News Releases
IBBR Fellow Bruce Yu Named as Inaugural MPower ProfessorNovember 16, 2021 - Dr. Bruce Yu, IBBR Fellow, Professor, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Director, Bio- & Nano- Technology Center has been selected as an Inaugural MPower Professor. This award from MPowering the State was given to eight faculty members from the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore to exemplify their commitment to fostering collaborations between institutions. Dr. Yu and his coworkers are developing analytical technologies for vaccine production, quality... Read More |
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Njar Honored with David J. Ramsay Entrepreneur of the Year AwardDr. Vincent Njar October 26, 2021 - Dr. Vincent Njar, IBBR Fellow and Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, was awarded the 2021 University of Maryland, Baltimore Founders Week David J. Ramsay Entrepreneur of the Year for his significant discoveries in the development of novel therapeutics for breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers. His contributions include the design, discovery, and clinical translation of the CYP17 inhibitor galeterone for the treatment of cancer. Because of its clinical efficacy, galeterone and subsequent variants continue to be developed as novel... Read More |
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Darwin Diaz Receives NIST Material Measurement Laboratory Accolade for Organizational ExcellenceDarwin Diaz October 4, 2021 - IBBR Staff Researcher Darwin Diaz was honored last month at the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory’s 2021 Accolades Gala for Organizational Excellence. Darwin provides exceptional service and invaluable support to the joint NIST-Maryland research program at IBBR through outstanding management of the W.M. Keck/NIST X-ray Crystallography Core Facility, ranging from instrument installations and maintenance, to design and fabrication of custom pieces of research equipment. "We are very fortunate to have Darwin on our team. He is all in for... Read More |
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IBBR Researchers Awarded $2.1M from the NIH to Develop Novel Designer Proteases - “SMART Molecules” That Attack the Drivers of Cancer and Other DiseasesFigure 1. Target sequence (QEEYSAM) in RAS and in the active site of a RAS-specific protease. a Structure of RAS with a bound GTP analog (PDB code 6Q21)5,6, highlighting the YSAM site in Switch 2. b RAS-specific protease based on an X-ray structure of 3BGO.pdb. Cognate sequence QEEYSAM-RD is modeled in the binding cleft. Substrate residues are denoted P1 through P5, numbering from the scissile bond toward the N-terminus of the substrate. The substrate amino acid on the leaving group side is denoted P1’. ... Read More |
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IBBR and REFI Announce New Travel Fellowship for 2021September 27, 2021 - Applications are now open for a travel fellowship to support the success of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research and the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices. |
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Isoprene Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Co-Founded by IBBR Researcher, Receives $2M from NCI to Develop Oral Therapeutics for Triple Negative Breast CancerSeptember 23, 2021 – Dr. Vincent Njar, IBBR Fellow and Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, co-founded Isoprene Pharmaceuticals, Inc. an early stage small molecule oncology company. National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) has recently awarded Isoprene with a two-year $2M Small Business Innovation Research Direct-to-Phase II grant which will support ongoing advanced pre-clinical studies in their development of oral therapeutics for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC accounts for approximately 10-15% of all breast cancers and... Read More |
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Congratulations to Tiffany Wong for a Successful Dissertation DefenseTiffany Wong and Ed Eisenstein August 24, 2021 – Please join us in congratulating Tiffany Wong for successfully defending her dissertation, “Investigation Into the Role of UVR8 in Balancing Growth and Acclimation to UV-B Radiation in Natural and Transgenic Populus Variants,” on July 30, 2021. Wong has completed her course of study in the University of Maryland’s Plant Science and Landscape Architecture Program and fulfilled all of the requirements for the doctoral degree. Her dissertation advisors were IBBR Fellow Edward Eisenstein (Associate Professor, Fischell Department of... Read More |
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Schiel Honored with Flemming AwardDr. John Schiel April 19, 2021 - Dr. John E. Schiel, NIST Research Chemist and IBBR Fellow, was awarded an Arthur S. Flemming on April 15, 2021 for his leading role in the development of a protein therapeutic measurements and standards program that works closely with the biopharmaceutical industry, regulators, and instrumentation companies. Specifically, John led a team of NIST scientists in developing a world-first monoclonal antibody reference material, ... Read More |
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IBBR Fellow Vincent Njar Receives Inaugural Distinguished University Professor DesignationDr. Vincent Njar March 30, 2021 – Vincent Njar, PhD has been recognized with the designation of Distinguished University Professor by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Dr. Njar is Head of Medicinal Chemistry Section, Center for Biomolecular Therapeutics, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) Fellow, and Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. This designation represents the highest appointment bestowed on a faculty member at UMB, recognizing excellence as well as impact and significant contribution to the nominee’s... Read More |
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European Patent for Method to Detect Protein Aggregation in a Biopharmaceutical Product Granted to IBBR Investigator Bruce Yu and CoworkersDr. Katharine Briggs (left), Dr. Bruce Yu (center) and Dr. Marc Taraban (right) in September 2019, shortly after they relocated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus to IBBR/USG. Photo Credit: Katharine Briggs February 26th 2021 – A European patent has been granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) for an invention assessing biopharmaceutical aggregation using magnetic resonance relaxometry to IBBR Fellow Bruce Yu, PhD, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy and Director of the School’s Bio- & Nano-Technology Center... Read More |
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