Sight Machine is a manufacturing analytics company based in the Ann Arbor SPARK Central Innovation Center. It takes all the different resources available to manufacturing companies – quality, ERP systems, etc. – and integrates them into a digital twin of a factory to help stakeholders in the manufacturing process improve quality and efficiency.

The value Sight Machine provides its clients is illustrated in its work with a major global apparel company. For this Fortune 100 Company; it not only automates the process of data collection and analysis, Sight Machine works across a number of factories simultaneously. The intelligence it provides is helping this client resolve issues like debugging over several different locations, offer insight on what’s going on in individual plants, and how similar assets are performing in different locations.

Bing Yao, PhD, Head of Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity at MedImmune, spoke with Healio Rheumatology about MedImmune’s collaboration with the University of California at San Francisco, techniques to quantify biomarkers and MedImmune’s role in treating rheumatologic patients.

A great example of a local company giving back to the business community:  Montgomery County’s Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. Founder Dr. Bill Hearl, recently announced the launch of the Immunomic Therapeutics Cancer Discovery Incubator.  According to the video announcement posted on YouTube, the incubator “will enable and accelerate ventures, with the capacity for measurable change in oncology health.  The goal is to empower the beneficiary to conduct proof-of-concept experiments and ultimately, attract funding partnerships, and fuel growth.”  Check out the complete video for further information.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) and the bwtech@UMBC Cyber Incubator announced today that two more cyber startups – one representing the first international company to participate – have graduated from the Northrop Grumman Cync program.  iWebGate of Perth, Australia and Light Point Security of Baltimore have completed the Cync scholarship program.

“Chemistry is the study of matter,” Walter White once opined on Breaking Bad. “But I prefer to see it as the study of change.”

If you take matter (in this case, brick and mortar real estate) and you factor in change (the rising price of this matter), what you’re left with are fewer places to study heady topics like chemistry.

Wed, November 9, 2016 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST

Join us for an evening of food, drink, and revelry as we celebrate moving into our new prototyping and manufacturing facility! Tour the new offices and check out the workshop. See what all the buzz is about.

We'll also have some entertainment for your inner geek. Get an introduction to some of the tools or test your robot driving skills with the "House Bots" from the Baltimore Robotics Center.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: RNN) announced that it has been issued a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) covering RX-21101 for the targeted delivery of docetaxel directly into cancer tumor cells using a nano-polymer conjugate technology.

Johns Hopkins University has licensed a technology that tests for a marker of cancer’s susceptibility to immunotherapy to Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx), a leading provider of advanced cancer genome testing products and services.

The technology tests for microsatellite instability (MSI), which occurs when cells have a defect in the ability to repair the mistakes that naturally occur when cellular DNA is copied. Tumor cells with MSI typically have many more mutations than other tumor cells and are more often successfully treated with new immuno-oncology drugs such as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors.

The outline of a Greater Washington rebranding campaign is beginning to take shape:

“Greater Washington: Where you come to make history happen.”

The goals for economic development have long focused on expanding opportunities for citizens. With greater pressure to demonstrate impact, states have embraced the collection and reporting of performance indicators. However, as the economy continues to change, economic development goals become more nuanced. Consequently, state economic development leaders seek to improve the indicators they use to measure the effectiveness of their incentive programs. This white paper describes common indicators in use, pros and cons of the two most common types of indictors: those representing jobs and investment. The white paper also offers guidance on the process for improving and expanding the slate of indicators states can deploy to evaluate their efforts.

Cori Bargmann's new job description includes "to help cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century." That's quite a lofty goal.

Bargmann is a neuroscientist and president of science for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the joint venture of pediatrician Priscilla Chan and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. The couple pledged $3 billion to solve major medical problems by helping scientists and engineers collaborate long term, over 25, 50, even 80 years.

Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage immunotherapeutic company, today announced that a poster detailing the design and preclinical evaluation of its HepTcell immunotherapeuticfor the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection will be presented at the 2017 Keystone Symposia Conference taking place October 25 – 29, 2016 in London.

This table shows the "sticker prices" — published tuition and required fees — at more than 3,000 colleges and universities for the 2016-17 academic year. Click the institutions' names to see historical data back to 1998.

Amgen Europe GmbH, an affiliate of Amgen Inc, has invested in an Israel-based digital health incubator, eHealth Ventures, to serve patients by driving innovation and sustainable healthcare through technology discovery. 

“This addition will provide a new strategic element to our screening process and build significant value to our portfolio companies. Having Amgen on board will deliver invaluable assets and know-how in many of the digital health innovation aspects, including market input, commercialisation of R&D, business modeling, go-to-market strategies and more," said Talor Sax, chief executive officer, eHealth Ventures Incubator.

The Global Competitiveness Report assesses the competitiveness landscape of 138 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. Switzerland, Singapore and the United States remain the three world’s most competitive economies.

Today in the Oval Office, Vice President Joe Biden delivered the Cancer Moonshot report to the President and the American public. The report summarizes the work of the Cancer Moonshot Task Force since its creation in January, and lays out the Vice President’s strategic plan for transforming cancer research and care. The report also includes the Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel’s identified areas of scientific opportunity.

Accompanying these findings and recommendations, today’s report includes the announcement of new commitments toward the goals of the Cancer Moonshot from both the public and private sectors. For example, today the National Cancer Institute, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft are announcing a collaboration to build a sustainable model for maintaining cancer genomic data in the cloud. The information stored there will be available to cancer researchers through the NCI’s Genomic Data Commons and Cancer Genomics Cloud programs.

A life sciences incubator formerly run by Montgomery County is now being managed by a public-private partnership that focuses on helping central Maryland scientists and bio-health startups bring their ideas to market.

Rockville-based BioHealth Innovation Inc. at the start of October began managing the Germantown Innovation Center, which is part of the Pinkey Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus.

GlaxoSmithKline has filed its shingles vaccine Shingrix for U.S. regulatory approval, the drugmaker said on Monday, bringing the potential $1 billion-a-year seller a step closer to market.

Shingrix is viewed by analysts as among the British company's most promising experimental products, since it has shown greater protection among older recipients than Merck's rival shot Zostavax.

A new study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences by researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome shows that probiotics may play a role in reducing neurological inflammation, which has been implicated in a number of HIV-associated cognitive disorders, ranging from very mild impairment to severe dementia. This study adds to the growing science around the gut-brain connection, reports ExeGi Pharma.

David Petr is roughly five weeks into his tenure as the first-ever president and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp., a new nonprofit entity charged with marketing Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction to the private sector.

The drive for economic growth around the world is seeing regions strive to create their own innovation ecosystems. Universities are an important aspect of an innovation ecosystem, so for the second year running, Reuters has created its index of the world’s top 100 most innovative universities, highlighting those educational institutions doing the most to advance science and invent new technologies and help drive the global economy.

Not surprisingly, the world’s top three continue to be Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (ranked #2) and Harvard University (ranked #3).

November 1-3, 2016 - Columbus, OH

Throughout SSTI’s 2016 Annual Conference, we will be engaging with the theme of Innovation with Purpose: Shaping Future Opportunities. Whether you are interested in the agenda overview, four thematic tracks, interest group roundtables and tour, or want to see the agenda by session type, you can find that information below. We’re looking forward to having this conversation with you in November! 

Your search ends at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), where nine top Maryland universities bring 40 of their best degree programs to YOU on one convenient campus in Rockville. Choose from a variety of degrees offered in flexible formats that fit the lives of working adults.

USG GRADUATE OPEN HOUSE Monday, November 7th / 6:00pm Check-in / 6:30pm Welcome / 7:00pm-8:00pm Sessions & Information Fair

Your search ends at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), where nine top Maryland universities bring 40 of their best degree programs to YOU on one convenient campus in Rockville. Take your classes at USG, and earn your bachelor's degree from the university offering your major.

Your search ends at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), where nine top Maryland universities bring 40 of their best degree programs to YOU on one convenient campus in Rockville. Take your classes at USG, and earn your bachelor's degree from the university offering your major.

Officials from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore have unveiled plans for the new Center for Sports Medicine, Health and Human Performance.

Media outlets report the center, announced Wednesday, will be dedicated to cutting-edge research into concussions and other sports injuries. The center will combine research into traumatic brain injuries with treatment of student athletes and the public.

December 1, 2016, 8:30-4:00 p.m.

The Open Data Science Symposium is open to the public and will be available through a webcast.

Big Data is an underutilized resource for innovation and discovery in biomedical research and the NIH is committed to unleashing its full potential by making it an open and easily accessible resource. The Open Data Science Symposium will feature discussions with the leaders in big data, open science, and biomedical research while also showcasing the finalists of the Open Data Science Prize, a worldwide competition to harness the innovative power of open data.

Please Register for the Open Data Science Symposium by November 18, 2016.

Access to cancer screening services in Nigeria, and identifying symptom changes in schizophrenia and depression patients are the focuses of the 2016 Research and Innovative Seed Grant award recipients, highlighting a collaborative research program between the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). Part of the University of Maryland: MPowering the State initiative, the Seed Grant program was established to create opportunities for collaboration between disciplines and between the universities. All areas of research at UMB and UMCP are considered for funding.

By the end of next year, Harpoon Medical's minimally invasive surgical tool could be in operating rooms across Europe.

Harpoon still is testing the technology, but believes its device could revolutionize mitral valve repair, a hours-long surgery that requires splitting the breastbone and stopping the heart. Harpoon's tool can finish the job in a hour and a half through a small incision.

Washington-area companies raised nearly $300 million in venture capital funding during the third quarter, putting the region on track to reach $1 billion in investments by the end of the year, according to recently released data from the National Venture Capital Association.

In all, 49 local companies raised $299.5 million during the third quarter, a 47 percent increase from the $204 million the region’s firms secured during the same period last year, according to PitchBook, a research company that provided the data for the association’s report.

BioFactura, Inc. was granted patent rights by China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) protecting the core technologies of its proprietary StableFast™ Biomanufacturing Platform. SIPO allowed 17 claims broadly covering composition of matter and methods. StableFast™ is BioFactura’s proprietary NS0-based system to rapidly generate stable cell lines that have the potential to lower cost, produce follow-on biologics and are single-use technology compatible. The Company is developing high-value biosimilars both internally and collaboratively.

For a while, Illumina—the 800-pound gorilla of genomics—could do no wrong. The DNA-sequencing company's market cap more than quadrupled from 2012, to peak at a whopping $34 billion, fueled in part by the growing hype around the potential of genomics to transform how we prevent, diagnose, and treat disease, as well as facilitate medical research discoveries.

Investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Brain Injury Outcomes program and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research have been awarded a seven-year, $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to form, along with Tufts University School of Medicine, one of three Trial Innovation Centers.

Madison, Wisconsin-based Propeller Health has closed a $21.5 million Series C financing round, with new investors 3M Ventures, S.R. One, Limited and Hikma Ventures, plus existing investors Safeguard Scientifics and Social Capital. The funding will be used to further Propeller’s digitally-guided therapy platform.

Propeller’s aim is to simplify management of chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD through sensors that attached to inhalers and sync to a companion app. The digitally-guided therapy platform is able to integrate with multiple sources, including connected medications, and uses machine learning to design a personalized therapy plan for each user.

Ever lose something and go crazy trying to find it, only to discover it was right in front of you all along?

A few days ago I attended back-to-back events. The first was a late afternoon party celebrating the 10th anniversary of a client, Printfresh Studio. Most of the women reading this have one of their designs in their closet. I met another attendee who suggested we get together to discuss mutual opportunities to refer our clients.   We traded business cards.