The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) invites biometric technology developers to apply to participate in the 2021 Biometric Technology Rally. Started in 2018, the Biometric Technology Rally challenges industry to deliver fast, accurate, and easy-to-use biometric recognition capabilities to improve security and user facilitation at checkpoint processing. Building on …

Reinforcing its commitment to expanding innovation in pediatric care, Children’s National Hospital is joining with the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI), and collaborators Resonance Philanthropies and Digital Infuzion, to launch the 2021-2022 Innovate Children’s Health Challenge to encourage the commercialization of technologies that improve children’s health care. This year’s event, Innovate Children’s Health II, focuses …

The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) is establishing the framework for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) that was included in President Biden’s FY2022 budget. Modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-H would tackle bold challenges requiring large-scale, cross-sector coordination, employing a non-traditional and nimble approach to high-risk …

Babylon Micro-Farms has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, with the potential for $750,000 more in follow-on funding. The grant money will go towards further development of BabylonIQ, the company’s platform that remotely manages its distributed network of farms. This grant follows a 2019 Phase 1 grant of $225,000, also from …

RAMP is accepting applications are for their fall cohort to begin in September 2021. RAMP is looking for technology startups with scalability, and coachable entrepreneurs who have a desire to do the work. RAMP will select up to five companies for the 12-week cohort that provides: • Expert 1:1 mentoring with the region’s top entrepreneurs …

BIO-CAT, Inc. has formed a global partnership with Kerry, the Taste & Nutrition company and their BIO-CAT Microbials, LLC probiotic products division. Effective June 2021, Kerry will lead the sales, marketing, and distribution of BIO-CAT’s proprietary probiotic strain, OPTI-BIOME MB40®. OPTI-BIOME MB40® (Bacillus subtilis ATCC122264) is a non-GMO, highly-stable probiotic strain that the company says …

TTC is planning a technology opportunities webinar on July 13, 2021 from 11:00 am – noon, EST. Attendees will hear from the NCI’s Dr. Genoveffa Franchini about a new HIV vaccine with the potential to prevent HIV infection and treat HIV. The effectiveness of the new vaccine results from deletion of the V1 region from …

MedTech Innovator, the largest accelerator of medical device companies in the world, selected 50 companies to participate in the organization’s flagship four-month Showcase and Accelerator program, featuring the industry’s most transformative device, diagnostic, and digital health technologies from around the globe. These up-and-coming startups will receive unparalleled visibility and access to leading manufacturers, providers, investors, …

An ISO compliant, recently recalibrated barcode verifier is arguably the best and only effective defense against barcode quality-related liability. What about barcode verifier discrepancies? There are two types of verifier discrepancies: • Inconsistency of a single verifier • Inconsistency between two or more verifiers This article focuses on the second type. A familiar scenario in …

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded Vibrent Health, a digital health technology company powering the future of precision health research, the second phase of a contract to validate COVID-CARE, a digital health solution for pandemic response. The web and mobile application will enable fast and accurate screening, automated test …

As reported online by Richmond BizSense, GPB Scientific closed on an $18 million funding round. The money will help the company roll out its Curate cell processing system, which separates and extracts cells from blood samples to create therapies for cancer and other diseases. Funding came by way of Amgen Ventures and Vensana Capital (firms …

ReAlta Life Sciences has received a $3.2 million grant award from The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), to accelerate the Company’s Phase 1b clinical trial evaluating RLS-0071 for the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) due to COVID-19. The award, which is granted to Virginia companies to support …

A study led by researchers from the Institute Cajal of Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain in collaboration with the Bioengineering Department of George Mason University in Virginia, U.S. has updated one of the world’s largest databases on neuronal types, Hippocampome.org. The study, which is published in the journal PLOS Biology, represents the most …

Southern Spine, LLC, an ISO 13485:2003 certified manufacturer of implants and instruments for spinal surgery, announced that John E Hart has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer to lead the company. Hart has more than 35 years of executive leadership experience in the medical device, life science and biologics fields serving in general …

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), announced that CIT GAP Funds has added two new Investment Associates to its team: Dustin Dunbar and Anthony Obi Jr. As Investment Associates, Dunbar, and Obi will support CIT GAP Funds activity including deal sourcing and due diligence …

KinergyCare is a Virginia-based startup and a Virginia Bio member that is requesting feedback from this community on a care coaching and coordination approach that focuses on the needs of patients with cardiovascular disease. We’re pioneering a new approach that combines patient data on health capabilities with a personalized intervention based on behavioral science. The result should …

Virginia Bio and the Virginia Bioscience Foundation have named Albemarle High School’s, Meenakshi “Meena” Ambati, as the winner of the 2021 Virginia BioGENEius Challenge, the premier competition for high school students that recognizes outstanding research and innovation in the biotechnology field. As the Virginia BioGENEius finalist, Meena will attend the 2021 BIO Digital Conference, where …

ReAlta Life Sciences (“ReAlta”), Inc., a company addressing life-threatening diseases through harnessing the power of the immune system, today announced that it has received a no objection letter (NOL) from Health Canada to an Amendment of the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of RLS-0071 in healthy volunteers. The study design has been modified to add …

A longtime pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Julia Finkel has long wanted a more objective way to measure how much pain patients are feeling. “For pain, we do it very empirically,” Dr. Finkel said. “The patient says they hurt, we give them a drug. They either feel better or they don’t…It’s done in …

Landos Biopharma, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases, and LianBio, a biotechnology company dedicated to bringing paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and other major Asian markets, today announced an exclusive collaboration and license agreement for the development and commercialization of omilancor and NX-13 …

Landos Biopharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases, announced that the Company has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2 study of omilancor, Landos’ novel, orally administered, gut-restricted LANCL2 agonist, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD). “We are extremely proud of …

BIO-CAT, Inc., a biotechnology company that specializes in enzymes and other advanced microbial solutions, plans to add at least 30,000 square feet to its fermentation facilities in Zion Crossroads. The expansion is projected to start in 2022. The company will add several new jobs and is considering building another 30,000-square-foot section in a second phase. …

Contraline, Inc., a venture-backed medical device company devoted to providing men and couples with long-lasting, safe, and effective male contraception, has appointed medical device industry executive Martin Emerson to its Board of Directors.

AMPAC Fine Chemicals announced a $25 million expansion of its operations that is expected to add more than 150 new jobs. The California-based company is a top U.S. manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The plant in Petersburg previously was owned by Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals Inc., which closed it in 2014, but AMPAC reopened the site …