Virginia Tech is talking to large pharmaceutical firms about cooperating with the university on research projects and opening offices inside Roanoke’s new health care innovation district.

Michael Friedlander, founder of Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and a driving force behind the city’s growing health care industry, said that sort of partnership is only a concept, but affirmed that conversations are underway.

Advanced biomaterials joined with small molecules and biologics can allow regeneration and restoration functions of human tissues and organs.

The scope of application has extended far beyond acute injuries, chronic diseases and congenital malformations into therapeutics, research and difficult-to-treat diseases.

“Traditional” and “by the book” have never really been a part of Kevin Plank’s business outlook. When he started Under Armour 20 years ago he set out to make a better T-shirt and felt that the apparel industry was operating (and still is) with materials, machines and ideas that were decades behind other industries.

Maryland college students benefit from nine universities in one location.

Twenty-two-year-old Allison Hishmeh is about to start a new chapter in life now that she's graduated from the University of Maryland College Park. Even though she recently received a marketing degree from the school, Hishmeh rarely stepped foot on campus.

Venture capitalists invested $72.25 million in Maryland companies in the second quarter, the lowest amount in two years and down 34 percent from the first quarter.

Researchers at several Maryland universities as well as the National Cancer Institute have been awarded $3,844,000 in grants by the American Cancer Society. The grants, which started July 1, went to researchers with Johns Hopkins University; University of Maryland, College Park; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and National Cancer Institute in a variety of disciplines.

Rockville has started the process of finding a new manager to fill the city's top management spot. The Mayor and Council hired The Novak Consulting Group to conduct a national search for Rockville's new city manager. 

The consultant will hold public meetings in July to engage residents and businesses as they develop a candidate profile. The consultant will work with community members to identify high priority issues facing the community, and what leadership and management traits the city manager should possess.

The Maryland Department of Commerce is joining with the state’s top research universities and other life sciences partners and stakeholders to create two or more Centers of Excellence around the state to support cell, gene, and regenerative therapies, as well as medical devices and 3-D printing. This partnership with The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park will help position Maryland as a leader in commercialization and clinical translation of next-generation medicines and medical devices and ensure the state remains a leader in healthcare innovation. Additional partners include the Center for Medical Technology Policy and biotechnology, pharmaceutical, contract manufacturing, and medical device companies.

Vibrent Health officials said their efforts will receive $74 million over five years.

In the complex world of children’s cancer research, no independent organization currently coordinates efforts between academic scientists, drug developers, and policy regulators to advance new treatments and cures. Moving forward, CureSearch is proud to play the role of convener and collaborator to bring these key parties together in a way that is singularly focused on accelerating the commercialization of children’s cancer treatments to save children now.

Cleveland is home to more than 700 bioscience companies, a powerful ecosystem that draws strength from a clinical, research and educational foundation dedicated to growth and medical innovation. A new rebranding initiative led by a host of area institutions is ready to send this message out into the world.

Called "The Medical Capital," the campaign's centerpiece is a website where visitors can access information regarding biomedical investments and start-up activity in the region. Organizers are also offering a video showcasing the region's burgeoning tech-based assets, complete with testimonials from investors and CEOs. Social media is another facet of the effort.

Mitre and the University System of Maryland have selected five U.S. academic professionals as recipients of $293,000 in seed grants to conduct studies on cybersecurity challenges, ExecutiveBiz reported Friday.

The company said Thursday the grants went to researchers from George Mason University, University of Maryland in Baltimore, University of Maryland in College Park, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Roche is rumored to make a move on the California biotech BioMarin. Despite a slightly weakened pipeline, Roche appears undeterred and previous offers were predicted to be around $15Bn.

As big as some of the other industry veterans, BioMarin was founded in the 90’s boom in Biotech in San Rafaele, California. The deal itself is entirely based on rumor and anonymous sources, originally appearing on the blog Betaville.

This is the fifth consecutive year for the USA Creative Business Cup. This year for the first time there will be a f2f finals for competing teams in Washington, DC as part of the activities of Creative World – DC (creativeworld.group) and the National Creativity Network Conference within it. The USA national winner goes on to compete for the 2016 global Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark (November 20-21) as a featured event of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). It is anticipated that over 60 nations will send teams to compete in this year’s event.

When: July 28th 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Where: BRI 9410 Key West Ave Rockville, MD 20850

Join BioBuzz and July Co-Sponsors BRI and Azzur IT, as we visit BRI's offices and labs at their new location in Rockville on July 28th. Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), a 501 c 3 non-profit company, which focuses on the development of diagnostic and vaccine solutions to Schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that impacts sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil and rural Asia where 800 million people live and over 200 million people are infected.

The expanding role of healthcare providers is not limited to societies with “developed” healthcare systems. Diseases, such as AIDS and malaria, prevalent in the third world and emerging countries are now considered chronic or curable with the proper treatment, leaving those afflicted with greater chance of recovery. However, as the cost the typical person pays for healthcare over his or her lifetime rises, the question becomes: How will these emerging societies, especially those in less-developed countries, sustain a rising bill?

After months of work under the radar, GlaxoSmithKline committed to entering the Zika R&D field, announcing on Thursday that it’s pairing with the National Institutes of Health in a project based at its new vaccine research hub in Rockville, MD.

At the first annual meeting for MCEDC, the Executive Committee is re-elected, the newly appointed Interim Director is announced, and the FY2017 budget is set.

The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) held its first annual meeting on June 13, 2016, at which it re-elected their Executive Committee for the coming year. As of July 1, 2016, MCEDC replaced both the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development (MCDED) and the Montgomery Business Development Corporation (MBDC); both entities are now officially dissolved. MCEDC is now the primary point of contact for the local, regional, national and international business community.

Canada's publicly funded health care system is a source of pride and a defining value for Canadians. They rely on it for timely access to universal, high-quality and innovative treatments and services that are based on need, not on the ability to pay. To support Canadians battling cancer, the Government of Canada is investing $15 million over five years in the Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy (C3i). Immunotherapy is an emerging area of medicine that uses the power of the immune system to combat cancer. When brought to market, C3i's form of cancer treatment stands to revolutionize cancer care by providing access to non-toxic, highly efficient cures that do not rely on chemotherapy.

Following in their Senate colleagues’ footsteps, a House subcommittee signed off on a budget increase for the National Institutes of Health Thursday. The increases for fiscal-year 2017 confirm lawmakers’ public pledges to establish a pattern of improved budgets for the agency, which before last year saw more than a decade of flat funding. 

After years of puzzling over how its grant-review process might be shortchanging younger scientists, the National Institutes of Health appears to have figured out a more fundamental truth: There just aren’t enough of them applying.

Here at Commerce, we’re always talking with representatives from Maryland businesses. Recently, we spoke with several business owners and executives about success, specifically asking how their companies are finding success in Maryland.

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels' contract has been extended through 2024 by the school's Board of Trustees.

This is a five-year extension for Daniels, who was given an initial five-year extension in 2014. Daniels, 57, joined Johns Hopkins in 2009, becoming the school's 14th president.

Robust influx of millennials in the workforce is a significant factor in this year’s ranking of the top 50 “Tech Talent” markets in the U.S. and Canada

San Francisco remains the nation’s leading tech market, but the competition for talent is getting tougher as more highly skilled tech workers—especially millennials—are flocking to cities where the cost of living is lower and tech jobs are plentiful, according to CBRE Group, Inc.’s annual Research report, “Scoring Tech Talent,” which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent.

Wexford Science & Technology LLC will soon again be under new ownership.

Chicago-based Ventas Inc. has agreed to pay $1.5 billion in cash to acquire substantially all of the assets of the Baltimore real estate investment and development firm from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P. Ventas will also assume $33 million of liabilities. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

D.C. venture capital powerhouse Updata Partners will announce Thursday that it has raised $280.6 million in new funding.

Updata, whose portfolio includes Mashable and VideoBlocks, surpassed its goal for the Updata Partners V LP fund by about $5 million. As of April, it had reported raising $160 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Could lab-grown bones replace tissue grafts and multiple painful surgeries? Nina Tandon is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, a Brooklyn-based biotech company that was chosen as one of the World Economic Forum's 2015 Technology Pioneers. Tandon is also a World Economic Forum Young Scientist who will be speaking at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China, from June 26 to 28.

More women are studying science, technology, engineering and math at UC San Diego than at any other major college in the country, a recent analysis of enrollment has found.

The study conducted by BestColleges.com found that one in three women at UC San Diego graduate with a STEM degree, about three times the national average.

With the big cancer confab ASCO 2016 fading into memory, R&D teams everywhere are getting back to work on their cancer programs – and across the industry many of them will be doing the same work, on the same targets, supporting the exploding supernova known as immuno-oncology.

The White House’s Cancer Moonshot 2020 is about much more than clinical research. Data, IT and patient engagement are major components.

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday is hosting the first National Cancer Moonshot Summit on the campus of Howard University in Washington, and lots of news is being made.

Vice President Joe Biden, who has personal experience of the heartbreak that cancer causes, has taken on humanity’s mortal enemy and aims to end the disease “as we know it.”

Businesses that set out to change the world might want to start in D.C.

That’s according to a new study from D.C.-based S&R Foundation’s Halcyon Incubator, which calls Washington the best U.S. city for “social entrepreneurs” — startup founders that attempt to solve social problems with scalable businesses, like the Georgetown grads tackling food-waste with their juicing company, Misfit Juicery.

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization today released the following statement in response to Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation:

“As one of America’s most innovative industries, biotechnology is tackling head-on the unrelenting scientific challenges inherent in the discovery, development and delivery of new, high-value healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental products.

Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ:CERC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments to make a difference in the lives of patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders, today announced that it has been awarded a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (“NIDA”) at the National Institutes of Health. The grant of approximately $1.0 million provides Cerecor with additional resources for the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial for CERC-501, “A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Design Study of CERC-501 in a Human Laboratory Model of Smoking Behavior.”

OpGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPGN), a precision medicine company using molecular diagnostics and bioinformatics to combat infectious disease, announces the pricing of a private placement of units, each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase 0.75 of one share of common stock, for an aggregate issuance of 9,053,556 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 6,790,169 shares of common stock. Each unit will be sold at a price of $1.14375 per unit.  The warrants will be exercisable beginning 90 days after the closing of the transaction, have an exercise price of $1.3125 per share of common stock and may be exercised for five years.  The gross proceeds of the offering are $10.355 million.  The Company will use the net proceeds, after payment of offering expenses to support the sales and marketing and continued research and development of the Company’s rapid diagnostic and Acuitas Lighthouse bioinformatics products and services, and for general corporate purposes.