Daily Business Report: Friday, Dec. 24, 2021
This year taught us 101 Ash is a Dumpster Fire
Voice of San Diego
It’s now been five years since the city acquired 101 Ash St., a downtown high rise that has spawned multiple scandals and cost the city more than $60 million despite sitting empty for much of that time.
And yet the situation took an even more dramatic turn in 2021. In our latest year-end review, Lisa Halverstadt breaks down both the backstory on the acquisition and the bombshell that ultimately set off a criminal investigation and city efforts to void its 101 Ash lease altogether: the city’s landlord at 101 Ash St. and Civic Center Plaza paid the city’s purportedly volunteer real estate real estate adviser $9.4 million for his work on the two deals.
Now, Halverstadt explains, criminal investigators are digging in and attorneys for the city are arguing in legal filings that the payments to Hughes’ company amount to conflicts of interest that infected both deals. The city is now making a big bet that this year’s revelations will help it recoup tens of millions of dollars in rent payments on both buildings.
Yet representatives for Hughes and city landlord Cisterra Development argue their clients will ultimately be cleared — and that the city’s legal strategy faces major pitfalls.
TOP PHOTO: 101 Ash St. (Photo by Adriana Heldiz, Voice of San Diego)
Read Lisa Halverstadt’s story…
BAE Systems receives $493 million contract
to upgrade EW system for the F-35 Lightning II
BAE Systems has received a $493 million contract modification from Lockheed Martin to significantly upgrade and modernize the electronic warfare (EW) system for the F-35 Lightning II, enabling the fifth-generation fighter to quickly detect and address evolving electromagnetic threats in contested battlespaces.
Under the contract, BAE Systems will deliver enhanced and highly capable core hardware for the F-35’s high-performance EW mission system, known as AN/ASQ-239, and will provide engineering support services and test infrastructure.
The upgraded system will improve superior situational awareness and electromagnetic attack and countermeasure capabilities with new sensors and more powerful signal processing.
Northrop Grumman completes
successful missile flight test
Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully completed the second flight test of its new anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) missile, demonstrating capabilities that will meet key objectives for the upcoming Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) program. The test was completed utilizing a company-owned CRJ-700 aircraft as the testbed for the air to surface mission computer and sensors.
This second flight test demonstrated the mission capability of the missile sensor systems combined with the mission computer. This is the first of a new series of company funded flight tests which will continue to test the system with more stressing scenarios in preparation for the missile launch in 2022.
Top row from left: Leena Bharath, Shefali Krishna, Gargi Mahapatra Bottom row from left: Chiara Nicoletti, Anastasia Shindyapina, Xu Zhang
San Diego Nathan Shock Center
announces pilot grant awardees
The San Diego Nathan Shock Center (SD-NSC) of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, a consortium between Sanford Burnham Prebys, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of California San Diego, has announced its second-year class of pilot grant awardees. Recipients from six different institutions will receive up to $15,000 to pursue research that advances our understanding of how humans age, with the ultimate goal of extending health span, the number of years of healthy, disease-free life.
The six pilot grant awardees are:
• Leena Bharath, assistant professor at Merrimack College, “Human T cell inflammation in aging”
• Shefali Krishna, staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, “Characterization and function of mitochondrial age mosaicism and heterogeneity”
• Gargi Mahapatra, postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest School of Medicine, “Identifying mediators of bioenergetic decline in peripheral cells of older adults across a spectrum of cognitive abilities”
• Chiara Nicoletti, postdoctoral fellow at Sanford Burnham Prebys, “Extracellular vesicles as soluble mediators of accelerated aging within the heterogeneous population of muscle-resident cells in Duchenne muscular dystrophy”
• Anastasia Shindyapina, instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, “Unraveling heterogeneous biological aging of mouse immune cells at single-cell resolution”
• Xu Zhang, research associate at the Mayo Clinic, “The dynamics and heterogeneity of cell fates during cellular senescence.”
Brandon Gamble appointed director
of SDSU’s Black Resource Center
Brandon Gamble, a scholar, educational psychologist and alumnus of San Diego State University, has been appointed to serve as director of SDSU’s Black Resource Center (BLC). In his role, Gamble will advance efforts to improve the retention, graduation, and success of Black and African American students.
Gamble joined SDSU earlier this year to serve as the Charles Bell Scholar at the BRC. In his scholar role, Gamble has sustained data-based leadership initiatives to support services for student success Black students in the Henrietta Goodwin Scholars program.
As a faculty scholar, Gamble has developed course curriculum focusing on student success.
As director, Gamble will situate the Black Resource Center as a space where students of the African diaspora can engage in meaningful relationships with Black faculty and staff through high impact practices such as faculty research opportunities, study abroad, internships, and mentoring programs.
UC San Diego sends blood stem cells to space
By Jade Griffin | UC San Diego
Researchers at the University of California San Diego launched blood stem cells into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to study stress-induced aging and how stem cells and their progeny transform into pre-cancer and cancer stem cells associated with leukemia and other blood cancers.
The project is made possible by dedicated funding from NASA together with Space Tango and a commitment from the JM Foundation to support the Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research (ISSCOR) program at the Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center and the Division of Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Kaveh Abhari named Zahn Professor of Creativity
Kaveh Abhari, a management information systems professor at San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business, has been named Zahn Professor of Creativity and Innovation starting in the spring 2022 semester.
Abhari is the founder of SDSU’s Digital Innovation Lab, and works to expand digital technologies to underserved communities.
He established the DiLab with the objective of creating innovations that enhance people’s lives through the design, adoption, and dissemination of digital technologies while developing “compassionate digital transformation leaders.”
As the incoming Zahn Professor, Abhari plans to propose a new digital entrepreneurship minor.
He intends to engage SDSU undergraduate students in at least 20 community projects that focus on providing technological solutions to local start-up businesses and organizations within underserved communities on a pro bono basis. Possible solutions could include assistance with application design, systems analysis or online business development.
Quidel Corp. agrees to acquire Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
San Diego-based Quidel Corporation has signed an agreement to acquire Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc, one of the world’s largest in vitro diagnostics companies, for $24.68 per share of common stock using a combination of cash and newly issued shares in the combined company, representing a 25 percent premium over Ortho’s closing price on Dec. 22, 2021 and an equity value of approximately $6 billion. The transaction is expected to close during the first half of fiscal year 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
“The combination with Ortho will help solidify Quidel as a leader in the diagnostics industry, bringing together innovative, complementary products, solutions, and services that enhance the health and well-being of patients across the globe,” said Douglas Bryant, president and chief executive officer of Quidel, who will serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the combined company.
Axos Ban named one of the best
online banks for fourth consecutive year
Axos Bank has been named among America’s Best Online Banks for the fourth year in a row, according to the independent financial comparison site MyBankTracker.com.
The site named Axos Bank’s Rewards Checking account one of the best checking accounts of 20/22.
Axos Bank’s Rewards Checking account one of the Best Checking Accounts of 2022 – also the fourth year in a row in which the product made the list. Finally, MyBankTracker named Axos Bank’s High Yield Savings account one of America’s Best Savings Accounts.
Tryp Therapeutics announces advancement
of Phase 2a clinical trial in binge eating disorder
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tryp Therapeutics’ request to proceed with a Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the use of synthetic psilocybin for binge eating disorder.
Tryp previously announced on Oct. 20, 2021 a clinical hold placed on the study by the FDA. The company provided an update on the matter on Nov. 18, 2021 and submitted an amendment to the FDA for the Investigational New Drug (IND) application on Dec. 9, 2021. Through a notice received this week, the FDA removed the clinical hold and advised Tryp that it can continue with the study.
Commenting on the development, Chairman and CEO Greg McKee said, “We are excited to move forward with our Phase 2a clinical trial in binge eating disorder through our partnership with the University of Florida. Our dialogue with the FDA has been productive and has meaningfully improved the design of this study. This represents the second clinical study in 2021 that we have received authorization from the FDA to initiate.”
City of Oceanside and Oceanside Chamber
manage small business grants program
The City of Oceanside is partnering with the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and MainStreet Oceanside to manage a grant program that will award grants ranging from $1,000 to $50.000 to small businesses impacted by COVID-19.
Grant amounts will be determined based on an objective system that measures the financial impact of COVID-19 on the business.
To qualify for grant funds, an applicant must be an Oceanside-based, tax-exempt, charitable organization in good standing, as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The application period is now open and will close on January 31, 2022. Grant awards are anticipated to be distributed in February 2022.
