Biotechnology : Innovation + Job News

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) researchers have developed a highly sensitive test that searches for DNA attachments that often serve as early warning signs of cancer. The new technology uses tiny crystals called quantum dots to detect the presence and quantity of certain DNA changes. It could be used to detect people at risk for developing cancer and let doctors know the effectiveness of a particular cancer treatment.

Published in the August issue of the journal Genome Research, the test was developed by Jeff Tza-Huei Wang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Center.

"If it leads to early detection of cancer, this test could have huge clinical implications," said Jeff Tza-Huei Wang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering whose lab team played a leading role in developing the technique. "Doctors usually have the greatest success in fighting cancer if they can treat it in its early stage."

Writer: Walaika Haskins

Source: JHU

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) has reached a deal with Plasmonix, Inc. that grants the company license to its metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF)patents. The agreement stipulates that Plasmonix creates a new spin-off company located in Maryland.

MEF technology dramatically increases the sensitivity and speed of a broad range of diagnostic and biological assays for DNA and for proteins. It has multiple applications in clinical diagnostics and homeland security.

One real world application of MEF technology will detect the elevated enzymes associated with a heart attack in 20 seconds as a patient is transported via ambulance to the hospital. From a security perspective, it can be used to rapidly detect minute amounts of biohazard agents.

The new company will be dedicated to bringing the MEF technology developed by UMBI's Institute of Flourescence to the marketplace.

"MEF is a major breakthrough for biological diagnostics and the spin-off of Plasmonix is just one example of the ways that UMBI addresses important human needs by bringing new technologies from the laboratory bench to the marketplace," says Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, director of Technology Transfer and Commercialization for UMBI.

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) have teamed up to train postdoctoral research fellows from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other federal labs in the region on starting technology-based companies.

The joint project, a result of a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its Partnerships for Innovation program, will establish an ACTiVATE at NIH program in Montgomery County. It builds on a successful ACTiVATE program at UMBC that trains mid-career women to start companies using technologies developed at area universities and research institutions.

"We are pleased to expand the ACTiVATE® model to Montgomery County and to offer the program to the talented group of scientists working as postdocs at NIH and other federal labs in the region. In the course of four years, the program at UMBC has trained 92 women and launched over 25 companies; we hope to bring that same success to this new venture," says Stephen Auvil, assistant vice president for research at UMBC and a co-principal investigator on the NSF award

Intended to stem the flow of highly skilled, postdoctoral fellows at NIH who leave the state each year, the new program will provide postdocs with the training and support needed to start new companies in Maryland or pursue an entrepreneurial career.

Offering postdocs the opportunity to develop new skills that transform research into viable businesses will lead to rewarding career paths and contribute to the growth of Maryland's life sciences industry, and also advance medical science by moving emerging technologies from the lab to the marketplace.

The program will recruit postdoc fellows and members of the business community to form interdisciplinary teams and pursue opportunities for startup companies. The JHU Carey Business School will receive funding under the award to offer ACTiVATE at NIH at their Shady Grove campus in Rockville.

Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Stephen Auvil, UMBC

The National Institute of Health has awarded $20 million to the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Genome Sciences to create a Genomic Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases. The money will be used to sequence and analyze the genomes of infectious organisms, including agents of bioterrorism and new or emerging diseases. The grant is the largest the 2-year-old institute has received to date.

The upcoming center could have significant impact, helping the medical community with the sudden outbreak of emerging diseases such as H1N1 flu, SARS and food-borne illnesses. Genomic research into these emerging diseases can be used to develop new diagnostic and treatment tools to combat infection.

"This project places the University of Maryland School of Medicine and IGS front and center in infectious disease research nationwide. Our work under this project could lead to new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tools in the fight against infectious diseases, from emerging diseases," says Claire Fraser-Liggett, Ph.D., director of IGS and a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Not only will the grant put the IGS and Baltimore on the national radar for its genomic research, it is also designed to encourage collaboration between the IGS and outside clinicians or other scientists with unusual or significant pathogen samples they would like to have sequenced and analyzed. The federal funds will cover the costs of the sequencing and analysis will create a library of information that can be shared with researchers throughout the country. In return for their proposing projects and providing samples, outside researchers will have access to the genomic information IGS scientists discover.

The program is also designed to enable IGS and other research centers to respond rapidly and readily within a matter of days or weeks to a bioterrorist attack or the outbreak of an infectious disease.

Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Claire Fraser-Liggett, Ph.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine