Daily Business Report-July 17, 2018
Young Jong Lee, a researcher with the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, uses SDSU’s new chemical imaging microscope. (Photo credit: San Diego State University)
New microscope at SDSU allows
for groundbreaking research
By Kellie Woodhouse | SDSU NewsCenter
As a San Diego State University student in 1981, Tim Daycould not have imagined that 37 years later he would be at the helm of a company that would make a truly transformative gift to the university’s science enterprise.
Day is the son of SDSU President Emeritus Thomas Day and co-founder of DRS Daylight Solutions, a company that recently donated a $475,000 newly developed chemical imaging microscope called the SperoQT to SDSU’s College of Sciences.
The instrument uses lasers to identify the chemical composition of a specimen, in addition to the visual markers of traditional microscopy.
Materials interact with light differently; for example, DNA and proteins each absorb light at a unique wavelength on the infrared spectrum. The microscope uses tunable infrared lasers to analyze these interactions and identify the chemical components of a sample, and build the components into a highly detailed image.
It’s this way of unpacking the chemical makeup of a sample that sets the Spero apart from other microscopes. There are fewer than two dozen Spero microscopes in labs around the world, and the instrument’s novel approach to analyzing materials allows for groundbreaking experiments.
Ingrid Niesman, director of SDSU’s Electron Microscope Imaging Facility (EMIF), says faculty are already lining up to use this new technology, including a researcher who works on heart fibrosis and a scientist who examines how the flu affects lung tissue.
Niesman researches amyloid plaques, a type of protein deposit, in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Using Spero’s chemical imaging, she is now able to see where plaques form in the brain before the deposits are visible microscopically.
“We don’t know where amyloids start to form. Is it intracellularly? Is it extracellularly? This instrument will allow us to see this at a real, defined, chemical level that nobody else has been able to see yet. It’s going to be very powerful.”
Already, German scientists using the tool have discovered that there are three subcategories of kidney cancer, something not previously known before the researchers began using the Spero.
No other local universities have a similar instrument, and Niesman has invited researchers from other Southern California universities, such as the University of California, San Diego, to use the Spero to support their research.
“It truly is an interdisciplinary instrument. It’s a cutting-edge instrument,” Tim Day said. “It has physics involved, it’s got engineering, it’s got optics, biology, material science.”
In that way, Day said, it’s the perfect technology to be housed in the EMIF next to the new Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences Complex, which opened in January and is part of a broader university effort to increase collaboration in STEM fields. The Thomas B. Day Quad, a courtyard in the center of the building, was dedicated in honor of Thomas Day, a theoretical physicist, and made possible by donations from the Day family.
Donating one of the company’s trademark technologies to SDSU made perfect sense to the leaders of DRS Daylight Solutions, an infrared technology company that has deep connections to SDSU. Its three founders all received degrees from SDSU and more than a dozen of its San Diego office employees are SDSU alumni.
Stanley Maloy, SDSU associate vice president of research and innovation, said: “This is a wonderful example of how SDSU alumni giving back to the university will have a profound impact on our educational and research opportunities for many years to come, providing unique opportunities for our students and faculty.”
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San Diego Council votes to limit
Airbnb rentals to primary residences only
San Diego Union-Tribune
In a move that will dramatically alter San Diego’s home sharing landscape, the City Council Monday voted to outlaw vacation rentals in secondary homes, limiting short-term stays to one’s primary residence only.
The effect of the action will be to curtail investor activity in the short-term rental market while also barring residents and out-of-towners from hosting short-term stays in multiple properties other than where they reside.
The council vote was 6 to 3, with council members Scott Sherman, David Alvarez and Chris Cate dissenting.
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Del Mar Highlands Town Center
midway through $120 million expansion
Del Mar Highlands Town Center, a premier retail destination in coastal North County, has passed the half way point in its $120 million investment in new shops, dining experiences and community gathering spaces. Owned and operated by Donahue Schriber, a privately-held Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with a portfolio of shopping centers from San Diego to Seattle, the center’s enhancements will bring the total retail space to nearly 400,000 square feet.
The expansion, known as The Collection at Del Mar Highlands Town Center will encompass 120,000 square feet of additional prime retail space including a new selection of 40 contemporary shops, restaurants, boutique fitness studios, and new spaces to work, play, and lounge. Set for opening in late spring 2019, Jimbo’s…Naturally! will relocate from its current 14,000 footprint to a 25,000 square foot state-of-the-art marketplace on the ground floor of The Collection.
Located directly above Jimbo’s…Naturally! will be The Sky Deck, a restaurant collective inspired by El Nacional in Barcelona, Spain, bringing eight to ten dining destinations including a central cocktail bar and outdoor beer garden. Spaces range in size from 500 to 3,000 square feet.
In addition, as early as this fall, shoppers will enjoy new outdoor spaces including a redesigned lounge and valet welcome area located at the upper plaza near Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, a new “outdoor office” next to Tilly’s, and enhancements to the popular kids’ area near the pop-jet fountain.
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Northrop’s Cygnus leaves space station
to perform CubeSat deployment mission
ExecutiveBiz
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft left the International Space Station on Friday to deploy six CubeSats into orbit. The company said the spacecraft, also known as S.S. J.R. Thompson, will use the NanoRacks deployer to field AeroCube 12A and 12B satellites from Aerospace Corp. and four other CubeSats that will join Spire Global’s constellation of weather satellites to support weather and ship tracking operations worldwide.
Cygnus, which docked for 52 days at the orbiting laboratory, departed with at least 6,600 pounds of disposable cargo and is set to re-enter Earth on July 30.
“This mission once again demonstrates the expanded capabilities for Cygnus and paves the way for future mission objectives,” said Frank Culbertson, president of space systems group at Northrop.
Cynus’ departure came days after the spacecraft tested its reboost capability to raise the space station’s orbit through a 50-second engine firing test.
The spacecraft lifted off in May aboard the Antares rocket as part of the company’s ninth cargo resupply mission to deliver approximately 7,400 pounds of experiments and crew supplies to the ISS.
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The Heritage Group becomes
‘Intersection’ to reflect new identify
The Heritage Group, a San Diego-based commercial real estate management and investment advisory firm, has changed its name to Intersection to align with a new brand identity, company culture, mission and vision. The Heritage Group, started by managing partners Mark Hoekstra and Rocco Cortese in 2007, has grown its leasing and management portfolio to approximately 2.8 million square feet and expanded its offices from San Diego to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The company has also deployed more than $300 million in commercial real estate over its 11-year span.
Intersection will remain headquartered in Downtown San Diego. “Internally, Intersection’s new name and fresh look captures who we have become and where we are going,” said Cortese, managing partner of Intersection. “We needed to connect with current and future team members, and our investors in a way that addressed the significant change that has taken place since we started the company.”
The managing partners and senior staff found that the old brand no longer represented the company culture, employees and the services they provide. They said Intersection represents the company’s unique competitive advantage, which is offering personalized services, informed strategic expertise and a full-service extension to their clients’ real estate platform.
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Supervisor Greg Cox sworn in as president
of the National Association of Counties
County Supervisor Greg Cox was sworn in Monday as president of the National Association of Counties (NACo), an organization that represents 3,069 counties across America. Cox was sworn in at the 2018 NACo Annual Conference and Exposition in Nashville, Tenn.
As president, Cox will lead the association in its efforts to shape national policy discussions on critical issues facing counties.
Founded in 1935, NACo brings officials from America’s counties together to advocate on national policy, exchange ideas, pursue solutions and increase the public’s understanding of county government.
Cox has served in numerous leadership roles with both NACo and the California State Association of Counties, where he also served as president. He has served in local government for more than four decades and his broad experience has led to his appointments to the San Diego Regional Airport Authority and the California Coastal Commission.
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Scripps HealthExpress walk-in clinics
to expand to 12 new locations in county
Scripps Health announced a major expansion of its walk-in, convenient care division, Scripps HealthExpress, with the opening of a new location in Carlsbad. Over the next three months, 11 additional sites will begin providing HealthExpress services across San Diego County.
All HealthExpress locations are open to the public, not just current Scripps patients. The new sites join the original HealthExpress location at The Plaza in the University City area of San Diego, which opened in late 2015.
Each HealthExpress clinic offers a wide variety of medical services for minor illnesses and injuries on a walk-in, same-day basis. Services range from cold and flu care to vaccinations, point-of-care testing, and school, camp and sports physical exams.
Each of the 12 new HealthExpress clinics will be located within an existing Scripps Clinic or Scripps Coastal outpatient site. For example, the newly opened HealthExpress in Carlsbad is located inside Scripps Coastal Medical Center Carlsbad at 2176 Salk Ave.
Over the coming months, additional HealthExpress locations will open at Scripps locations in Solana Beach, Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Valley, Hillcrest, Eastlake, Mission Valley, Torrey Pines, Oceanside, Rancho San Diego, Encinitas and Vista.
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Biocep to market and distribute liquid
biopsy testing in foreign markets
Biocept Inc. a San Diego company that provides liquid biopsy tests designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed with cancer, announced a provider agreement with Alliance Global FZ, LLC. The agreement is to market and distribute Biocept’s Target Selector liquid biopsy tests in the United Arab Emirates and select countries in the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia region. All diagnostic testing services under this agreement will be performed in Biocept’s San Diego-based CLIA-certified laboratory with Alliance Global having responsibility for sales, marketing, distribution, and reimbursement of the company’s liquid biopsy platform. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
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Personnel Announcements
David Horner joins Applied Composites Holding
Applied Composites Holding LLC a provider of complex composite components and assemblies to aerospace, defense, space and specialty automobile markets, announced the selection of David Horner as chief executive officer. Horner joins Applied Composites from Meggitt PLC where he most recently served as president of Meggitt’s Polymers & Composites division.
“We are excited to have David join Applied Composites,” said Bill Boisture, chairman of the board of directors of Applied Composites. “David is a seasoned leader with strong knowledge of our target markets and deep operating expertise. We are confident that he will help Applied Composites realize its full growth potential.”
“Applied Composites is a unique composites platform with an impressive set of capabilities, customers and people,” said Horner. “I am excited for this opportunity and look forward to working closely with the team to expand the Company’s market presence and customer relationships.”
