the world depend on every day to develop and manufacture innovative products in a wide variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, biotechnology, machinery, shipbuilding, and high-tech electronics, among others.

Fenwick & West LLP, one of the nation's premier law firms providing comprehensive legal services to high technology and life science clients, today announced the results of its First Half 2013 Life Science Venture Capital Survey.

The survey analyzes the valuations and terms of venture financings for 149 life science companies headquartered in the United States that reported raising capital during the first half of 2013, as well as trends in venture capital financings, fundraising and exit events.

Winning a $1.6 million federal grant to buy a robotic system to store 1 million blood, urine and tissue samples was easy compared to finding space for it at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The "monster" machine, to be known as the university's "bio bank," is 13 feet wide, 20 feet deep and 10 feet high, said Dr. Alan Shuldiner, associate dean for personalized medicine.

But free lab space is scarce on the school's West Baltimore campus.

A report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), “Health IT-Enabled Quality Measurement: Perspectives, Pathways, and Practical Guidance,” outlines experts’ viewpoints on how information technologies are advancing the science of quality measurement. Over the course of the 2-year project, diverse perspectives were identified regarding how to operationalize quality measurement as well how to prioritize iterative advancements in health IT-enabled quality measurement.

Stakeholders agreed on the importance of addressing measure development, implementation, and testing; data elements and data capture; data access, sharing, aggregation, and integration; patient engagement; and collaboration and education. They also agreed that they would like to see quality measurement move beyond “checking the box” to truly support the quality improvement process. They suggested that quality measurement should be actionable and timely to allow patients and providers opportunities to improve care.

While the first half of 2013 saw a surge in initial public offerings (IPOs) by venture-backed biopharma companies, the overall financing environment for privately held life science companies remains slow.

The average valuation increase for life science companies receiving venture capital financing during the first half of 2013 was roughly even with 2012 results, and the percentage of "up round" financings declined slightly. Fundraising by life science venture capitalists continued to decline as well.

In investing, comedy, and business, timing is a key component of success.  It’s not enough to have a sense of where the future is going, directionally – you have to have some sense of when it’s likely to arrive.

In investing, this challenge is perhaps seen most vividly in bubbles, as Gregory Zuckerman details in The Greatest Trade Ever, providing example after example of exceptionally smart people — from Isaac Newton to Stanley Druckenmiller — who were able to correctly perceive a bubble, but who nevertheless lost huge sums of money by inaccurately estimating when it would burst.

Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) has launched the first cyber-security technology startup accelerator program in the U.S. The Mach37 Cyber Accelerator is intended to locate and leverage the wealth of cyber security talent in Virginia to create companies that will develop and launch new products.

Mach 37 represents 37 times the speed of sound, which is approximately the same as the Earth’s escape velocity.

Cars entering UMBC’s campus from I-195 will pass by a collection of nice looking buildings and a Subway restaurant. When temporarily stopped to obey the four-way stop before crossing the intersection, passengers may notice the sign that says bwtech@UMBC.

While the buildings and the sign are a familiar sight to many, their significance may remain unknown to those who pass by. These buildings house part of a research park run by UMBC named bwtech@UMBC.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is interested in fostering communication between eligible small businesses and prime contractors.

The event, held in Rockville MD, will provide information about upcoming subcontractor opportunities for eligible small businesses, while assisting primes with meeting their subcontracting goals. NCI is interested in identifying a variety of small businesses that have expertise and capabilities in a range of specific NAICS codes listed.

University of Maryland Received a 2013 NIH Grant for $219,084 for Age-Related Changes in Renal Morphology and Function in Chronic Kidney Disease. The principal investigator is Yu Chen. The program begain in 2012 and ends in 2014. Below is a summary of the proposed work.

This application is in response to PA-09-166 "Renal Function and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Aging (R21)". CKD is a growing problem among the aging population. According to the United States Renal Data System, the number of older patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has almost doubled over the last 25 years.

I don’t think I’ve ever (in 20+ years of writing) reprinted a press release verbatim. Often I don’t even get to the end of them because of all the PR speak. However, today the Mayo Clinic sent out this list. It is concise, compelling and I can’t think of any way to improve it. The 10 ways the human genome map can affect diagnosis and treatment is an important reminder that we have come a long way in a short time, and that healthcare in the United States is not all about arguing about who gets care and who pays for it.

In case you had any doubts that the $3.8 billion investment in the genome mapping project was worth it, consider these 10 advancements compiled by the Mayo Clinic.

United Therapeutics Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged the resubmission of the new drug application (NDA) for treprostinil diolamine extended release tablets (oral treprostinil) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The FDA classified the resubmission as a complete, class 2 response to its March 22, 2013 complete response letter, and set a user fee goal date of February 16, 2014.

About United TherapeuticsUnited Therapeutics Corporation is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of unique products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions.

Normal adult cells have been reprogrammed to become stem cells inside live mice for the first time.

As stem cells can be coaxed into developing into almost any kind of cell, being able to prompt this behaviour in the body could one day be used to repair ailing organs including the heart, liver, spinal cord and pancreas.

"By doing it in situ, the cells are already there in the tissue, in the right position," says Manuel Serrano at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, and co-leader of the new work.

The University of Maryland and Northrop Grumman will jointly announce the launch of the Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students (ACES), the nation's first cybersecurity honors program for undergraduates, at a special event on Wednesday, September 25, 2013, from 10:30-11:30 a.m. in the Stamp Student Union Atrium on the University of Maryland College Park Campus.

The ACES program is designed to educate future leaders in the field of cybersecurity through rigorous, hands-on learning experiences, an intensive interdisciplinary curriculum, collaborative projects, and professional insight from industry and business leaders. The four-year honors program offers students a living-learning experience, giving them the opportunity to collaborate and work closely together as they pursue their advanced program of study in cybersecurity. The inaugural ACES cohort is comprised of 57 students. The ACES program is supported by a major grant from Northrop Grumman. For more information about the program, visit aces.umd.edu.

The INNo program trains research scientists in the entrepreneurial skills needed to bring technology inventions and services to the healthcare market.

Participants in the INNo program learn to:

• Identify and evaluate the commercial potential of intellectual property
• Understand the business fundamentals related to technology start-ups
• Create a value proposition and business concept for a new product, platform, or service
• Articulate investment opportunities persuasively to potential investors and partners
• Develop a network of resources in the Maryland entrepreneurial community

Roche’s move to skip over Inovio’s (NYSE: INO) late stage drugs for cervical cancer and Hepatitis C and make a beeline for its preclinical DNA vaccines for prostate cancer and Hep B was initially a little puzzling. Investors have preferred to park their money further upstream when products are in the clinic and they’ve been derisked. Big pharma is always looking for ways to take costs out of research and development. But the prospect of utilizing new technology with the potential to improve treatment is appealing for drug developers that want to build up and strengthen their drug pipeline.

Two Washington region tech companies — Clarabridge Inc. and Virtustream Inc. — rolled out a combined $120 million in funding on Tuesday, another sign of an improving venture ecosystem. Both rank among the Top 10 biggest D.C. Tech investments thus far in 2013

Not all of the fundings on this list qualify as "venture," of course. Some of the larger ones could just as easily be called private equity, or at least the hybrid term "growth." Like we see with Clarabridge's $80 million, big-ticket financings like these often go partly toward cashing out earlier investors. And not all came from traditional VC. In Virtustream's case, the entire $40 million Series D round came from a single corporate source: SAP AG.

The Abell Foundation underwrote a comparison of Baltimore’s innovation ecosystem with that of Boston. Sean Pool and Matt Van Itallie, of Canterbury Road Partners, undertook the work and their report is telling of the challenges in front of us, but also reveals great promise of the resources we already have and what Baltimore’s innovation ecosystem can become. The full report can be found on the Abell Foundation website.

This video is the first in a series about Startup Shell, the first student-founded, student-run venture incubator at the University of Maryland.

The Startup Shell is a vibrant co-working space at UMD where talented students guide their colleagues through ideation, research and development, product prototyping, business model creation and more.

Startup Shell is located in the Technology Advancement Program (TAP) incubator, an initiative of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) in the A. James Clark School of Engineering.

Target has joined one of the growing trends in healthcare: innovation challenges. It announced on Monday two contests: one will seek a solution that helps people make positive lifestyle and prevention choices, while the other will gather ways to help people live well with a chronic condition.

The Target Simplicity Challenge will reward the creators of the winning ideas $25,000 apiece, their own Target-branded flip camera, and a chance to partner with Target to develop the concepts. The deadline for ideas is Oct. 24 and winners will be announced by January.

Maryland entrepreneurs are getting the chance to bring their small business plans directly to a panel of angel investors who could bring those ideas to life.

“The one thing we want to do is bring your story back with us,” said Mike Binko, founder and co-chair of Startup Maryland. “We want to put a big spotlight and a big megaphone in your hands to tell your story in your words.”

Harvard University has partnered with several venture capital firms to launch The Experiment Fund.  The Experiment Fund is starting with $10 million and was co-founded by Harvard alumni Patrick Chung (New Enterprise Associates) and Hugo Van Vuuren.  Accel Partners and Polaris Ventures is also associated with The Experiment Fund.

Two of the world’s most prolific technology entrepreneurs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, are known for being Harvard University dropouts.  Why did they drop out?  Possibly due to lack of resources at the University.  Mark Zuckerberg moved to Silicon Valley from Harvard University to raise VC funding for Facebook in May 2004 and never looked back.

University System of Maryland increased the number of new companies formed out of university technology by 29 percent in fiscal 2013 and is aiming to keep up the pace this year.

The university system credits the growth in new businesses in part to its heightened focus on entrepreneurship and transforming university research to commercial technology. Assistant Vice Chancellor for Information Technology Suresh Balakrishnan said the university system will look to continue adding new companies by looking for new ways to support startups, such as an investment fund.

The Johns Hopkins University edged closer to the top 10 of national universities on the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings, which were released Tuesday.

U.S. News moved Hopkins up one spot to No. 12, just behind Dartmouth University and tied with Northwestern University, in the most-often cited of numerous college rankings. It was the highest ranking for Hopkins in 14 years. As expected based on prior rankings, Princeton, Harvard and Yale remained in the top three spots, in that order.

Biotech venture capitalists, as a group, haven’t had much to cheer about the past few years. But this is shaping up to be the year the storyline changes, thanks to the ripple effect from the biotech IPO class of 2013.

The story of biotech venture capital over the past few years, as many readers know well, has been mostly about struggle. Many firms haven’t been able to scrape out returns, and they’ve reacted by grasping for new investment models, pushing partners out, veering into other sectors, or shutting their doors. The historic shift, which came about a decade after the genomics bubble, left only a few firms with the desire and capability to make the edgiest, riskiest, and potentially most innovative investments in life sciences.

I visited cardiologist Eric Topol at the Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, California, one day this summer. He’d had a busy morning seeing patients and, by about noon, was claiming to have already saved the medical system tens of thousands of dollars using his iPhone and a pocket-sized ultrasound machine. Then he pointed to the stethoscope in his pocket and said he hasn’t used it in three years. “I should just throw it out,” he said. “This is basically a worthless icon of medicine.”

Topol is perhaps the most prominent advocate in the U.S. of how digital technology can lead to less expensive health care, and he invited me to see the savings in action. As we lope toward the exam room, Topol, slightly hunched and repeatedly turning to deal with questions flying at him from his staff, seems slightly rattled by the commotion and barrage of demands, but a calm sets in the moment he enters the exam room. He folds his arms across his chest as a young colleague updates him on the patient’s history. Topol introduces himself to the 85-year-old man, who has been tiring easily as of late, and then the doctor immediately pulls out his iPhone.

While U.S. job growth was less than economists expected in August – increasing by 169,000 – the healthcare sector remained a bright spot, adding 32,700 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report issued Friday.  

In the healthcare sector, ambulatory healthcare services had the most growth, with 26,600 added jobs. Hospitals saw the least growth, adding only 900 jobs in August. Home healthcare services and nursing and residential care facilities continued to be solid, adding 9,500 jobs and 5,200 respectively.

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today it will host an event with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell launching the MACH37™ Cyber Accelerator on Thursday, September 12, 2013. The Accelerator is a program designed to facilitate the creation of the next generation of cybersecurity companies in Virginia. Supported by Governor McDonnell, the General Assembly appropriated $2.5 million to CIT to start and operate the Accelerator for two years, after which the Accelerator will secure private funding. MACH37 is the nation’s first public-private sector Cyber Accelerator program

Kicking off the fall semester, the University of Maryland is giving the thousands of innovative minds across campus new ways to share and explore their fearless ideas. Starting today, the university is expanding its popular "Innovation Fridays," which give students the opportunity to meet with experienced innovators and entrepreneurs, get free and impartial advice, brainstorm strategies, and learn about available resources and funding.

"We are committed to cultivating a community of innovators on campus," says Dean Chang, UMD's associate vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship. "Similar to Google's 20 percent time, which gave the world innovations like Gmail by encouraging employees to spend one day a week pursuing bold projects that were not necessarily related to their job description, we want to encourage students to take one day a week—Fridays—to pursue their own fearless ideas. The expansion of Innovation Fridays will allow more students across all disciplines to do just that."

High Level Overview - Recapped

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a significant portfolio of inventions available for licensing.  The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) has evaluated many of them to identify those with the strongest commercial viability
• The Avon Foundation, the NIH, and CAI are launching a start-up Challenge to exploit these opportunities

Challenge Phases

• Letter of Intent (LOI): Teams provide information regarding the members of their team and indicate how team members meet eligibility requirements.  Teams also outline their intent to participate in the Challenge
• Business Plan (BP): Teams develop a 10-page business plan or business model canvas; a five minute "live" pitch; and a one minute elevator speech via recorded video
• Start-up (SU): Teams incorporate their start-up and apply for seed funding and the NIH start-up license or a license from the Clemson University Research Foundation (for this invention). In order to complete these three activities,the teams should refine their commercialization plan, development plan, regulatory strategy and comprehensive view of their management team and board of advisors

Stanford University is going to start directly investing in students’ companies. Stanford is also giving a $3.6 million grant to StartX, a non-profit startup accelerator for Stanford-affiliated entrepreneurs.

StartX founder and CEO Cameron Teitelman tells me Stanford will only invest in StartX companies and alumni companies.

University spokesperson Lisa Lapin tells me Stanford’s investment fund will have an uncapped size. Vice President for Business Affairs Randy Livingston and his office will oversee the school’s investments, and Stanford will not take a lead role in funding rounds.