Innovation + Job News

FASgen, Inc., a Baltimore-based developer of small molecule therapeutics and diagnostics fatty acid biosynthesis targets, was awarded a $1.4 million Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) Phase II NIH grant for continued research for obesity. FASgen has conducted extensive research into the effects of inhibition of the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway on the regulation of appetite and weight loss for some time.

The company has developed numerous families of compounds that act on the well identified targets in the pathway, including fatty acid synthase (FAS), carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1) and mitochondrial glyceraol-3aclytransferase (GPAT). The current research effort will optimize FASgen's compounds for use in future clinical trials. The research is in part conducted in cooperation with labs at Johns Hopkins University under a research agreement between the FASgen and Johns Hopkins.

"This grant supplements the Company's extensive product development efforts in the metabolic disease field. The weight loss effects seen to date in preclinical in vivo experiments have applications in various indications, including obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, including specifically non-alcoholic steatohepatitis," says Susan Medghalchi, Ph.D., FASgen's principal investigator under the grant.
 
FASgen's Chairman, Eric F. Stoer, also says that the metabolic program runs in parallel with the company's successful efforts to develop a different set of FAS inhibitor compounds for use in the treatment of cancer. The company's oncology program was partnered with J&J last year and that collaboration continues to demonstrate the validity of the principle that FASi can and does safely kill cancer cells.


Source: Susan Medghalchi, PH.D., FASgen
Writer: Walaika Haskins

G.I. Jobs has named Harford Community College (HCC) on its list of 2010 "Military Friendly Schools". The list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools doing the most to embrace American veterans as students. 

"This list is especially important now because the recently enacted Post-9/11 G.I. Bill has given veterans virtually unlimited financial means to go to school," says Rich McCormack, G.I. Jobs publisher. "Veterans can now enroll in any school, provided they're academically qualified. So schools are clamoring for them like never before. Veterans need a trusted friend to help them decide where to get educated. The Military Friends list is that trusted friend."

The list was compiled through research begun last May including a G.I. Jobs poll of more than 7,000 schools nationwide. Criteria for making the grade included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students. In addition, schools on the Military Friendly Schools list offer additional benefits to student veterans.

HCC recently gathered a campus-wide task force in order to identify ways in which services can be improved to assist active duty military, members of the Reserve forces, military family members and veterans. Among the recommendations to be implemented is a change in the college application that will enable veterans to self-identify and thus allow communication directed to them to better meet their special needs.

In addition staff members from Financial Aid and the College APG site attended a series of training sessions to learn about provisions of the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill and coordinated changes in College policy to facilitate use of this and other Veteran and military educational programs.

The 2010 Military-Friendly School list can be found at www.militaryfriendlyschools.com/mfspr

Source: Rich McCormack, G.I. Jobs
Writer: Walaika Haskins 

 

Westside Elementary in Baltimore City got a mini makeover last week as the school's Girl Scout troop and 12 volunteers from Enterprise Rent-a-Car teamed up to give the school grounds a refreshing mini-makeover.

The brainchild of Cathy Allen, who lives close to the school, the project spawned from her belief that "If children's minds are to bloom in school, why not have some blooming trees?"

Allen enlisted the help of Carlita Nelson, troop leader for the 53 elementary school Girl Scouts at Westside, the school's principal Brian Pluim and Baltimore City's "Tree Baltimore" team. Next she gathered community partners--Enterprise Rent-a-Car and the mayor's Office of Neighborhoods. The city contributed the trees, mulch, shovels and gloves.

Thanks to Allen's hardwork and that of the volunteers, 15 trees were planted and mulched in Phase I of this "Greening Beautification Initiative." Allen hopes to start a horticulture program at the school that will include field trips to the zoo and farm so that the children can see, learn about and study different plants. 

Source: Cathy Allen
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Baltimore-based brewpub chain, DuClaw Brewing Co. announced plans to begin bottling its beers. The company will reportedly start off with its Devil's Milk barleywine style beer as well as the just announced "Nemesis", an Imperial Alt Ale. The 22 oz. bottles will average around $10 a bottle and will be bottled at DuClaw's Harford County brewery location.


Source: DuClaw Brewing Company
Writer: Walaika Haskins

David Williams, president and CEO of Columbia, MD-based Merkle, one of the nation's largest and fastest growing customer relationship marketing agencies, has been named the 2009 CEO of the Year by Baltimore SmartCEO magazine. 

According to David Callahan, SmartCEO executive editor, "David Williams epitomizes what we look for when selecting our CEO of the Year. Williams is building his business for the long term. He has established a compelling mission and is leading the way in his entire industry. Williams built Merkle into a $250 million juggernaut in the marketing industry that clearly offers strong value for its customers and a positive environment for its employees."

The CEO of the Year is selected by the Baltimore SmartCEO editorial team from a group of nominees considered true leaders among their peers. More than company revenues, profits and community popularity, the CEOs of the Year have proven track records of innovation and in bringing value to the marketplace. They lead more than just companies; they lead industries in new directions.

"I am honored to be chosen as the 2009 CEO of the Year. Merkle has constantly strived to be an innovator and a leader in both running a great business and doing great work for clients. Building Merkle into the successful marketing agency it is today has not been easy, but fortunately I have been surrounded by talented people who all share a common vision for achievement. In that type of environment, I've found that anything becomes possible," says Williams.

Source: David Williams, Merkle
Writer: Walaika Haskins

CSX employees, joined by representatives from TreeBaltimore, Parks & People Foundation and the Westport Community, spent Saturday morning planting large Redbud, Maple and Sycamore trees throughout Baltimore's Westport neighborhood.

The railroad-sponsored program focused on Annapolis, Maisel and Cedley streets in the 45-acre Westport neighborhood that is being redeveloped from an industrial area to a mixed-used community. An estimated 37 percent of the area`s families live below the poverty line, but area leaders hope the environmental restoration and community revitalization goals will make the neighborhood a national model for urban restoration.

The CSX event was part of the railroad`s "Trees for Tracks" program that promises to plant 21,000 trees, or one tree for each mile of CSX track, in partnership with local organizations over the next five years. Other partners include City Year, the national youth service initiative, and Alliance for Community Trees, a national organization dedicated to helping cities restore their forest canopy, a third of which has been destroyed in recent decades.

According to Tori Kaplan, Director of Corporate Citizenship for CSX, "Planting trees improves air quality, offsets carbon emissions, creates noise buffers, improves wildlife habitats and adds beauty to our communities. We appreciate the opportunity to bring Trees for Tracks to a Baltimore city neighborhood that has received national attention for reinventing itself in ways that improve the quality of life and benefit the environment."

During its twenty-five years of working in Baltimore City, Parks & People has found environmental restoration can be a critical early step in the revitalization of communities in need. "In communities with trees, people socialize more with their neighbors, have a stronger sense of community and pride in their neighborhood, and feel safer than people in communities without trees. We are excited to be part of this larger effort that CSX is undertaking, to bring trees back to our city," Says Guy Hager, senior director for the Parks & People Foundation.


Additional CSX "Trees for Tracks" planting days will take place over the next several months in Atlanta, Miami and other cities. For additional information or to sign up as a volunteer, please visit http://www.keeponliving.org/green/trees-for-tracks/.

Source: Tori Kaplan, CSX
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Ciena® Corporation, the Linthicum-based network specialist, has entered into agreements with Nortel to purchase substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) business for $390 million in cash and 10 million shares of Ciena common stock.

The purchase includes product and technology assets such as the purNortel's long-haul optical transport portfolio; metro optical Ethernet switching and transport solutions; Ethernet transport, aggregation and switching technology; multiservice SONET/SDH product families; and network management software products.

The proposed transaction would strengthen Ciena's global presence and bring together complementary technologies in switching and transport that will offer customers a practical path for transitioning to automated, optical Ethernet-based networking. Based on the closing price of Ciena's stock on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, the aggregate value of the shares to be issued by Ciena is approximately $131 million, bringing the value of the consideration to approximately $521 million. The assets to be acquired generated approximately $1.36 billion in revenue for Nortel in 2008 and $556 million (unaudited) in the first six months of 2009.

"This is a unique and exciting opportunity for us to accelerate our existing strategy and the pace of our growth plans by two to three years," says Gary Smith, CEO and president, Ciena. "We believe this transaction will position us for faster growth by giving us greater geographic reach, broader customer relationships and a deeper portfolio of solutions. We believe we are best positioned to leverage these assets, thereby creating a significant challenger to traditional network vendors."

"We have tremendous respect for the talented people at Nortel and for their track record of innovation, and we look forward to the opportunity to build on our existing presence in Canada, where we have operated an R&D center of excellence since 2003. Should the transaction be completed, we will be disciplined in integrating the acquired assets on an aggressive timeframe. We will draw from the best in our respective organizations, cultures and expertise to ensure that we deliver continuity of supply and innovation for our customers and meet shareholder expectations," he adds 

Ciena is expected to make employment offers to at least 2,000 Nortel employees to become part of Ciena's global team of network specialists. The proposed acquisition would significantly enhance Ciena's existing Canadian-based development resources, making Ottawa the company's largest product and development center. Ciena currently has development facilities in Alpharetta, Georgia; Linthicum, Maryland; Ottawa, Ontario; San Jose, California; Spokane, Washington; and Gurgaon, India. As of July 31, 2009, the end of its fiscal third quarter, Ciena employed 2,110 employees globally.

Source: Gary Smith, Ciena
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Norwell, Mass-based Bluestone Energy Services, LTD., an energy conservation engineering and project development services company for utilities, industrial and commercial clients, will open offices in Baltimore and Buffalo.

The new offices will be used to expand Bluestone's service offerings and provide customers with assistance in a number of areas, including demand-side energy management, navigation of complex utility incentives and reduction of overall energy consumption.

"CFOs and facilities managers are looking not only at the environmental impact of energy conservation, but also at the attractive utility and tax incentives that are available," said Peter M. Fairbanks, President of Bluestone Energy Services. "Given that ROI often exceeds 40%, a utility-subsidized energy conservation project is certainly one of the best investments out there."

Bluestone's Baltimore and Buffalo offices offer the following turnkey solutions:

• Lighting Efficiency Improvements
• HVAC Design, Diagnostics and Upgrades
• Data Center Efficiency and Cooling Improvements
• Integration of Building Controls

"Over the last six months, Bluestone has seen a lot of growth potential in the Baltimore and Buffalo markets," says Adam Fairbanks, Bluestone's Vice President of Engineering and Business Development. "We look forward to working with companies in and around Baltimore and Buffalo to help them reduce their energy costs and navigate the complex utility and tax incentive process."

The new Baltimore office is located at Inner Harbor Center, 400 E. Pratt Street, Suite 800. It is unclear, however, if the company plans to hire staff for the new location.

Source: Adam Fairbanks, Bluestone
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Johns Hopkins University researcher Carol Greider, Ph.D., received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. One of the world's pioneering researchers on the structure of chromosome ends known as telomeres,  The Academy recognized Greider for her 1984 discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the length and integrity of chromosome ends and is critical for the health and survival of all living cells and organisms.

Greider is the Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. She shares the award with Elizabeth Blackburn, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, and Jack Szostack, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School, who discovered that telomeres are made up of simple, repeating blocks of DNA building blocks and are found in all organisms. The trio also shared the 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research for this work. Each of the three will receive a medal, a diploma and will split a cash prize of $1.4 million that will be handed out at a ceremony held in Stockholm on Dec. 10.

"What intrigues basic scientists like me is that any time we do a series of experiments, there are going to be three or four new questions that come up when you think you've answered one. Our approach shows that while you can do research that tries to answer specific questions about a disease, you can also just follow your nose," says Greider.


Source: Carol Greider, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Baltimore-area undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in solving urban problems have an opportunity to test their ideas, be recognized by city decision makers and win up to $4,000 by entering the 2010 Abell Award in Urban Policy competition.

Co-sponsored by the Abell Foundation and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, the award is given annually to the students who author the most compelling papers on a pressing problem facing the city of Baltimore. The first place prize is $4,000 and second place is $1,000.

"The purpose of this award is to encourage fresh thinking about the serious challenges facing this city and to tap the intellectual capacity of the city's college and graduate students," said Bob Embry, president of the Abell Foundation.

The contest is open to full-time undergraduate and graduate students at Coppin State University; Goucher College; The Johns Hopkins University; Loyola University Maryland; Morgan State University; the College of Notre Dame; Towson University; the University of Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; theUniversity of Maryland, College Park; and Stevenson University.

Winners are selected by a panel of judges comprising Baltimore opinion leaders and practitioners. Past winners have focused on strategies for reusing vacant properties in Baltimore, new approaches for preventing and reducing youth violence, the impact of zero tolerance school discipline policies, measures to reduce infant mortality, and policies to reduce high Latina birth rates.

"The judges and I have been extremely impressed with the thoughtful analysis and creative solutions that are offered by these papers," says Sandra Newman, professor and director of the IPS Center on Housing, Neighborhoods, and Communities. "It is clear that Baltimore's graduate and undergraduate students have much to contribute to the solution of these very challenging problems, both during their schooling and, hopefully, beyond."

In addition to the cash award, winners will have their papers distributed to key city and state decision makers, featured in the Abell Foundation Newsletter, and posted on the Johns Hopkins IPS website.

Applying is a three-step process: Potential applicants must first complete and submit a one-page contest entry form by Oct. 23, and a thorough abstract by Nov. 23. Final papers are due by March 5, 2010.

For details, including the entry form, a sample abstract, official guidelines, FAQs and examples of winning papers, visit here or write. The award is co-sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies and the Abell Foundation Inc.

Source: Sandra Newman, JHU Institute of Policy Studies
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded some $5 billion in grants to support research seeking to develop cures for cancer and other diseases, and to create jobs.

President Barack Obama made the announcement Wednesday at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The money is part of the feds $787 billion economic stimulus program designed to help create jobs and stop the U.S. economy's downward spiral. It is part of an overall $100 billion, $10 billion for the NIHan investment in science and technology to lay the foundation for the innovation economy of the future.

More than $1 billion of the grant funding is dedicated to research applying the technology produced by the Human Genome Project between 1990 and 2003. This new funding will allow researchers to make quantum leaps forward in studying the genomic changes linked to cancer, heart, lung, and blood disease and autism- potentially leading to new treatments and cures. The investment includes $175 million for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to collect more than 20,000 tissue samples from more than 20 cancers, and determine in detail all of the genetic changes in thousands of these tumor samples. TCGA involves more than 150 scientists at dozens of institutions around the country. All data will be rapidly deposited in databases accessible to the worldwide research community.

The $5 billion will help fund more than 12,000 existing projects and create tens of thousands of jobs in research and education over the next two years, as well as medical equipment makers and suppliers.


"We are about to see a quantum leap in our understanding of cancer," says Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director, NIH. "Cancer is a disease of DNA--it occurs when glitches in the DNA cause a good cell to go bad. This ambitious effort promises to open new windows into the biology of all cancers, transform approaches to cancer research and raise the curtain on a more personalized era of cancer care. This is an excellent example of how the Recovery Act is fueling discoveries that will fundamentally change the way we fight disease and improve our lives."

Source: Francis S. Collins, NIH
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Using a grant  for $20,200 from the Verizon Foundation, the Saint Agnes Foundation has purchased a special printer to complement Saint Agnes Hospital's new digital mammography equipment.

"Digital mammography is the most up-to-date technology in terms of breast imaging," says Diana Griffiths, medical director of the Saint Agnes Breast Center. "It gives us better visualization, particularly in women under the age of 50 and women who have dense breasts. The printer is a much-needed piece of the process."

The new digital mammography machine ensures that every mammogram done at Saint Agnes will be digital. With the new printer, Saint Agnes has the capacity to print film � or x-rays � when requested by referring physicians for patients who have abnormal mammograms. Patients and their physicians then can share and review those films.

Saint Agnes's digital mammography machine was installed earlier this month. Funding for the mammography machine, which cost $711,000, came from a federal program.

"We are so fortunate that our friends at the Verizon Foundation could contribute the funds for such a necessary piece of equipment," says Sherry Welch, president of the Saint Agnes Foundation.

Source: Diana Griffiths,

Not sure if you'll be near the TV for Saturday's 2009 Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival? Not to worry, R2integrated (R2i), a Baltimore-based Internet marketing company,has teamed with Corrigan Sports Enterprises (CSE), to present the race online via its new social media platform, R2iSMASH.

R2iSMASH drives interactivity around specific events, campaigns, or initiatives by combining feeds from popular social networking sites into one presentation window. The R2iSMASH site developed for the Baltimore Running Festival will feature live streamed video,Tweets, texts, Flickr and cell phone photos, and blog feeds�all collected simultaneously, yielding a real-time gallery of event content and commentary.

"Unlike most social media tools that push internal messages outward, R2iSMASH technology gathers external messages inward and neatly packages them for exhibition," says Matt Goddard, CEO, R2i. "We've never seen a major metropolitan running festival�or major sporting event for that matter�harness social media in this way, and we're excited to be aligned with CSE to make sports broadcast history."

Some 20,000 runners are expected to participate in the five races that comprise the Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival taking place on October 10. By using R2iSMASH, CSE provides both festival participants and non-participants with a unique way of tracking the event and sharing in the experience�live. Fans, friends, and family of runners competing in the festival can now watch the scene unfold from almost anywhere in the world.

The running festival R2iSMASH site will also include a results button that visitors can click to find runner finish times. Site visitors can also view immediate updates from the official time car in the "Running Commentary" feed where they will be marked with a red bus icon. Festival sponsor logos will be interspersed within the Flickr photo stream as well. When the festival concludes, all images, Tweets, and data captured on the R2iSMASH page will be archived and available for review.

Earlier this year, R2i -- which has had a 24 percent growth in revenue since 2008 -- deployed R2iSMASH sites to cover the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation and the Michael Jackson Tribute. Combined, the two sites aggregated more than 300,000 Tweets and texts feeds, and more than 5,000 photos.

Source: Matt Goddard, R2i
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Johns Hopkins' Center for the Epigenetics of Common Human Disease has been selected as one of four recipients of a $45 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for Centers of Excellence to advance genomics research. The Hopkins Center will receive $16.8 million over five years.

"We're grateful for such generous support to continue our work in understanding how epigenetic control affects disease," says the center's director, Andrew Feinberg, M.D., M.P.H.

For five years, Feinberg, professor of molecular medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has led a team of researchers at the center to study the epigenetic basis of common health problems, including cancer, autism and psychiatric illnesses.

Epigenetics, or "above the genome," refers to changes in genes outside of the DNA sequence itself. The changes affect which genes are turned on or off, and therefore which proteins are produced in cells. According to Feinberg that's because epigenetic variation may be at least as great between individuals as variations in the DNA sequences themselves, understanding the epigenome may help explain how errors occur in normal development and how environmental factors lead to cancer, autism and other disorders.

The center has already developed novel statistical and analytical tools to identify epigenetic modifications across the human genome. With the new funds, awarded by two NIH institutes � the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the National Institute of Mental Health � Feinberg and his colleagues plan to refine these tools so they can be used efficiently and cost effectively in large studies. The team will focus their efforts on studying the epigenetics of bipolar disorder, aging and autism. They will also explore how other factors, such as a person's genetic makeup, lifestyle choices and environmental exposures, interact with epigenetic factors to cause disease.

Source: Andrew Feinberg, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Writer: Walaika Haskins

If it's Monday, from now on students dining in Baltimore Public Schools' cafeterias may notice one thing missing -- meat in their school lunches.  System's (BCPSS) cafeterias. That's thanks in large part to Tony Geraci, BCPSS's director of food and nutrition services, who recently unveiled the school district's first "Meatless Mondays."

The decision to go with a vegetarian menu on Mondays has earned the school district PETA's  Proggy Award for Most Progressive Public School District of 2009. "Proggy" is for "progress."

"As soon as we heard, we wanted to encourage it because it's a huge step forward in healthy and humane eating. Baltimore is setting a great example for other school districts by instituting a program that's going to improve kids' health, be good for the environment, and also be something that helps fewer animals suffer," says Ashley Byrne, spokesperson, PETA.

Proggy awards are handed out to organizations that are leading the way by adopting more humane policies or creating more humane products. In the past the award has been given to a variety of organizations including restaurants and businesses. This is the first time the award has been given to an entire school district.

The Meatless Monday campaign is an effort to encourage Americans to cut beef and pork from their diet one day a week as a way of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the livestock industry and as a way of supporting locally grown foods.

"Removing meat from the menu one day a week will have a tremendous environmental impact. A recent UN report says that one pound of meat creates the equivalent greenhouse gases of driving a Hummer 60 miles. When you multipy that by one meal for an entire school district you can imagine what an impact just a single day a week is having," says Byrne

The American Dietetic Association says that a vegetarian diet is appropriate for all stages of life and reduces one's risk of heart disease, obesity, and cancer. Cutting down on meat also reduces greenhouse-gas emissions. In a U.N. report titled Livestock's Long Shadow, scientists concluded that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships, SUVs, and planes in the world combined. And, of course, going vegetarian is the best thing that anyone can do to help stop animal suffering. Vegetarians save more than 100 animals a year from factory-farm filth, mutilation without painkillers, and a terrifying death.

The school system's meat-free experiment also garned it the 2009 Award for Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

Source: Ashley Byrne, PETA
Writer: Walaika Haskins