|
What’s Inside: Where to Find Us at #BIO2022; How AI and Machine Learning are Advancing Human Health; Amgen, Merck, and Provivi Win Green Chemistry Challenge; and more.
|
We’re championing the progress made by California’s life science community and want to hear about your company’s latest scientific breakthrough, investment milestone, or commitment to creating positive change for our industry. Submit your story here for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue. |
|
|
What’s Happening at Biocom California
|
|
See You at #BIO2022
Biocom California is excited to welcome you back in-person to the 2022 BIO Convention June 13-16 in San Diego. We have several events taking place throughout the week where you can find us and Biocom California members. Make sure to stop by our booth (No. 3727) inside the California Pavilion on the convention floor along with other exhibiting companies. If you’re interested in pursuing business outside of California, visit us on the exhibit floor to meet with some of our international delegates from our partners One Nucleus, EuroBiomed, J-Link, AusBiotech, Samsung Biologics, Invest Vancouver, G42 Healthcare, and more. California Pavilion organizers will be hosting a Monday Night
Hospitality Reception from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on June 13. As the sun goes down on June 14, you can catch us at our Science Comes to Life in California summer concert with a special performance from Sublime with Rome.
|
|
|
National Biotechnology Month Proclamation
Biocom California would like to thank Councilmember Joe LaCava for his ongoing partnership and for stopping by our headquarters this week with a proclamation for National Biotechnology Month. National Biotechnology Month, celebrated in January, was first introduced by President Clinton in 2000 to recognize and prioritize the achievements and potential of this important field of science.
|
|
Full of Pride
Biocom California is proud to celebrate Pride month and support the San Francisco Business Times’ Business of Pride event. The celebration will honor this year’s OUTstanding Voices, leaders paving the way for LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace. NKarta Therapeutics will receive a special award for their impact on the LGBTQ+ business community and Biocom California member renegade.bio is being honored as a top 50 LGBTQ-owned business.
|
|
The Latest in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
The technologies which make up artificial intelligence and machine learning are part of our everyday lives today from our emails and smart phones to Roombas darting across floors, and were even used to recreate Val Kilmer’s voice in the latest blockbuster. In life science, these advanced technologies are tools that can push the boundaries of innovation, drug and therapy development, and in finding cures for disease. John Melo, CEO of Amyris Inc., a synthetic biology and renewable company, recently shared this insight in an interview with The Motley Fool, saying these technologies are “the great enabler” and a workhorse that can do a lot of engineering for scientists. “The further on the edge information technology and AI and data science is pushed, then the better the science of biology and synthetic biology can grow,” he said.
Here are some examples of member companies that are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning in their research and development.
|
|
Beyond the Family Tree
23andMe, the Bay Area company best known for its direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits and ancestral mapping, has a massive database of more than 12 million genotypes, and relies on machine learning to gain insights about the human genome. In its recent FY2022 report, the company includes
more details on its plans to expand into drug development and therapeutics: it enrolled patients in a Phase 1 study for the company’s first wholly owned immuno-oncology antibody, started offering some customers clinician-led genetic consultations, and launched new reports that estimates a customer’s likelihood of developing certain health conditions based on their genetics.
|
|
Modern Medicine
San Diego-based Persephone Biosciences teamed up with Johnson & Johnson on its Argonaut study on colorectal cancer. The study involves 1,350 people–both patients and healthy individuals–from diverse backgrounds and aims to identify cancer-specific biomarkers to help develop new treatments. The company is also collaborating with Gingko Bioworks to develop novel treatments based on bacteroides, common microbes that live in animals’ digestive tract.
|
|
A Touch of Robotics
Researchers at Caltech announced the creation of an artificial skin for robots that can give the machines the ability to sense temperature, pressure, and toxic chemicals. The artificial skin–which is printable and derived from gelatinous hydrogel–was developed in assistant professor of engineering Wei Gao’s lab. A machine-learning system allows a human user to control the robot with their own movements, and Gao says the potential for the robot’s application, known as M-Bot, could especially be useful for security, farming, and manufacturing.
|
|
Epic Predictions
San Diego-based Epic Sciences raised $43M in a Series F round of funding for its DefineMBC liquid biopsy for profiling metastatic breast cancer. The company says the DefineMBC test can be an alternative when a tissue biopsy is not possible for a patient, and is much less invasive by using a blood draw to analyze circulating tumor cells with single cell whole-genome and cell-free DNA sequencing.
|
|
|
Industry Intelligence & Member Moments
|
- AccendoWave CEO and co-founder Martha Lawrence sits down with AVIA Connect, an online resource for information about digital health companies, to discuss the company’s remote monitoring solution to measure pain through brain waves.
- Amgen received FDA approval for rituximab-arrx, a biosimilar to Rituxan® for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
- Amgen, Merck, and Provivi are among the winners of the EPA’s 2022 Green Chemistry Challenge, recognized for innovative green chemistry technologies that tackle the world’s biggest environmental challenges.
- Biologics Consulting added Jenny Xiradakis, B.Sc. Pharm to its CMC business team who brings 16 years of experience at the FDA.
- Elemental Machines and Qualer announced a global strategic partnership leveraging the former’s technology platform for optimizing laboratory operations and the latter’s comprehensive cloud-based asset and service management solution.
- Roswell Biotechnologies established a partnership with UCB to evaluate the Roswell ME Platform and Roswell ME Chip for use in drug discovery.
- Senti Biosciences went public, announcing that it has completed its business combination with Dynamic Special Purpose Corp.
- Sonoma Biotherapeutics received FDA clearance to begin a Phase 1 study for its biologic designed to eliminate highly activated effector T cells (Teff) in autoimmune and inflammatory disease.
- UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management published a study that found co-workers who showed gratitude to each other before performing stressful tasks had an improved cardiovascular response.
|
|
Drought Forces Water Restrictions
On June 1, the Metropolitan Water District enacted water restrictions for some areas in Southern California. The cuts are aimed at parts of Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties that are dependent on supplies from the State Water Project, the pipeline network that transports water from Northern California rivers to the south. Most impacted agencies are focusing their restrictions on outdoor watering since it accounts for roughly half of all urban water use. Areas that get water from another major source in the region, the Colorado River, have been spared for now, although officials have warned that it is also reaching critical lows.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara Valley Water adopted a program to enforce restrictions on outdoor water use by residents and businesses by fining those who disregard repeated warnings on wasting water. SCVW customers could face fines, ranging anywhere from $100 to $10,000 for not following rules aimed at reducing outdoor water use.
|
|
Alameda Masks Up
As of June 3, Alameda County has implemented an indoor mask mandate in most indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status or history of prior COVID-19 illness. The City of Berkeley, which sets its own health protocols, and the other eight Bay Area Counties are not considering
reimplementing a mask mandate for their residents.
|
|
Biocom California
For over 27 years, Biocom California has helped move the life science industry forward with transformative resources that enable companies to make meaningful connections. With a membership base of over 1,600 companies, we connect our members to each other so they can collaborate and work stronger and smarter together. We connect organizations to capital investment and purchasing solutions so they can grow faster and work more efficiently. We’re their link to advocacy that fights for innovation and we provide an environment where their business and talent can thrive. Biocom California is how the life science industry gets connected.
|
|
|
