QB Sonic Wins SBA InnovateHER Competition

Stony Brook-based technology startup, QB Sonic, is the local winner of the federal Small Business Administration’s InnovateHER competition, a national contest for companies seeking to improve the lives of women and families. The company will advance to the semifinal round. Read more about the company and the competition here.

Center for Biotech Receives NIH Award to Develop a Bioscience Hub

STONY BROOK, N.Y., April 8, 2015 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted Stony Brook University’s Center for Biotechnology a three-year $3 million award through the SUNY Research Foundation to establish the Long Island Bioscience Hub (LIBH). The award is part of the NIH’s Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) program and one of only three granted nationwide.The hub will be a collaboration between Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory and is designed to help accelerate the translation of biomedical discoveries into new drugs, devices, and diagnostics to improve patient care and enhance health.

Stony Brook’s Center for Biotechnology will lead the efforts of the LIBH, coordinating its comprehensive technology commercialization efforts across the three partner institutions. Such activities include technology development programs, establishing strategic partnerships, recruiting experienced entrepreneurs to provided experienced company management, and providing services such as education and mentoring that will help faculty innovators move their academic innovations into the commercial sector via a start-up company, licensing opportunity, and/or a strategic partnership.

The Long Island Bioscience Hub will build upon Stony Brook’s existing strengths in translational research and commercialization to develop an infrastructure across partner institutions, which will accelerate the yield of new healthcare innovations, said Samuel Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University. This partnership will advance New York State’s ever-expanding bio-based entrepreneurial ecosystem with new discoveries that fuel new company formation and jobs in biotechnology.

With this award, the NIH recognized the great potential for translational research and technology development that resides in our region, says Clinton T. Rubin, PhD, Principal Investigator, Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Center for Biotechnology. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to enhance what is already a bourgeoning innovation economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The REACH program is based on the NIH Center for Advanced Innovations (NCAI) initiative created the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The three hubs established under the REACH program will work collaboratively with the NCAIs to develop best practices and share resources where appropriate. REACHs will also be able to take advantage of unique partnerships with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the United States Patent Office, and the Center for Medicare & Medicade Services.

Each NIH REACH hub will provide funding for feasibility studies and coordinate access to expertise in areas required for early stage technology development, including scientific, regulatory, business, legal, and project management. Skill development and providing hands-on experience in entrepreneurism are also aims of the hubs.

The Greatest Hits How Success Breeds Success

Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have a demonstrated capacity for bioscience innovation that has advanced the course of biomedical science and contributed to improved healthcare through FDA approved therapies including ReoPro&reg, SAFHS, Xiaflex&reg, Periostat® and Oracea&reg, new medical devices including 3Dvirtual colonoscopy and LivMD$reg, and new company formation including New England BioLabs, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Collagenex, Pharmacopeia, and Exogen.

Millennial Materials and Devices Presenting at NY Business Plan Competition Finals

Gaurav Lalwani, PhD, Biomedical Engineering department at Stony brook University and Center for Biotechnology Fundamentals Program alumnus, has Co-founded Millennial Materials and Devices, a company which was recently awarded second place in the Stony Brook Entrepreneurs Challenge 2015, with a cash reward of $10,000 and $3000 prize in ‘DARE to RISK’ Business Plan Competition at Farmingdale State University, Long Island Regional Affiliate of the New York State Business Plan.

Millennial Materials will now be presenting at the Finals of New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) in Albany on April 24, 2015 in the Nanotechnology/Advanced Technology category. The NYBPC is the only leading collegiate business competition that is a regionally coordinated, collaborative statewide program representing over 75 colleges and universities, which sets it apart from all other competitions in the nation. Millennial Materials and Devices is working towards the commercialization of a novel proprietary formulation and method to fabricate large-area transparent conductive films for applications ranging from the fabrication of flexible unbreakable displays to electromagnetic shielding and biomedical coatings.