A new academic enterprise, born of a partnership between the University of Washington and China’s Tsinghua University -- and seeded with $40 million in funding from Microsoft -- welcomed its first class of master’s students this fall.

Gene therapy is at the forefront of preventative and therapeutic technologies targeting diseases that have no other cures. Join us as two leading gene therapy experts, Drs. Karen Kozarsky and Lynne Fahey McGrath, discuss different types of gene therapy, advanced programs, and the associated unique regulatory challenges.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals $RYTM became the latest biotech to tap into a buoyant market, raising $120 million in an IPO that went over the range at $17 a share. And they can add substantially to that if the underwriters pick up another million shares on the table.

We know from following the Rise of the Rest that D.C. isn’t in the top three for metros venture capital investments, but a new study said it makes the top 10.

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced today the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) Request for Proposals (RFP) for FY2018.

TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, awarded four recipients more than $1 million for stem cell research for validation and commercialization of products. LifeSprout and RoosterBio received awards totaling $600,000 to help commercialize products based on stem cell technology.

Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures is expanding its entrepreneurship and incubation services for university students.

What happens to startups when they’ve outgrown coworking, but aren’t ready a whole office suite? There’s an incubator for that.

Accelspace is #dctech’s latest incubator, aimed at high-growth, mid-level, startups. Currently the incubator has offices in downtown D.C. and Crystal City.

The University of Maryland will receive a $219.5 million donation from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation created by the late contracting titan James Clark.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has been awarded a contract valued at up to approximately $25 million by the U.S. Department of State to supply TROBIGARD™ (Atropine Sulfate [2mg]/Obidoxime Chloride [220mg]) auto-injector, a drug and device combination product for emergency use in the event of nerve agent or organophosphate poisoning. Trobigard is designed for intramuscular self- or buddy-administration of atropine sulfate and obidoxime chloride for pre-hospital intervention.  

A digital health report from Rock Health showed that women-led companies and geographic diversity continued to build in the third quarter. In the three months through September 30, of the 84 companies that raised $1.2 billion, 16 percent were led by women.

When it comes to high-tech startups, we hear a lot about the so-called “rise of the rest.” As the nation’s leading centers of high-tech industry—places like the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Boston, and Seattle—have become increasingly expensive to live in, the argument goes, talented techies, entrepreneurs, and startups are moving to less expensive places like Portland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Nashville, Las Vegas, and others.

Qiagen has announced that its manufacturing and supply chain for consumables and other products for forensic and human identity testing has been certified by Bureau Veritas, a leading inspection agency, as meeting the latest international standards for products used in forensic testing.

Despite the jurisdictional posturing in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. over a possible Amazon headquarters, a new FBI building or a national football stadium, the recent joint trade mission to Canada by their respective leaders — along with efforts such as the Greater Washington Board of Trade holding its summit at the Pendry Hotel in Baltimore — all augur well for better regional cooperation.

BioMarker Strategies, LLC today announced that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded the Company a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for development of a pathway-based companion diagnostic test to identify patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who are most likely to respond to treatment with cetuximab. The grant will provide $299,000 in research support.

WellDoc®, a leading digital health company, announced today the appointment of Laurel Pickering, president and CEO of Northeast Business Group on Health (NEBGH), as the Company’s new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Ms. Pickering selected WellDoc as her next opportunity after spending nearly 25 years at the helm of NEBGH, an employer-led coalition of healthcare leaders and other stakeholders. Ms. Pickering will join the WellDoc team in October.

Three prominent Chinese executives discuss the progress of local companies in drug innovation and the evolving regulatory environment.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of raxibacumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment and prophylaxis of inhalational anthrax, from GSK (LSE:GSK) (NYSE:GSK). With the acquisition, Emergent also plans to assume responsibility for a multi-year contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), valued at up to approximately $130 million to supply the product to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) through November 2019. The completion of the acquisition follows the satisfaction or waiver by the parties, as applicable, of all closing conditions, including expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act), as amended.

Effective September 26, 2017, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE) appointed each of Dorman Followwill and David Lemus as an independent director of the Company.

The MIDC and ScienceAbroad, the organization of Israeli scientists abroad, jointly present a revealing program on the bio-tech entrepreneurial ecosystem of Israel and how it created “The Startup Nation,” featuring prominent Israeli scientific and entrepreneurial leaders.

Wednesday, Nov. 1st 5:30-7:30 p.m., Hosted by LifeBridge Health, Baltimore, MD

Thursday, Nov. 2nd 5:30-7:30 p.m., Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, MD

When: October 25, 2017 7:30 AM - 12 PM

Where: MITRE 7525 Colshire Drive McLean, VA 22102 United States

The Technology Showcase emphasizes the National Capital area's culture of technology innovation and leadership. The conference also highlights Washington's unique competitive advantage for commercial technology companies: access to policy-makers, government technology buyers, and national security services.

Health Canada has approved the probiotic Visbiome as a Natural Health Product for treating symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in adults and children aged older than 5 years, the manufacturer announced.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (EBS) today announced that it has completed a new five-year, $200 million syndicated senior secured credit facility. This new facility replaces and represents an increase from the Company’s prior $100 million facility, which was scheduled to expire in December 2018. The new facility enhances the Company's financial flexibility, providing increased capacity to drive growth through strategic acquisitions along with working capital as needed.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement is a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). It is continuously open for a 5-year period, from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2022, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

The USAMRMC mission is to provide solutions to medical problems of importance to the American Service member at home and abroad, as well as to the general public at large.

Next month, we will start a series of workshops for academic scientists. If you always wanted to learn Organ-on-a-Chip techniques, you can now do so, straight from the developers, in just two days. You'll return with two OrganoPlates®, to get you started in the comfort of your own lab.

Our colleague Karlijn Wilschut developed a method for high-content analysis of 3D neurons in the OrganoPlate®, in collaboration with Molecular Devices. This excellent application note is the result.

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq:RGNX) today announced that Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DMTX) notified REGENXBIO that it has determined that it has received a “superior proposal” as defined in the merger agreement under which REGENXBIO would have acquired Dimension in an all-stock transaction for an implied value of approximately $3.41 per share based on the closing stock price of REGENXBIO stock on August 24, 2017.

CureSearch for Children’s Cancer announced the application launch for a $2 million to $5 million (USD) Catapult Impact Fund Award opportunity. The award will support the advancement of clinical research to improve outcomes for pediatric cancer patients.

Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures kicked off its inaugural cohort of healthcare startups last month with a focus on connected health and fitness. Called M-1 Ventures, a reference to first-year medical students, the accelerator represents a change of strategy for cultivating early stage companies. Although Johns Hopkins previously collaborated with Dreamit Ventures, it was interested in developing an accelerator on its own. To that end it formed regional alliances with the University of Maryland, Village Capital., and the family office of Baltimore-based Under Armour CEO and Chairman Kevin Plank — Plank Industries.

Sisu Global Health is entering product launch phase in a pair of African countries.

The company recently received regulatory clearance to sell its blood transfusion device in Kenya and Ghana, CEO Carolyn Yarina said.

Protenus, the health care industry's most robust, analytics-driven solution for detecting inappropriate activity in the electronic health record, is excited to announce that its Co-Founder and President, Robert Lord, has been selected as a New America Cybersecurity Policy Fellow for the 2017-2018 cohort. This fellowship brings together the world's top cybersecurity leaders from private industry, academia, journalism, the public sector, and the military to envision and build the future of cybersecurity.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Sucampo) (NASDAQ:SCMP), a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing its recently submitted supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for lubiprostone (AMITIZA®) in children aged 6 to 17 years with pediatric functional constipation.  The filing has received Priority Review designation from the FDA.

Baltimore has the potential to be a city that is truly hospitable to small business growth, with all the economic benefits of jobs and tax revenue such growth would bring. But for new and established small businesses to thrive, the city needs a financing system with capacity to meet their needs.

Capital is certainly not the only ingredient necessary for successful business growth, but it is a critical input. If companies lack access to appropriate types of capital at critical stages of growth, they are likely to never take off and achieve scale, or even worse, to go out of business or leave Baltimore and relocate where financial support is more readily available, depriving the local economy of jobs and economic growth.

The Washington Business Journal's annual Innovation Awards honor 15 Greater Washington companies, agencies and teams working to keep the metro on the cutting edge in tech, health care, cybersecurity and more.

Health Canada has approved the probiotic Visbiome as a Natural Health Product for treating symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome in adults and children aged older than 5 years, the manufacturer announced.

From catching Pokémon in the real world to donning a virtual reality headset to see and feel what it was like to scale the Berlin Wall before its fall, advancements in immersive media have set the stage for the next digital revolution. The University of Maryland will lead this revolution with the launch of the Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality Innovation Center, called MAVRIC, which has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA).