Jobs and the Next BioBeers

A quick Sunday post with a couple twists.

First, the next BioBeers is happening at ImQuest on Friday October 28th. And it’s a costume party, so dress like something other than a nerd scientists. Come on. You can do it.

I have two sponsors thus far: Life Tech and The Scale People

I still need more sponsors, so if you’re intested let me know.

I was also contacted by someone looking to fill various positions in Frederick:

Manager Quality Assurance / Quality control – Individual who can provide leadership to QA/QC/Analytical groups and has proven track record in pharmaceutical industry. Experience in pre and post inspections, product approval submissions (ANDA, NDA) to FDA, interaction with global clients, familiarity with regulations and participate in management decisions. Ph.D. or MS in Pharmaceutical sciences or related field with ten years of Pharmaceutical industry experience.

Manager Operations Manager Operations – Experience in cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) Pharmaceutical operations, preferably in solid dosage forms, process development, maintenance of utilities and facilities, and planning. Interact with clients. Must have regulatory knowledge in cGMP, equipment, scale-up and production. BS or MS in Chemistry or engineering or related sciences with a minimum of seven years of experience in a reputable pharmaceutical company.

Two other positions in a new Lab:  Post Doc and Technician 

 The effort will include engineering proteins and biomaterials for regenerative medical applications using human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Other projects will include developing methods to characterize cell growth and differentiation of MSCs in 3-D tissue culture; applying protein engineering methods to discover sequences that enhance protein affinity, stability, or expression; designing and fabricating bioactive scaffolds; and, in vivo

characterization of candidate scaffolds. A Ph.D. in Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, or related field with lab or industry experience in molecular biology and cloning; protein engineering,

expression and purification; biomaterials engineering; and MSC biology is preferred.

if you’re interested, let me know aqnd I will route you apopropriately:  gahaga@gmail.com

Biotech Connect

The Dog Days of Summer are here and the Biotech Livin’ in Frederick is easy……

I’m setting up a couple of events you all may be interested in.  First and foremost, working on the next BioBeers in August at “The Incubator” aka the Frederick Innovative Technology Center or FITCI for short.  I have one firm sponsor and could use one or two more, if you are interested.  No date, at his point in time.

Just got out of a great meeting at the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce with Frank and SAIC-Frederick.  We’re setting up, with Frank’s help, the next Tech Connect for Bio event at the Chamber.   What we are trying to do is to peel the onion back a bit deeper and give local companies more insight into what is going on at Fort Detrcik and how they can participate as either a partner in providing goods and services or in licencing out technologies developed on the Fort for commercial purposes.   This is the main reason Jim Hartley and I started BioBeers in the first place.  Jim is working with our old (I say that with the best intent) friend Deb on this amazing system they have developed:

You need to scroll over to the right hand column and pick the “SAIC-Frederick Targeted Protein Delivery” icon to see their video.  I don’t know how to copy and attach a flash file.  As you’ll see from the viseo, they even roped in another former LifeTech employee, Dave Hoekzema, to lead the commercialization effort.  It’s like the holy trinity of innovation that the fools formerly in charge of  Invitrogen jettisoned.

The third thing is an event I am helping to set up.  Lilypons Water Gardens has an annual wine festival and Dog Jumping contest.  You know those events you may have seen on ESPN where the dog sprints down a dock and leaps as far as they can into the water chasing a decoy?   So I was there in my official capacity as a  Chamber of Commerce Ambassador talking to Margret about trying to find out if they could use spent grains from beer making as fish food and she mentions their annual event, The Puppy Palooza on Sept 3rd & 4th.  Margret mentioned that the crowd was more of a “beer crowd” than a wine crowd and if I knew anyone she could talk to about making this a Beerfest?  In case you didn’t know, we have a local brewery call “Flying Dog.”  I know some people there and we’re going to make it happen.  The 1st ever Flying Dog competition at Lilypons sponsored by Flying Dog and hopefully represented by all of the local breweries.  Stay tuned!

BioBriefing: Industry Knowledge for the Non-Scientist

BioBriefing – 1 Day Class Industry Knowledge for the Non-Scientist June 16 | Frederick, MD

BioBriefing provides a concise overview of the key concepts of biotechnology and an introduction to the technology and terminology used by the biotech and pharma industries. Class Details: Date: June 16, 2011 Time: 9:00am-4:30pm Location: Frederick Chamber of Commerce 8420B Gas House Pike Frederick, MD 21701 Fee: $545 Deliverables: A reference guide packed with all the slides presented in the class, background scientific information, statistics, and a glossary of terms. Lunch and refreshments provided. Class Agenda: Industry Overview 9:00-10:15 Biotechnology Defined Industry Sectors: Healthcare, Agriculture, Industrial, Environmental Spotlight on Diagnostics Top Companies Structure of a BioScience Company Break 10:15-10:30 How Basic Science Drives Biotech 10:30-12:00 Biotechnology Goals The Cell DNA Genomes Genetic Variation Proteins Lab: DNA Isolation Activity: Genetic Variation of Taste Lunch 12:00-1:00 Genetic Engineering 1:00-2:00 Plasmids Recombinant DNA Genetically Engineered Cells Recombinant Proteins (Biologics) Disease Models Antibodies 2:00-2:45 Antibodies Defined How Antibodies Are Made Biotech applications of Antibodies Break 2:45-3:00 Drug Discovery & Development 3:00-4:15 Drug Discovery Timeline Rational Drug Discovery Target Validation Preclinical & Clinical Trials Q&A/Review 4:15-4:30 Who Will Benefit: Professionals from all sectors of the biotech, pharma and life sciences industries, including: sales, marketing, HR, legal, manufacturing, business development, finance, management, government relations, IT, safety, tech transfer Policy makers, lobbyists, attorneys Venture capitalists, angel investors, banks, analysts, financial managers Insurance brokers, real estate professionals Consultants, public relations specialists, journalists Bioscience association staff, economic development executives University administrators, research institute support staff Past Class Participants Include: Amgen, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Alexandria Real Estate, AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, BIO, California Healthcare Institute, Chubb Insurance, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Genentech, GE Financial, IBM, Life Technologies, Johns Hopkins University, KPMG, RENO Construction, Marsh, MedImmune, Merrill Lynch, Miles & Stockbridge P.C., Millipore, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Novartis, SAS, Stratagene, UCSF Questions? Contact Kerri Muir at 410-377-4429 ext. 22 or muir@biotechprimerinc.com Classes fill up quick so register today!

Copyright © 2011 BioTech Primer, Inc. All rights reserved.

April 8th Biobeers and SAIC-Frederick NCI tour today

Biobeers on Friday rocked the Akonni house.  We had about 200 people and killed 3 kegs in just about 3 hours, a new Biobeers record (although some people have nothing to be proud about).  Let’s hope we can break that record in June.  I have several people offering to sponsor in June, but we need a venue.  If anyone has space for 200 people and the desire to have 200 people in biotech roost in their hood foe a few hours in June, let me know…

I uploaded some pictures sent to me by Cheryl at Akonni onto MeetUp.  If you have any you’d like to share, please let me know.

And speaking of FredCoBio stuff, I was invited by my friends at SAIC-Frederick to be a part of a “Media Tour” of NCI-Frederick.  the tour included a nice overview, a tour of the Laboratory of Proteomics and Analytical Technology (LPAT), the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer and the Electron Microscope Lab.  It was a good tour, fairly basic on the hard core science side of things, but a good tour nonetheless.

I learned a couple things:

1.  US consumers spent about $5.1 billion USD on Halloween in 2010.  The entire budget for NCI annually is $5.2 billion.  That means we spent about as much on pagan rituals and high fructose corn syrup products (excluding motor fuel)  in 2010 as we did on cancer research.

2.  The Federal Government spent in 30 days in the was in Iraq as much as they have in the past 30 years on cancer research (per the NCI budget).

OK, which one is has the best ROI?  The War on Cancer or the War on Terrorism?

BioBeers Friday, Badgers, News and other Random Stuff

As if I haven’t pestered you all anough already BioBeers is this Friday at ImQuest Biosciences Friday February 18th starting at 4:30 PM. I am getting Ribs from RibCity, so please do RSVP so I can get the right amount. RSVP’s trickling in thus far and I am giving you multiple choices. You can RSVP by emailing me, leaving a comment or go on the MeetUp or LinkedIn sites (both require FREE registration). Badger, badger as in “Her hungry fingers tore at my shirt buttons like wild badgers” (a hilarious episode of Prairie Home Companion I listened to on the way back from Fredericksburg VA last week http://is.gd/UWzJWF can’t help it that I am a radio junkie). 

Speaking of Badgers, Akonni was in the news this week for signing a licensing agreement with USAMRIID which covers covers nucleic acid sequences, primers, and probes that will serve as the basis for multiplexed molecular tests for Bacillus anthracis, vaccinia/orthopox virus, Yersinia pestis, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. How neat is that?

Speaking of neat stuff, you all may know that I have been working on an inexpensive, hand held thermocycler (LavaAmp).  Well, so compatriots of ours, Tito Janokoswski and crew with pearl biotech, have released a DIY $500 thermocycler.  It’s based on the standard tube format PCR in aluminum block, so I don’t consider this a threat at all to our low resource, low power, portable device, but cool news nonetheless out of the DIYBio guys.  They also have the Open Gel Box, which I contributed to.  Keep it up!

So back to FredCoBio and stuff happening here BioElectronics is poised for huge growth.  I know I haven’t blogged about them in a while, but their patch works and it’s not expensive and it’s really the only thing out there.  I think it’s awesome!!

TechConnect

Just got this email from the Chamber of Commerce.  Looks like a good event

Join us for TechConnect:
a special event for the Frederick County BioTech Community!

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12
8:15 to 9:45 a.m.

Presented by the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce
8420-B Gas House Pike, Frederick
Our office is located at the intersection of Gas House Pike & Monocacy Blvd.,
across from Clustered Spires Golf Course.

8:15 a.m.
Enjoy coffee, pastries, and networking with other area BioTech professionals.

8:30 a.m.
An update and Q&A with panelists from Fort Detrick, SAIC-Frederick, Life Technologies, and BNBI.
Featuring presentations by the following Chamber Board Members & Trustees:

COL Judith Robinson
Commander; U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick

David Bufter
Chief Administrative Officer, Treasurer,
and Corporate Vice President of Administration; SAIC-Frederick, Inc.

Dr. Uplaksh Kumar
Director of Operations and Site Leader; Life Technologies, Frederick

Dr. J. Patrick Fitch
Laboratory Director for the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC)
and President of Battelle National Biodefense Institute, LLC (BNBI)

We’re extending an invitation to more than 50 companies, and space will be limited. To register, please call 301.662.4164 x1 or email info@frederickchamber.org before August 5.

Slow day in the news

Seems like I’ve started every recent post out with an apology for not being more diligent in maintaining this site.  A slow day on my contract work at MedImmune gives me the chance to push some of my hidden agenda forward.

I missed out on an opportunity a couple weeks ago to tell all about Kempbio taking the Best New Incubator Company award.  I share common lab space with Chris and Kempbio, so I am well aware of how good business has been for them.  There was a good feature article in the Gazette and in

Tom Fedor/The Gazette

the Baltimore Citybizlist.

There’s even a mention in “la Tribune” about a recent licensing deal Kempbio made for a transfection reagent:

Polyplus Transfection cède un contrat de licence

La biotech spécialisée dans les vecteurs chimiques de transfert de gènes accorde l’utilisation de son savoir-faire à l’américain Kempbio, basé à Frederick (Maryland). Ce contrat participera à la hausse de 20 % du chiffre d’affaires (2,6 millions d’euros) prévue chez Polyplus en 2010. La start-up strasbourgeoise (27 salariés), qui a réalisé trois levées de fonds depuis 2002, continue d’investir l’essentiel de ses ressources en R&D.

On my home front, things are really starting to take off with the LavaAmp project.  Rob Carlson, one of the shareholders with Biodesic LLC, is in DC this week for Meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues he mentions on his blog Synthesis.  He just published a book through Harvard Press called Biology is Technology that’s getting us quite a lot of attention.  I just got my copy last week and haven’t read it, yet.  The reviews are pretty impressive, overall.

Meanwhile, Joseph Jackson, the CEO of LavaAmp, is organizing the Open Science Summit in Berkeley July 29th-31st.  He also had a nice feature article published in Xconomy (San Francisco) called “The Open Science Shift“.

While were on the topic, Guido (the other shareholder) is off in Colorado going through training at the Unreasonable Institute.  I can’t embed the flash in WordPress, but you can watch his pitch HERE. In a couple weeks, he’ll be off the Oxford to give his TEDTalk, as he was made a TEDGlobal Fellow.

Through all of this, I just arrange the BioBeers events.  Speaking of which, I hope to have the next one at the new Riverside Research Park in August (date to be determined).  That video on their home screen is awe inspiring.  I wish it was embedable.  maybe I’ll try to grab a copy.  I hope to get in there to get more information about the NCI’s Advanced Technology Partnerships Initiative (ATPI). Here’s a link to the PDF describing the program.  It’s up to you, Biotech companies in Frederick, to win some of these contracts!  Stay tuned….

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.

Breaking News: Life Technologies Corp to be Purchased by GE

According to a post by Nancy on the BioBeers East LinkedIn group, Life Tech is going to be purchased by GE in an all cash transaction.  The news was revealed this morning on Yahoo!Finance.

This is even bigger news than the announcement last week that LifeTech was closing a 73,000 sq ft Camarillo CA facility and relocating it, and as many as 250 positions, to Frederick.

So, some stuff is shaking out on Executive Way, for sure.  Which reminds me, the next BioBeers will be on Executive Way, at ImQuest on Friday March 19th.  Official announcement coming soon!

FOLLOW UP:  The story of GE buying LifeTech could be a rumor, at least that’s the prevailing theory on the Rumor Mill.  Stay posted!

BioBeers January 2010

Holy Cow was it crowded last night! Definitely a record setting event, with the official body count reaching 197 biogeeks! Fantastic, but now I think we need a bigger venue!

click the image to open a slideshow

Pretty sure everyone who’s anyone showed up last night. A special thanks to Chris and TalentWrx for picking up the tab (which was a bit larger than we expected due to the turn out) and the Matt Bender and th NBACC crew for the food and job offers.  Unfortunately, Battelle Corporate pulled the plug on Matt’s presentation literally 5 minutes before we started (due to not being “officially” approved for public consumption), but he’s promised to send me the approved powerpoint when it’s ready.

I apologize for being a slack blogger recently and will try to post some updates this weekend.

One scoop I have is that CNN was at MedImmune on Friday filming for a feature story on how the Stimulus Bill is helping the Vaccine markets.  And if you look closely at the picture, you’ll see a happy Frank Blanchard at the Bar.  He’s happy because SAIC-Frederick is #5 on the list of top 10 recipients of the ARRA spending.  Good for Frank and Good for FredCoBio.  The impact on the taxpayers is still in debate.