On February 8, 2016, the National Institute of Standards and Technology hosted a ribbon cutting and building dedication ceremony for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence’s (NCCoE) new facility in Rockville, Md. 

Representing the public-private collaboration at the center, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Ben Cardin, Rep. John Delaney, Rep. John Sarbanes, Maryland Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Willie May participated in the ribbon cutting.

The Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) core research, technology transfer, and commercialization programs generated nearly $1 billion in economic contributions to the Maryland economy in 2015, according to a new study by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice released today. Battelle, the world’s largest non-profit research and development organization, also found that TEDCO’s efforts generated a total of 4,358 high-quality jobs, with an average income per job of $74,700. That compares favorably to a statewide average labor income per worker of $63,700.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation today announced the appointment of Victor W. Hwang as vice president of entrepreneurship. Hwang will relocate from California to Kansas City to lead the Foundation’s renowned entrepreneurship programming. He starts on Feb. 29.

The median pay among STEM workers in 2014 was more than $72,000. That’s more than double the median income among all occupations, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Few would argue, however, that STEM workers are generally overpaid. Experts in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math are key contributors to economic growth. Furthermore, STEM occupations generally require years of rigorous and difficult training.

I'm not sure about you, but I'm getting tired of Steve Jobs. Sure, he was an innovation icon. But, in my view, the media and pundits are creating unrealistic expectations hyping and promoting the Jobs/Branson/Musk iconography.  

Yumanity Therapeutics, a drug developer focused on diseases caused by protein misfolding, has raised $45 million in Series A funding. Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round with participation from Redmile Group, Alexandria Venture Investments, Biogen, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures and Dolby Family Ventures. 

Bobby Gattuso became a startup founder while an undergraduate at Towson University.

Hop Theory’s sachets that bring beer up to craft levels got early traction through Kickstarter and national press hits.

A senior Google executive, Jeff Huber, will become the CEO of Grail, the high-profile company launched in January to develop and commercialize cancer blood tests.

According to Forbes, Huber’s wife, Laura, died from colon cancer last November, leaving behind two teenage children. “That’s a big part of why I’m taking this up,” Huber told the magazine.

"You are cordially invited to the “SBIR and STTR Federal Funding Mechanisms for Improving the Reach of Behavioral Science” seminar at the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) 2016 Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions. National Cancer Institute SBIR (NCI SBIR) Development Center Program Director Dr. Patricia Weber will be leading the seminar with presenters from NIH, including NCI and NHLBI, a HealthTech investment CEO and a small business entrepreneur. The session will include a range of topics such as an overview of the SBIR/STTR program goals, how NCI and NHLBI work to help with the commercialization process, how SBIR/STTR funding can advance behavioral science, investor perspectives on behavioral health products, and perspectives from an awardee."

It’s comforting to believe that the world of venture funding is a meritocracy.

It’s comforting to believe that a founder has a good idea, pitches successfully and gets money from a VC to turn said idea into a business.

10x Genomics has announced two new sequencing partnerships with Qiagen and Illumina.

Yesterday, 10x said that it is partnering with Qiagen to co-develop and co-market next-generation sequencing and single-cell biology analysis workflows and informatics solutions.

Enterprising startups are disrupting incumbent players in industries as diverse as publishing, entertainment and personal finance. Healthcare is far from immune to this tech-driven business trend— across the industry, young and innovative firms are giving legacy systems a run for their money.

At the heart of the change sweeping across the healthcare business is data.

President Obama’s proposed nearly $4.15 trillion budget for the 2017 federal fiscal year offers small increases for NIH and FDA, sets up a showdown over sources of NIH funding, and directs big dollars to research programs championed by the administration, in a spending plan unlikely to face smooth sailing in Congress.

Obama is seeking $33.1 billion in overall program level funding for NIH, up about $1 billion or 3% from the current fiscal year, during which the president and Congress agreed to a $2 billion spending hike for the agency.

On Feb. 8, 2016, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) celebrated its move to expanded new facilities with a building dedication and expert panel discussions featuring senior elected and government officials and the CEOs and presidents of several large companies.

NCCoE staff and partners demonstrated several of the center’s current projects that address challenges faced by many organizations, such as access control, mobile device security, online identity authentication, data integrity, situational awareness, and IT asset management. The 5,574 square-meter (60,000 square-foot) facility has 22 labs, including two large enough to hold vehicles for cybersecurity testing.

When: Thursday February 25, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST

Where: Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research

Join BioBuzz and our newest ELITE SPONSOR the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at their newly renovated facilities in Rockville. The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) is a University System of Maryland joint research enterprise created to enhance collaboration among the University of Maryland College Park, The University of Maryland Baltimore and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The mission of IBBR is to leverage collective research strengths of the partnering institutions in medicine, biosciences, technology, quantitative sciences and engineering, to foster integrated, cross-disciplinary team approaches to scientific discovery and education, and to serve the expanding economic base of biosciences and technology in the state of Maryland and the Nation.

Does your organization have a product or service that could make a difference for people in emerging economies?

Take the Innovation into Action Challenge and earn the chance to compete for $100,000 in prizes, build relationships with development professionals and their firms, and put your innovation into action in one of 100 locations around the world.

The Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology has opened its new incubator, called Harbor Launch. The incubator is designed for biotech and environmental science startups, and is looking for its first member companies. The Inner Harbor space can accommodate between 10 and 15 companies and has access to four small wet labs — a crucial resource for the kind of startups IMET wants to attract.

A Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) team, including staff and senior fellows, recently concluded a review of state financing and incentive programs for the Maryland Economic Development Commission and the Maryland Department of Commerce. Thanks to guest blogger Catherine Renault for this project summary.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has recently received approval to perform organ transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients.

The hospital announced in a news release Monday that it plans to perform the nation's first kidney transplant between an HIV-positive donor and recipient and the first such liver transplant in the world. These transplants could take place as soon as a suitable organ becomes available and a recipient is identified and prepared.

The University Science Center, a research park in Philadelphia, has announced the six startups that will be part of the second class for its health tech accelerator, called Digital Health Accelerator.

The program will run for a year, which is significantly longer than its last program, a 10-week class. When the accelerator is finished, startups receive up to $50,000. The Center adds that startups in the program will also get to network with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and research institutions. Startups also receive coworking office space during the program.

APPLICATIONS FOR SPRING 2016 DUE March 1, 2016

At Illumina, we’re committed to unlocking the power of the genome, but we know we can’t do it alone. The Illumina Accelerator is our way of accelerating innovation in the entrepreneurial community. With extensive mentorship, financial support, and access to sequencing systems, reagents, and lab space, we’ve created a dynamic genomic ecosystem to help startups launch. Together we’ll advance the solutions that will transform medicine and improve human health.

Michael Milken, one of the biggest medical philanthropists in the country, on medical research today.

Before the winter edition of HopHacks kicked off, a big crowd turned out at Johns Hopkins to hear about nurturing startups at scale from a pair of Y Combinator staffers.

The big takeaway of this YC Winter Tour for startups is pretty straightforward: applications for the biannual seed accelerator program are open. The Mountain View, Calif.-based accelerator program runs two batches each year. It provides $120,000 to each startup in exchange for 7 percent equity.

For the past five years until January, a team of federal contractors has been poring over academic journals, news reports and press releases in search of emerging technology that could change the outcome of clinical care.

The team's goal was to write reports containing lists of topics worth further research from the Department of Health and Human Services. The assessment team surfaced medical products and techniques such as “wearable artificial kidney for managing end-stage renal disease” or “joint-sparing knee implant[s] for treatment of knee osteoarthritis,” according to the team's report from last year.

In the blink of an eye, a business world that required only antivirus protection now requires far better solutions to combat sophisticated, determined ‘bad actors’ who want to steal your valuable information. You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch a news program and not read or hear about an important breach. Despite spending at a rate of $100 billion annually, global damages from cybersecurity breaches and attacks are on a trajectory to increase from $500 billion to potentially more than $2 trillion per year.

US President Barack Obama’s plan to get a vast Pacific Rim trade deal through Congress this year is taking flak from the presidential campaign trail, where disdain for the pact appears to be one of the rare unifying themes for almost everyone from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.

Baltimore health IT startup Protenus Inc. has raised $2.6 million of a $4 million equity funding round, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

CosmosID, the leading genomic big data company focused on microbiome research, outbreak investigations, and infectious disease diagnostics, using next-generation DNA sequencing, announced $6M in Series B funding. The company will expand its engineering capabilities, enhance clinical applications, undertake research and development to improve linkage of the DNA genetic code to actual biological traits (genotype to phenotype), such as antibiotic resistance, and develop new products directed at monitoring, predicting, and preventing disease outbreaks.

A Virginia House panel on Wednesday advanced bills that would allocate about $40 million for grants that some of the state’s most powerful business, education and government interests are touting as a boon to regional economic growth.

Dictionary.com defines “outlier” as: (1) something that lies outside the main body or group that it is a part of, (2) someone who stands apart from others of his or her group, as by differing behavior, beliefs, or religious practices (Synonyms: nonconformist, maverick, original), (3) Statistics: (a) an observation that is well outside of the expected range of values in a study or experiment, (b) a person whose abilities, achievements, etc., lie outside the range of statistical probability.

Merck has expanded its digital health accelerator programme, opening it up in the first country outside its home territory of Germany. The company has picked Kenya for the new programme, which will run for three months and see it look for three digital health startups to support with equity-free funding of $15,000.

The complex nature of cancer and its manifestation strikes fear in the heart of many who receive the diagnosis. Scientists are making incredible strides, however, in both the development of diagnostic techniques and treatments. International Innovation’s Stephanie Spurr speaks with Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy at UCL, Waseem Qasim, and explores how gene editing is contributing to far greater success in this field.

GlaxoSmithKline has expanded its alliance with Adaptimmune Therapeutics to accelerate its lead clinical cancer programme toward pivotal trials in synovial sarcoma.   The companies signed a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement in June last year for up to five programs, including the lead programme, an affinity enhanced T-cell immunotherapy (GSK3377794) targeting NY-ESO-1, one of the best-characterised and most immunogenic cancer antigens frequently expressed by tumours. GSK can license the programme if it chooses to.

Mission Therapeutics said Tuesday it raised a 60 million pound ($85.8 million) financing round led by Imperial Innovations Businesses LLP. New investor Woodford Patient Capital Trust Plc took part with follow-on investment from existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, SR One, Roche Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments. U.K.-based Mission Therapeutics is a drug discovery and development company.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Spero Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company targeting drug resistant bacterial infections, raised $30 million in Series B preferred financing, matching the $30 million Series A round Spero raised in June. Existing Series A investors Atlas Venture, SR One, MRL Ventures, Lundbeckfond Ventures, The Kraft Group and Partners Innovation Fund all returned to participated.