Biotech Briefing: UC San Diego to Receive National Award for Career Development in Glycosciences

Plus: BioFluidica’s microfluidic chip is designed for early cancer detection

Reports + Research

Deerfield Commits $65 Million to UC San Diego for “Valley of Death” Research

UC San Diego and investment management firm Deerfield have created a partnership to support early-stage research that could lead to new therapies. This stage of research, between academic discovery and human clinical trials, is often referred to as the “valley of death” because of the lack of access to funding for these high-risk programs, which often fail for technical reasons. Deerfield has committed $65 million to fund this research through an LLC called Poseidon Innovation, and may make additional capital investments through spin-off companies that emerge from the partnership. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Deerfield will also contribute drug development capabilities to streamline the projects.

UC San Diego to Receive National Award for Career Development in Glycosciences

UCSD is one of four academic centers in the nation that will receive approximately $5 million over the next five years as part of a new national Career Development Consortium for Excellence in Glycosciences. Glycoscience is the study of carbohydrates, such as sugars, and their roles in human development, health, and disease. For example, approximately half of all proteins made in a cell are modified with sugars, which are important to the proteins’ functions. UCSD professor Dr. Ajit Varki said, “Since the molecular biology revolution of the 1980s and 1990s, most biomedical research has focused on DNA, RNA, and proteins. Meanwhile, glycans have become the ‘dark matter’ of the biological universe—pervasive and critical, yet largely ignored by most researchers.”

BioFluidica’s MicroFluidic Chip Is Designed for Early Cancer Detection

With the goal of reducing the most expensive and difficult cancer biopsies, BioFluidica is developing a microfluidics chip that can isolate and detect circulating tumor cells in the blood. Their chip is also inexpensive to produce and could allow for more frequent testing. This is especially important for patients with lung cancer and leukemias, who undergo lung and bone marrow biopsies, where a simple blood draw could be significantly less painful. Currently BioFluidica is conducting a 100-patient study in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Read + Listen

POW! Podcast of the Week

Tacos and Tech talks with San Diego’s chief data officer, Maksim Pecherskiy. In the podcast, Pecherskiy discusses his team’s involvement in the SmartCities initiative throughout San Diego.

Events

It’s Happening Here

September 13
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati will hold a two-hour seminar on IP for Entrepreneurs: Basics of Patent Law on September 13 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Biocom.

September 14
Life Science Career Exploration for Veterans will take place September 14 at The Alexandria at Torrey Pines.

October 2–4
San Diego’s sixth annual MFG day encompasses a number of events taking place across San Diego October 2–4.