Rumor Report: BP Solar to Cease Frederick Operations, Close Plant Today

I heard from what I consider a reliable source that BP Solar is going to announce the Closing of the Frederick plant today.

I know this is not “Biotech” per-se, but it’s always a shame to see a fellow Technology-based company closing down.  you may also not know this, but yours truly was briefly Engineering Manager there between 2001-2002, in a remarkable foray outside of Biotech (but at least a job that kept me in FredCo and narrowly averted a move to a fledgling, now defunct Biotech company in RTP, NC).

Also very sad that many Frederick resident will be losing their jobs, a number I believe is close to 300.  Even more difficult to understand that BP Solar employs a large number of Burmese/Myanmar immigrants.  While I was there, we actually made an arrangement with the Church group sponsoring the Burmese families (primarily Christians who are under siege by the Totalitarian Myanmar government) to provide them employment at BP Solar.

So, we’ll see if this story is true or not. The warning signs have been known for some time.  I watch daily from my vantage point at MedImmune as the cranes are pulling down the most recent addition. Even worse, it’s been known for some time that the polycrystalline silica solar cells made in Frederick are not competitive with emerging technologies.

My best wishes for everyone involved.

BioBeers Was Great, More Funding Available

A great time was had by all at BioBeers Friday at ImQuest.  In my haste, I left home without a camera, so no pictures this time.  I think things went very well, aside form running out of beer after barely an hour and a half.  You BioGeeks are terrible at RSVP’ing.  A special thanks again to David Kaye and the other Sheer Partners for the sponsorship.

And thank you to all of the recruiters who showed up offering up jobs.  Please let me know if anyone lands a job out of this, as I know of one or two from past events.  Need to start trending this.

Next time we won’t run out of beer.  I already have plans to hold the next event outdoors at FITCI, a mere mile south of where we were on Friday.  Stay tuned.

And speaking of funding, I would be remiss if I didn’t pass on the great news earlier Friday of the “Tilt-up Party” held by Matan at NCI-Riverside Park.

According to the Press Release:

Matan Companies and Morgan-Keller, Inc. hosted a tilt up party celebrating  the construction progress for  The National Cancer Institute’s  332,000 square foot Advanced Technology Research Facility at Riverside Research Park in Frederick, Maryland.  The goal of this state of the art laboratory facility slated for delivery in early 2012, is to enable scientists to more rapidly develop a new generation of highly targeted treatments for cancer patients.

And on this historic day of absurd government spending, I have a lead on some ARRA funded research going on at SAIC-Frederick.

Making lyophilized IL15 for clinical trials.  Not sure how many people out there may be interested, but here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0yNQr2vFdKsNGUxNWJkZDktZTA1NC00NWQ2LTk0YzEtY2FkMDM3ZjMwODNj&hl=en

And the Summary:

IL-15 is a 14 – 15 kDa member of the 4 α-helix bundle family of cytokines. It shares a number of biological activities with IL-2, including stimulation of the proliferation of activated CD4+, CD8+ and gamma-delta subsets of T cells. Recombinant human IL-15 (rhIL-15) expressed in E. coli was manufactured by the BDP under cGMP to yield active rhIL-15 for cancer therapy adjuvant vaccines in human clinical trials. The purpose of this document is to describe the requirements for the development of a cGMP lyophilized product for future clinical studies.

I hope someone local takes this before the out of towners do.

BioBeers this week a Go-Go at ImQuest

Wow, so far the RSVP’s from BioBeers have kept rolling in.  A lot of new names and faces.  Friday from 4:30 til 7 at ImQuest  BioSciences on 7340 Executive Way Frederick, MD 21704-9405.

The event is to celebrate ImQuest’s new facility expansion, but I just want to be sure everyone knows that we’re featuring the Staffing firms and recruiters this time around.  That means JOBS and JOBS IN FREDERICK.  Literally, hundreds are available.  Why would you want to work in Montgomery County when you can work in Frederick?  Bring a resume if you are looking.

Here’s the roster of recruiters who are going to be in attendance:

Chris from TalentWRx

Blaine & crew from EDGE People Services

Michelle from LifeTech

Colleen from ClinTel

Alan from AdvantageOne

Chris & Andrew from TechUSA

Manpower

Lab Support

Battelle’s NBACC on Ft Detrick

maybe even SIAC-Frederick?

Oh, and door prizes?  We don’t need no stinking door prizes, but Taunya at Hampton Inn is going to be giving out a “Free nights stay” for anyone interested.

And, yes, there will also be beer from Barley & Hops and some snacks from a.k.a Friscos thanks to Sheer Partners.

Friday March 19th 4:30 til 7, ImQuest  BioSciences on 7340 Executive Way Frederick, MD 21704-9405.

RSVP if you can to the LinkedIn site or email me