HTG Molecular Diagnostics said today that it has entered into a third project for a new clinical assay development program under an existing master assay development, commercialization, and manufacturing agreement with Qiagen.

A well-known investor is giving a $75-million donation to the Johns Hopkins University’s philosophy department, and the university is calling the gift the largest ever for a philosophy program. With the funds, the department will be named for William H. (Bill) Miller III, the donor, and plans to add nine full-time faculty members to its current 13 within 10 years, according to a Hopkins news release.

Forty percent of recent associate degree graduates who had a relevant job or internship while in school had a good job waiting for them after graduation. By comparison, only 16% of those with a job or internship that was not relevant to their field of study had a good job waiting for them. Those without a job or internship fared worst of all, with only 6% saying they had a good job upon graduation.

A group of Georgetown University entrepreneurs will present their startups to a panel of high-profile judges Tuesday, in a competition following the popular “Shark Tank” model: a fight for funding.

They say that speed kills, but in medical science it can also save lives.

KeyGene and the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced today that they have entered into a service license agreement to practice KeyGene’s patented Sequence Based Genotyping (SBG) methods. Under the agreement, UW-Madison, through its Biotechnology Center (UWBC), is licensed to offer SBG services in all species to research collaborators and clients worldwide.

Pharma Major Lupin announced that it has received final approval for its Oseltamivir Phosphate Capsules USP, 30 mg (base), 45 mg (base), and 75 mg (base) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market a generic version of Hoffman-La Roche, Inc.’s Tamiflu Capsules, 30 mg, 45 mg, and 75 mg.

A new degree program developed jointly by UMBC and Montgomery College (MC), and soon to be offered at The Universities at Shady Grove (USG), will create opportunities for students of all backgrounds to pursue high-demand careers in the life sciences. The four-year Translational Life Science Technology (TLST) program, which leads to a bachelor of science degree from UMBC, will train students in the fundamentals of biochemistry, cell biology, epidemiology, statistics, lab instrumentation, and biochemical engineering, as well as give students opportunities to develop sought-after skills such as analytical thinking, teamwork, and data evaluation. The TLST program is accepting students now, and courses will begin in fall 2018.

Machfu, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology company, announced today the release of its MACH-3 IIoT Gateway, a device allowing companies in energy, water, oil and gas as well as other industrial segments to seamlessly connect legacy infrastructure to cloud based IoT and existing SCADA systems. The product was designed to both simplify the connection and management of devices as well as provide a secure and easily customizable application framework to process and manage data at the network edge. The versatile functionalities of the MACH-3 IIoT Gateway will be demonstrated at the 2018 DistribuTECH show, January 22-25 in San Antonio, Texas.

The entire continental U.S. is experiencing widespread flu right now, the first time in the 13 years of the current tracking system that that has happened, according to the CDC.

It’s another year, and the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, along with all the small and big events it has spawned, has concluded. San Franciscans have their city back from the money-seeking health entrepreneurs, the CEOs, their retinue, and the investor hordes.

Venture capitalists poured $1.55 billion into D.C. area technology start-ups last year, an industry report found, as a handful of so-called megadeals propelled the region to a six-year high for technology investing in 2017.

US ANNUAL FUNDING TOPS $70B FOR SECOND TIME

2017 was the second year that saw dollar funding top $70B, but deals declined for the third straight year, falling 4% from 2016 and reaching the lowest annual total since 2012.

2018 is already seeing big deals in the cancer therapy space with Celgene’s recent buyout of Impact Biomedicines, which develops a key drug for treating complex cancers.

Other big pharma names like Pfizer, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline have also been active in the last 5 years with key investments to cancer startups as they make bets to avoid missing out on strengthening their cancer drug pipelines.

To state the obvious: Drugs are increasingly complex and so are their patent lives.

More than 110 companies have graduated since bwtech@UMBC began offering incubation services in 1989.

Cell therapy is the delivery of living cells to treat, or potentially cure, a person’s disease. The transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells from a donor to a recipient to create bone marrow, for instance, is one well-established form of cell therapy.

Trajectory Next will provide formalized support and guidance to companies to help them execute a pilot, establish traction, and improve their ability to attract and attain customers.

TAI Diagnostics said earlier this week that it had closed a $10 million round of funding and forged a new partnership with United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR).

GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley made history in 2017, when she became the first woman to head up a major pharmaceutical company.

Once heralded as a centerpiece of DC’s tech scene, start-up incubator 1776 proved less revolutionary than its name.

AstraZeneca and MedImmune, its biologics research and development arm, announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved the companies’ respiratory biologic, benralizumab, as an add-on maintenance treatment for adults with severe eosinophilic asthma that is inadequately controlled despite high-dose inhaled corticosteroids, plus long-acting b-agonists.

In recent years, Lake Whillans has published extensively on the multifaceted interplay between the legal market and the life sciences industry, specifically identifying the most active and relevant law firms for life science companies.

The Jackson Laboratory has been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an epigenome modification technology for studying gene regulation in biological processes and disease states.

PepVax, Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company, announced today that it has successfully completed the efficacy study for its lead candidate, PVX-009. The Company is harnessing the power of the immune system to target a specific protein, MAGE A, in an effort to find a treatment for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Icon has hired a retired colonel who is moving into the biotech sphere as new president of its subsidiary ClinicalRM. James Cummings, M.D., will lead the CRO’s unit, which helps provide research to a range of U.S. federal health agencies.

Precision for Medicine, part of Precision Medicine Group, today announced it is expanding its biomarker data management and translational informatics services into Europe. The addition of a Geneva, Switzerland-based team of experts complements Precision's US offerings to provide clients with truly global translational research services. The Geneva team also gives Precision another European operational base, continuing Precision's active international expansion.

REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq:RGNX) and AveXis, Inc. (Nasdaq:AVXS) today announced that they have entered into an amendment which expands upon the exclusive, worldwide license agreement they entered into in March 2014 (2014 License Agreement) for the development and commercialization of products to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). AveXis’ initial proprietary gene therapy candidate, AVXS-101, is in a pivotal trial for the treatment of SMA Type 1, and a Phase 1 trial for SMA Type 2. AVXS-101 uses REGENXBIO’s NAV AAV9 vector.

Qiagen has announced a new partnership with DiaSorin that will allow the companies to offer new automated tuberculosis detection capabilities for their customers.

Pfizer, one of the world’s largest drug companies, announced over the weekend that it would stop work on new drugs to fight Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The reason? Pfizer believes that research on the two diseases doesn’t make sense financially.

Voluntis and WellDoc®, two of the industry’s leading digital therapeutics companies, announced today a commercial agreement aimed at combining Voluntis’ insulin titration technology with WellDoc’s extensive digital coaching platform to create a holistic digital diabetes management solution for patients, providers, health systems and health plans.

Explore the infographic to discover key insights from the upcoming 4Q PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.  For a complete analysis of VC activity, sign up to receive the full report—we’ll send it to you as soon as it publishes on Jan. 17.

Grants up to $1 million are available from the US-Israel Bi-national R&D (BIRD) Foundation to support new product development R&D, conducted as a joint project between American and Israeli companies. The grants are only to be repaid if the resulting technology successfully achieves sales in the market. BIRD's wide-ranging scope extends to Agriculture, Communications, Life Sciences, Electronics, Software, Homeland Security, Renewable and Alternative Energy and more. The Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC) coordinates the BIRD program for our state.

TAI Diagnostics, a developer of diagnostic tests for monitoring the health of transplanted organs, said on Monday that it has closed a $10 million Series A preferred equity financing.

Greater Washington had its second-biggest venture funding year in at least a decade in 2017, with startups across the metro area raking in more than $1.55 billion.