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.

GlycoMimetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GLYC) today announced dosing of the first patient with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in the Phase 2 portion of its ongoing Phase 1/2 study evaluating its novel E-selectin antagonist, GMI-1271, combined with chemotherapy. Earlier this month, the company announced it had received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for GMI-1271 for treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory AML and elderly patients aged 60 years or older with AML. In addition, GlycoMimetics recently announced that the first patient with relapsed or refractory AML has been dosed in the other arm of the Phase 2 portion of this study.

The Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor said it has teamed up with JumpStart Inc. to launch a $2 million investment and attraction fund to provide financial capital for businesses willing to move to the corridor district that links downtown and University Circle.

The American Cancer Society has handed out $3.84 million in grants to Maryland cancer researchers at the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institute for a range of investigations.

Digital health technology leader WellDoc® has expanded its leadership team with two new C-level executives and a key executive director. Healthcare finance veteran Jeff Lehrfeld has joined the company from Magellan Health as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and senior marketing executive Tara Charvat, MBA, is the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), joining from Valeritas. In addition, Christina Hedge is the new Executive Director, Market Access, reporting to Nick Harsh, Vice President, Market Access, who came to WellDoc this Spring.

Last week, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union of 28 member states, or “Brexit.” Since the result was announced sterling has fallen to a 31-year low, there has been a record daily drop in  global equity markets and political turmoil has broken out as the UK Prime Minister has said he will step down and the majority of the leadership team of the official opposition party has resigned.

NEA Parnter Sara Nayeem will speak on a panel at the Orphan Drugs and Rare Diseases Conference on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at Westin Copely Place Boston in Boston, MA. Dr. Nayeem will participate in the panel entitled, Funding Early Opportunities in Orphan and Rare Disease Space: What To Look Out For?

Gaithersburg-based Emergent BioSolutions will manufacture one of the first potential vaccines to fight the Zika virus, it announced Monday.

Under a federal contract, Emergent (NYSE: EBS) will develop and manufacture the vaccine for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Emergent will develop the vaccine material from a base created by an undisclosed private company, university or institution and provided by BARDA, officials said.

Awards season in the Baltimore tech scene moved into summer mode at the American Visionary Art Museum last week, where the Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards were handed out.

Baltimore incubators were well represented, with companies from the Emerging Technology Centers, Betamore and Johns Hopkins FastForward picking up honors.

John F. Kennedy introduced himself to the American electorate through his book Profiles in Courage presenting stories of public officials daring to confront ill conceived movements that sweep the country from time to time. They did so while being vilified by the press and many had their careers destroyed. While history shows they were correct, that was little solace at the time. Here’s how the publisher summarized Kennedy’s theme: “Courage, the courage to do what a person rightfully should do, despite the personal consequences, was a trait of character shared by them all.”

As carpenters finished an elegantly crafted deck near Greenmount Avenue and Oliver Street, I had a thought:

Where is the "gritty Greenmount" described in news articles a few years ago?

Montgomery County is participating in an important regional initiative called the Global Cities Initiative aimed at helping our businesses export and connecting our local economy with the global market.

Nationally, this initiative is led by JP Morgan and the Brookings Institution. In the National Capital Region, it is a collaborative effort between the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area and numerous other regional partners.

The Brexit votes have been counted. The Brits have decided to leave the European Union. And the financial markets are taking it hard. Right now, futures on the London stock exchange are down 8%. The pound is down 9.8 percent, more than double its previous record decline of 4.1 percent. We’re living in interesting times.

Throughout the United States, innovation districts have been proposed with varying degrees of emphasis on inclusivity and opportunity. In January 2016, a public-private partnership representing many of Baltimore’s most influential anchor institutions, community-based organizations, and private companies declared their intent to develop an innovation district in West Baltimore dubbed the “Innovation Village.”  This week, the Innovation Village steering committee announced several initiatives aimed at supporting inclusive economic growth in West Baltimore neighborhoods including free Wi-Fi, entrepreneurial assistance programs, and the development of a food hub.

Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen has put its backing behind a new, life sciences incubator, called QB3@953. According to Amgen, it will provide a five year, platinum sponsorship of the San Francisco life sciences incubator, to accelerate the development of new therapies to improve human health. Financial details of the sponsorship were not detailed. As part of that sponsorship, Amgen said it will be providing two awards each year with a company receiving one year of lab space at QB3@953, in addition to connections to Amgen's executives and other resources. QB3@953 provides lab space to life sciences startups, which Amgen says is a "key obstacle" for life sciences startups. A similar effort, the Ventura BioCenter, operates just around the corner from Amgen in the Thousand Oaks area.

What is success? Is it the amount of money you have in your bank account, at any given point? Is it that feeling you get after delivering a killer presentation, or even a pretty decent bar joke? Or is it something bigger—something wholly unnamable, undefinable, immeasurable, and totally subjective?

Kitchology, a food+wellness+tech startup headquartered in Germantown, was among the winners of this year's Maryland Incubator Company of the Year (ICOY) Awards, winning in the consumer product category.

QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN) announced the successful completion of the conditional, voluntary public tender offer for the shares in Exiqon A/S, a world leader in RNA technology. The extended Offer Period expired yesterday, on 22 June 2016, at 23.59 (CET).

Another week, another new initiative for IBM Watson Health.

Wednesday, IBM announced the formation of a Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, seeking to make “cognitive imaging” a routine part of medical practice in oncology, neurology, diabetes care, eye care, cardiovascular disease and other image-heavy specialties.  “Imaging is one of the things that spans across many different areas,” said Anne Le Grand, IBM Watson Health’s vice president of imaging.

Between June 2015 and June 2016, we’ve created more spaces and places for people to engage with the Science Center; honed and expanded our programs to support innovation and entrepreneurship; and enhanced the way we talk about our role in Greater Philadelphia’s innovation ecosystem.

Join us for a thrilling evening of start-up pitches from multiple sectors in healthcare including: Services, Health IT, Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Diagnostics. Applications are still being accepted, so if you not afraid of getting nipped by one of our judges, send your information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The University System of Maryland is hoping a new $25 million venture capital fund it established will help spin off more commercial businesses — with the system reaping the benefits in the long run.

Qiagen and CosmosID have joined the Metagenomics and Metadesign of Subways and Urban Biomes (MetaSUB) consortium, an international five-year effort led by Weill Cornell Medicine, to map the genomes and epigenomes of microbial communities in 54 cities in 32 countries.

The first proposed test of CRISPR gene-editing technology in human beings is being funded by Internet billionaire Sean Parker, MIT Technology Review has learned.

The novel cancer treatment, initially disclosed last week, is being reviewed Tuesday by a federal advisory panel in Washington, D.C., and could become the first clinical trial involving CRISPR, the red-hot gene modification technology.

Innovation Village, an effort to spur economic development in West Baltimore, is partnering with Howard County's Conscious Venture Lab to help develop fledgling companies and entrepreneurs.

When David R. Tabatadze’s small biotechnology venture ran out of money in 2013, he almost gave up on it.

He went to pharmaceutical companies and “angel” investors, those individuals willing to put modest amounts of money into new businesses. None were interested in funding his research into potential genetic medicines.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review Emergent’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) seeking approval of the manufacture of BioThrax® (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) in Building 55, the company’s large-scale manufacturing facility. FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of August 15, 2016.