Higher Education : Innovation + Job News

There's a new incubator network in town. The Maryland Clean Energy Technology Incubator Network will offer support to early stage companies working with clean energy technologies and advance green job creation in Maryland.

The production of a partnership between Maryland Clean Energy Center and the bwtech@UMBC the new site, the Maryland Clean Energy Technology Incubator@bwtech (CETI), is the first in a planned statewide network of clean energy incubators designed to strengthen Maryland's "Smart, Green and Growing" energy economy.

"bwtech@UMBC is our first site because we were so impressed with their management and track record there," says Katherine Magruder, executive director of Maryland Clean Energy Center.

""The Maryland Clean Energy Center is striving to partner with energy experts throughout the state in order to fulfill its mission of growing Maryland's clean energy economy through related economic development and job creation. Because bwtech@UMBC has a proven track record of success our Board elected to work with their team to establish our first Clean Energy Incubator Network site at UMB," she adds.

The goal is to draw from the depth and variety of the research presence in the state, and use the incubator network to move discoveries from the bench to the bank in the commercialization pipeline, according to Magruder.

"The program seeks to provide affordable space as well as assistance with business plans, marketing, and management of intellectual property for start-up companies that are focused on a clean or renewable energy product, service or technology," she says.

CETI will provide services specifically tailored to the needs of companies working with solar power, wind power, geothermal, hydro-power, biofuels as well as energy management and storage technologies. A part-time Entrepreneur-in-Residence and an advisory board of experienced researchers and executives in the clean energy sector will also provide tenant companies with assistance.

CETI will occupy about 18,000 square feet of office and wet lab space in the Biotechnology Building of bwtech@UMBC's Incubator and Accelerator, located on the south campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Writer: Walaika Hasins
Source: Katherine Magruder, Maryland Clean Energy Center

bwtech@UMBC Research Park has expanded its facilities, launching a new incubator in Class A office space that targets small disadvantaged businesses. The new incubator is designed for early-stage companies owned by minorities, women and veterans and have substantial business activities aimed at providing technology-related products and services to state and federal agencies.

Founding tenants include Premier Management Corporation, a network security consultant for NSA and other government agencies; Farfield Systems, a provider of IT and systems engineering services and training; CardioMed Device Consultants, a regulatory consultant for medical device companies; and the Nixon Group, a multi-faceted company in healthcare and financial services

Since its opening several additional companies have expressed interest in the new incubator, says Deborah Shapiro, a bwtech@UMBC spokesperson.

"Businesses that contract with the federal government are still experiencing growth, despite weakening in the overall market," says Alex Euler, associate director, bwtech@UMBC. "The Advantage Incubator's proximity to a number of federal agencies and research centers such as NSA, NIH, FDA, NASA and DOD is a great asset. Client companies also benefit from the park's federal HUBZone and state Enterprise Zone designations."

The incubator offers participating companies the opportunity to operate in a Class A environment, with shared reception areas, conference rooms and university resources.

There's been a lot said about the negative impact for kids who spend too much time tied to their computer screen, but according to a recent $50 million study funded by the MacArthur Foundation, using digital media could teach kids something and is not just mindless Internetainment.

Children, according to the study, can learn technical skills, how to get along with people and maintain an online public identity. Some kids are able to take these lessons to the next level by "geekin-out" a peer-driven method of learning focused on gaining deep knowledge and expertise in specific areas that interest them.

Enter Cogito.org, an online community for so-called geeks, gifted middle- and high-school student who live for math and science. Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in partnership with other leading centers for gifted children, Cogito, students have geeked out with Terry Tao, 2007 recipient of the Fields Medal in mathematics (the Nobel Prize equivalent on that subject), Johns Hopkins stem cell pioneer Doug Kerr, and geophysicist Allen West, whose theories about the extinction of the great mammals were featured in NOVA on PBS.

Writer: Walaika Haskins

Source: JHU

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

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 University of Maryland wants to give young entrepreneurs a head start in business.

The school's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business has offer 40 students from various schools and colleges in the UMD system the chance to participate in a 10-day business jumpstart program. From Aug. 17 to 28, the students will participate in interactive sessions and workshops led by successful local entrepreneurs, investors and lawyers

The goal is to help give students the necessary tools to develop a business idea, make sure it is viable, possibly perform a test in the market and then launch the new business, says Alla Corey, a program manager at Dingman Center.

The program is intended to help students prepare for the Cupid's Cup business competition that kicks-off in April. The business challenge requires entrants to have an existing revenue-generating business. Kevin Plank, Under Armour CEO, sponsors and judges the contest.


Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Alla Corey, Dingman Center

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