Rhode Island’s capital city should forget about becoming another Silicon Valley, venture capitalist Josh Kopelman said during a talk Tuesday at Betaspring, the business incubator in the Knowledge District.

It’s an unrealistic goal for Providence and the many other cities that aspire to become the nation’s next technology hub. But, said Kopelman, the founder and managing partner of First Round Capital, that doesn’t mean those communities can’t carve out their own niche in an industry that’s growing at a feverish pace.

The National Institutes of Health will fund up to $24 million per year for four years to establish six to eight investigator-initiated Big Data to Knowledge Centers of Excellence. The centers will improve the ability of the research community to use increasingly large and complex datasets through the development and distribution of innovative approaches, methods, software, and tools for data sharing, integration, analysis and management. The centers will also provide training for students and researchers to use and develop data science methods.

Biomedical research is increasingly data-intensive, with researchers routinely generating and using large, diverse datasets. Yet the ability to manage, integrate and analyze such data, and to locate and use data generated by others, is often limited due to a lack of tools, accessibility, and training. In response, NIH launched the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative in December. This initiative supports research, implementation, and training in data science that will enable biomedical scientists to capitalize on the transformative opportunities that large datasets provide. The investigator-initiated BD2K Center of Excellence funding opportunity is the first of several BD2K funding opportunities to be announced in coming months.

When Qiagen scooped up Ingenuity Systems this year, the acquisition of the Redwood City, California-based firm marked the first time the biotechnology giant had purchased a firm that exclusively makes software.

The purchase allows Qiagen to analyze information it derives from the genetic maps of organisms, which can be used to detect variations and mutations that point to the cause of certain diseases or new ways to treat them.

There’s a “No Vacancy” sign hanging out front University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s research and development park, and leaders say they have the state’s cyber security industry to thank.

University officials say the popularity of cyber security and growth in the number of young companies launching in that industry contributed to bwtech@UMBC’s popularity in recent years. The research and technology park is at capacity for the first time since it was established in 1989.

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:

NIH Guide Notices:

NOT-HL-13-183: Notice of Information: NHLBI Will Only Accept Resubmitted Applications for the Extended Expiration Date for PAR-10-234 Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP)(R01)

• The NHLBI will only accept resubmitted applications for the November 5, 2013 and January 7, 2014 (AIDS) standard due dates. Furthermore, all resubmission applications must come in on November 5, 2013 or January 7, 2014 (AIDS). NHLBI will not accept new, renewal or revision applications on November 5, 2013 and January 7, 2014.

NOT-OD-13-083: Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Pediatric Research (LRP-PR)

• The NIH invites qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in NIH mission-relevant research for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week, to apply for participation in the extramural LRP.

NOT-OD-13-081: Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (LRP-CR)

• The NIH invites qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in NIH mission-relevant research for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week, to apply for participation in the extramural LRP.

Request for Applications (RFA):

RFA-HL-14-001: Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics in Lung Diseases Stage II (CADET II)(UH2/UH3)

• The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite applications for Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics in Lung Diseases Stage II (CADET II). The goal of the CADET program is to accelerate the development of novel products for the treatment of lung diseases and sleep disordered breathing using strategies based on relevant pathobiologic processes.

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, and the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the world leader in laboratory quality assurance and improvement, today announced the launch of a new strategic alliance that will provide solutions to advance laboratory quality for improved patient outcomes in China and India. BD and CAP announced the collaboration during the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas.

Laboratories play a critical role in the diagnosis and treatment of disease for the more than 2.5 billion people who live in China and India. The BD/CAP Strategic Alliance will improve access to external quality assurance/proficiency testing (PT) that can have a direct and positive impact on laboratory quality, and therefore, patient outcomes. Together BD and CAP will provide education to improve awareness of global practice standards and training that will help laboratories achieve their quality improvement goals. Additionally, BD will manage PT distribution, including sales, shipping, and first-line client service.

Research organizations in the Great Seneca Life Sciences Corridor are considering the creation of a common cyberinfrastructure that would facilitate sharing and spur innovative ideas.

Anil Srivastava, president of Open Health Systems Laboratory on Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County campus, proposed the idea and held a meeting Monday with physicians, university faculty and representatives from Cisco Systems, Montgomery County government, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, MedImmune and other organizations.

Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced an agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, under which Kolltan will in-license a monoclonal antibody targeting the Her3 receptor tyrosine kinase from MedImmune. Based on the current program status, Kolltan anticipates initiating Phase 1 clinical testing of this product in the first quarter of 2014.

“This in-licensing opportunity exemplifies our leadership in and focus on receptor tyrosine kinases and their key role in oncology and other serious diseases,” commented Dr. Jerry McMahon, Kolltan’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Kolltan will apply its extensive scientific expertise and R&D drug development experience to prepare for entry into the clinic, including a focus on patient selection strategies. Kolltan is excited to advance this innovative product candidate into clinical testing for the broad potential treatment of cancer patients where this target plays a role.”

Maryland’s venture capital fund has announced that two tech companies in the state will get a total of $350,000.

Gov. Martin O’Malley made the announcement on Monday.

A Baltimore firm called SocialToaster has received approval for $200,000. The company specializes in social media and customer engagement.

A new class of medicines could give doctors the ability to awaken underperforming genes in patients who currently have no treatment options.

Boston-area startup RaNA Therapeutics is developing a novel kind of medicine that can boost the activity of genes that may be silenced or underactive and thus cause disease. The medicine would use a small RNA-like molecule that blocks the function of a long RNA molecule that is hampering the expression of such a gene.

Becton, Dickinson and Company is one of domain players of insulin syringes and other delivery devices, referring to the pie chart, Market Shares of the leading suppliers of Insulin Syringes and other delivery devices, 2009. Today, the market shares accounts 45% in the world, 80% in U.S. and Europe .

Medtronic has entered into an innovative partnership with The Johns Hopkins University, agreeing to provide $200,000 a year for up to three years and skilled mentoring to help biomedical engineering students design new healthcare solutions for underserved patients in developing countries.

The partnership was announced recently by Omar Ishrak, Medtronic’s chairman and chief executive officer, during his keynote address at the university’s annual Biomedical Engineering Design Day event. During his talk, Ishrak called attention to the need to improve access, outcomes, and the efficiency of healthcare solutions in developing regions of countries such as India, China, and Brazil.

QIAGEN N.V. announced a partnership with Exosome Diagnostics Inc. to develop and commercialize high-performance sample preparation kits for the processing of nucleic acids from exosomes.

According to a release, combining the Exosome Diagnostics platform technology approach with select QIAGEN consumables and automation platforms has the potential to allow researchers, drug developers and doctors to take repeated, real-time genetic "snapshots" of disease from patients' blood, urine or cerebrospinal fluid without the need for tissue biopsy. The companies are targeting initial product launches in the first half of 2014. Financial terms were not disclosed.

No, you didn't fall off the list, your SBIR Insider has been silent since February 28, 2013. There is a lot of SBIR news to report but first I owe you an explanation of my absence.

Those of you who are "mature" enough to remember the ever garrulous Howard Cosell, may recall the Larry Holmes / Tex Cobb fight in 1982 that ended Cosell's illustrious boxing commentary career. Because the fight was so one sided, potentially tragic, a public mutilation, and just plain ugly (with the referee refusing to stop the fight), Cosell became so incensed that he fell mute from the middle of the fight on, never to announce another bout.

In 2012, Maryland ranked 5th in the number and total value of Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program awards, after California, Massachusetts, Virginia and New York. Maryland firms received 265 awards valued at $94 million. A DBED analysis of SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II data shows that the number and value of awards decreased nationally in the last four years, and Maryland followed this trend. Even so, when compared to other states, Maryland consistently ranked within the top five recipients of SBIR/STTR awards in both the number and the dollar value of awards received.

Three more biotechnology companies went public Thursday as startups continued to capitalize on strong demand for these offerings, a trend that’s giving life-sciences venture capitalists a much-needed lift.

Cellular Dynamics International Inc., Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Onconova Therapeutics Inc. debuted on Nasdaq Thursday. Their initial public offerings followed recent IPOs from venture-backed biotechs such as Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., bluebird bio Inc., Esperion Therapeutics Inc., OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Prosensa Holding BV.

Independence Blue Cross (IBC), Penn Medicine, and DreamIt Ventures today host “Demo Day” for 10 health care startup companies selected to participate in DreamIt Health, the first-ever Philadelphia-based health care accelerator. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at World Café Live! at 3025 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. The participants will each have seven minutes to present their business plans to potential investors and customers, mentors, and health care executives. Demo Day events are ideal opportunities for startups to begin raising money to launch their businesses and gauge interest among key audiences.

“As health care undergoes dramatic change, I believe that the health care companies that thrive will be those with a clear vision that move rapidly and innovate. The caliber of this group of entrepreneurs and the diverse health care companies they represent is very promising and we’re pleased to have played a part in helping them plan, develop, and now present their ideas,” said Daniel J. Hilferty, president and CEO of IBC. “We are committed to transforming our region into a magnet for health care innovation, investment and employment, and supporting bright, new ideas like those we nurtured through DreamItHealth will help us get there faster.”

Montgomery County’s Department of Economic Development is hoping to attract green businesses to the area with an incentive program that will reimburse investors as much as $25,000.

The Green Investor Incentive Program is now accepting applications from investors in businesses that provide green products or technologies. The program was approved in April by the County Council and County Executive Isiah Leggett appropriated $500,000 to fund the program.

Accelerators are all about discovering and mentoring talented entrepreneurs with good ideas for improving healthcare and other sectors. They make the right introductions to advisers, industry stakeholders and investors with the goal of improving the chances of their success. But when demo day ends, the team members are faced with the crucial question of how to sustain themselves as they advance the development of their companies. They need to figure out where their next sources of funding will come from.

Given poorly, criticism tends to lead to the criticized parties involved feeling like crap--and the criticizer looking like a jerk (or worse).

If you're a psychologist, you'd call it reactance. If you're a regular person, you'd call it a dick move.

"Proper email is a balance between politeness and succinctness," entrepreneur-investor-author Guy Kawasaki tells Entrepreneur.com. "Less than five sentences is often abrupt and rude, more than five sentences wastes time."

In this way, the email is like poem. A sonnet maybe, with the way its limitations have a funny way of granting freedom. Or maybe an epic poem, given the fact that we all write a novel's worth of email every year. But would a missive by any other length read just as sweet?

The state of Maryland normally goes unnoticed in regards to the medtech and bioscience sectors when compared to California, Massachusetts and Minnesota. However, the state has the research facilities, governmental institutions and programs, corporate partnerships, funding and ambition to advance its biosciences marketplace into an international hub for medtech innovation.

At the heart of Maryland’s medical device and broader biotech industries is the state’s network of institutes and universities, which includes the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards & Technology, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland. Each one of these entities boasts an array of specialized laboratories for the study of bioimaging, biomolecular modeling, drug delivery, biomaterials, MEMS, microfluidics and more.

What Is Baltimore Innovation Week?

Baltimore Innovation Week is a week-long celebration of technology and innovation in Baltimore. The annual week of events is intended to grow the impact of this innovative region through programming focused on technology, collaboration and improving Baltimore.

Last year, Baltimore Innovation Week 2012 had impact:

• More than 30 events from 25 partners with more than 1,500 attendees
• Startups and products launched, including NewsUp, Crowdstich and Easy WebContent’s Presenter.
• GBTC held Maryland’s first hackathon that featured representatives from city, state and federal government agencies.
• 15 projects launched as part of the latest Startup Weekend Baltimore, including winner TeamPassword.
• Venture for America unveiled plans to launch its fellowship program in Baltimore.
• TechBreakfast continued its growth as the region’s premiere startup demo event.
• Pitch Across Maryland brought Gov. O’Malley to Baltimore to show off his entrepreneurship-fueling work.
• The University of Maryland Biopark launched a new entrepreneurship demo series, starting with its incubated healthcare applications platform startup Analytics Informatics.
• Education Ignite welcomed more than 200 people to hear about the changing education climate in Baltimore.

In the downtown of the nation's capital, there is a magnificent building of steel and glass that is now home to what may be a remarkable tech experiment.

The D.C. Public Library took an 11,000-square-foot space and installed 80 computers, including 16 Macs. A 3D printer was added as well as a machine that can print and bind a book from a file in just minutes. There are tablets of all types -- Android, Windows, Apple -- and e-reading devices, available to try out. It opened last week.

Regular marijuana use in adolescence, but not adulthood, may permanently impair brain function and cognition, and may increase the risk of developing serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, according to a recent preclinical study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Researchers hope that the study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology — a publication of the journal Nature – will help to shed light on the potential long-term effects of marijuana use, particularly as lawmakers in Maryland and elsewhere contemplate legalizing the drug.

Karen Vignare, Ph.D., an innovator in curriculum design and in the use of technology in learning, has been named associate provost and will lead University of Maryland University College’s new Center for Innovation in Learning. Vignare began her new post on June 3.

The Center for Innovation in Learning will be a laboratory for continuous improvements to the university’s curriculum, faculty development model and student support through its own work and through partnerships with high-profile organizations that will help further the work of the center.

A new mobile health trends report released Wednesday underscores the mid- to low sophistication of current mHealth application technology but also emphasizes the explosive growth and integration headed for the market .  

The Research and Markets mHealth trends report shows the industry poised for a compound annual growth rate of 61 percent by 2017, to reach a value of $26 billion. This revenue, researchers project, will be derived predominantly from mHealth hardware sales and services. 

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is leading a 2013 trade and Sister-City China Mission trip from Sept. 15 to Sept. 25, 2013. The Mission is organized by Montgomery County Government and Maryland China Business Council ( MCBC ) with the support of the State of Maryland ’s Maryland Center China ( MCC ) in Shanghai, which has been assisting local companies in China since 1996. This combination of experience and long term relationships offers a unique opportunity to explore, enter or expand in one of the world’s most dynamic and fast growing markets and destinations.   Mission Statement:

Sister Cities create relationships based on cultural, educational and trade exchanges, creating lifelong friendships that provide prosperity and mutual benefits through “citizen diplomacy.”

Participants for trip include:

County Executive; State and County Government Representatives; Business, Education, Academic and Science Leaders; Chinese Community Leaders

The bridges had to be strong and stable — and made of spaghetti.

Charged with this unusual engineering task, a group of about 40 high school students worked intently Thursday with the uncooked yellow strands to build a roughly half-meter structure they had designed to support more weight than their competitors’.

Washington, DC, is growing as a close-knit entrepreneur community where startups can find angel investors who will also act as mentors to grow a business, venture capitalists say.

The DC area has fewer venture capital firms than Silicon Valley, but steady startup investment is coming from tech industry veterans who have experience working with area universities, government agencies, and telecom companies including AOL, said John Taylor, head of research for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

The Daily Record is proud to announce its 2013 Most Admired CEO award winners.

The award recognizes men and women who have excelled professionally and in serving their communities.

The nominees were evaluated in terms of leadership and vision, competitiveness and service, community leadership and service, financial performance and growth and corporate leadership and board service.

When it comes to lending to tech startups, Silicon Valley Bank has an impressive grip on the market. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based institution has been in the D.C. area 15 years and claims half of the region's venture-backed companies as its clients. The bank, which has $21.5 billion in assets, has grown its Tysons Corner team by 25 percent in the past year to 10 people. I caught up with Megan Scheffel, who manages the bank's Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. regions.

The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (Tedco) has invested $1.1 million in 14 state startups.

The grants were made through the organization's Technology Commercialization Fund. The money will be put toward advancing the each company's technology and product commercialization efforts.

We often hear public leaders say “our diversity is our strength,” which has become somewhat a cliché over the years. While I don’t doubt their sincerity in believing what they say, I wonder how many truly understand what it means to have a large, diverse, and global population in their communities.

This past weekend, I attended the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association’s (CBA) 18th annual conference, which attracted scientists, educators, businesses and entrepreneurs from the region as well as delegations from several cities in China. It was a high-energy conference hosted by an all-volunteer crew of local community members.

If there’s one thing everyone in healthcare can probably agree on right now, it’s that there is an awful lot of data being generated each and every day. What to do with that data, however, is another question.

As Ted Driscoll, digital health director at venture capital firm Claremont Creek Ventures, sees it, the explosion of data is a definite boon for personalized medicine. Indeed, he said recently, “Medicine is becoming synonymous with big data – the data sets are just huge, now – but we had to wait for the IT revolution to happen and mature” in order to begin to put that data to use.