Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022
‘Pop-up’ electronic sensors could detect
when individual heart cells misbehave
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a powerful new tool that monitors the electrical activity inside heart cells, using tiny “pop-up” sensors that poke into cells without damaging them.
The device directly measures the movement and speed of electrical signals traveling within a single heart cell—a first—as well as between multiple heart cells. It is also the first to measure these signals inside the cells of 3D tissues.
The device, published Dec. 23 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, could enable scientists to gain more detailed insights into heart disorders and diseases such as arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm), heart attack and cardiac fibrosis (stiffening or thickening of heart tissue).
“With this device, we can zoom in to the cellular level and get a very high resolution picture of what’s going on in the heart; we can see which cells are malfunctioning, which parts are not synchronized with the others, and pinpoint where the signal is weak,” said senior author Sheng Xu, a professor of nanoengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “This information could be used to help inform clinicians and enable them to make better diagnoses.”
TOP IMAGE: Device with a scaled-up field effect transistors (FET) sensor array for measuring electrical signals in a 3D cardiac tissue construct. (Credit: Yue Gu)
Snowpack bounces back — for now
CalMatters
More rain and snow is expected to hit the Sierra Nevada and Northern California early this week, the latest in a series of winter storms that’s resulted in the state’s snowpack holding 160 percernt of the water it normally does at this time of year.
But that promising figure, which state water officials announced Thursday, doesn’t mean California is done with its punishing drought.
“We dug a really deep hole with this drought, and we have a really long way to go to get out of it,” State Climatologist Mike Anderson told the San Francisco Chronicle. Case in point: The vast majority of Central California is still in “extreme drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Lawsuits challenging military vaccine
requirement face uphill climb in court
Troops from all military branches, who under normal circumstances receive more than a dozen vaccines and boosters throughout their time in the military, have been warned for months that if they don’t take the coronavirus vaccine or secure a waiver, they would be separated from the service.
With each branch past their deadlines for vaccination, hundreds have been booted from the services, with thousands more facing the same fate over their refusal to get the jab. Thousands of soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors requested medical, administrative and religious accommodations. While some of the medical and administrative waivers were approved, the Pentagon hasn’t approved any religious waivers.
At least four federal lawsuits are challenging the coronavirus vaccine mandate, but they face a steep legal hurdle, experts say.
Opinion:
Navy project would demolish
Consolidated Aircraft Historical District
Save Our Heritage Organisation
The Navy’s Old Town Campus Revitalization project at NAVWAR has the distinction of being the only newly added site to SOHO’s 2021 Most Endangered List. This ill-advised, gargantuan project proposes to build a dense wall of high-rise buildings at 4301 Pacific Highway (known as OTC Site One) and the complete demolition of the Consolidated Aircraft Plant 2 Historic District.
Previously known as Convair, this plant was once a massive manufacturing aircraft production complex that employed thousands of San Diegans during World War II and the Cold War. It is eligible for the National Register of Historical Places under three criteria.
Today, the district encompasses seven contributing historical resources, all at OTC Site One: administration buildings, warehouse facilities, a paint shop, and the pedestrian bridge (see map). The loss of these important resources would be devastating to the understanding and representation of San Diego’s national role in the war and the aerospace industry.
San Diego County Credit Union offers
free educational webinars on financial health
Saying it is committed to helping improve the financial health of the community, San Diego County Credit Union is presenting free weekly educational webinars on a variety of topics aimed at improving financial health, including Scams and How to Protect Your Finances, The Keys to Homeownership, Millennial’s Guide to Saving, 6 Steps to Create a Personal Budget and more.
“We are excited to provide this essential financial education for our members and the community,” said Teresa Campbell, SDCCU president and CEO. “Regardless of your income or current financial situation, our presentations have tips for everyone to help improve overall financial health.”
These complimentary presentations are open to the public, but space is limited and reservations are required. To register or for details, visit sdccu.com/fww. The presentations are part of Financial Wellness Wednesdays, an ongoing program hosted by SDCCU to help provide the community access to free financial wellness information. For more financial wellness tips and resources visit sdccu.com/blog.
Liz Bui joins YULEX LLC as chief business officer
YULEX LLC, a materials science company in San Diego, announced that Liz Bui has joined the company as chief business officer.
Bui joins from ViaCyte Inc., a regenerative medicine company, where she was vice president, IP counsel and later diversity and inclusion officer for 15 years.
Prior to Viacyte, Bui was an associate at the global law firm of DLA Piper.
She brings 20 years of business experience in the area of biotechnology and associated intellectual property development and corporate transactions including technology licensing.
Bui received her Ph.D. from UCLA and her J.D. from Pepperdine Law School.
She is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law and the University of Dayton School of Law.
Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group
departs SanDiego on scheduled deployment
The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) departed San Diego on a regularly scheduled deployment Monday in support of global maritime security operations.
The Abraham Lincoln CSG consists of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Carrier Air Wing 9, the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, and the guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 21 – USS Fitzgerald, USS Gridley, USS Sampson and USS Spruance.
The units of the Abraham Lincoln CSG began their pre-deployment training cycle back in April and recently completed a month-long integrated exercise where Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet certified the strike group for deployment.
Applications now open for Better Education
for Women in Science and Engineering program
The Fleet Science Center is now accepting applications for the Better Education for Women in Science and Engineering (BE WiSE) program through Feb. 7, 2022. BE WiSE is a free program that engages girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning experiences in collaboration with the region’s research, industry and academic institutions.
BE WiSE sparks interest in STEM through interactions with female professionals and leaders, increases the participants’ opportunities in and knowledge of STEM fields of study, and develops a community of girls engaged in science learning throughout middle and high school.
The goal of the BE WiSE program is to engage girls in free STEM learning experiences through real STEM-related work, situations and hands-on learning. Once accepted into the program, girls will interact with successful women currently working in STEM-related careers while attending workshops held virtually at STEM companies, local universities and research facilities.
For more information, visit www.fleetscience.org/bewise.
Oceanside’s DM Color Express acquired
by Devil Mountain Wholesale Nursery
Devil Mountain Wholesale Nursery LLC in San Ramon has acquired the assets of DM Color Express Inc. based in Oceanside. Customers of both Devil Mountain and DM Color will now have access to an increased selection of plant material and on demand deliveries throughout an expanded service area.
With this acquisition, Devil Mountain’s operations will encompass 16 locations throughout California consisting of 14 landscape sales yards and more than 1,400 acres of landscape plant and tree production.
Foundedin 1995, Devil Mountain is a provider of a full range of plants to landscape contractors, landscape designers, and architects. The acquisition of DM Color will support Devil Mountain’s growth plans and will accelerate its entry into new markets, particularly Orange and San Diego Counties.
The state of Jalisco joins Mexican
avocado imports into the U.S.
The Mexican avocado industry reported that a new agreement with the United States will allow avocado imports from the Mexican state of Jalisco starting in June 2022. Until now, all avocado imports from Mexico came only from the Michoacán region.
Avocados From Mexico (AFM) is the number one marketer of avocados in the United States, and billions of avocados are exported from Mexico to the United States every year, with demand continuing to increase.
Together, AFM and its two founding avocado organizations: MHAIA (Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association), which represents hundreds of importers and distributors in the United States and APEAM A.C. (Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico), which already represents more than 30,000 small avocado growers and 74 packers, will now further expand the market opportunity for avocados from Mexico into the U.S.
Lawmatics raises $10 million in Series A
Lawmatics, a leading all-in-one legal CRM, client intake, and marketing automation platform for attorneys, announced the close of a $10 million Series A financing round. The funding news follows the company’s announcement of last year that it had raised a $2.5 million Seed round.
“We have been incredibly impressed by Lawmatics’ deep knowledge in the space, vision for the future, and vibrant team culture. In partnering with Lawmatics, the Ankona team is focused on lending our expertise to help Lawmatics scale their platform capabilities and accelerate growth,” said Brian Mesic, managing director at Ankona Capital.
LionRocket secures $5.5 million in Series A funding
In its latest Series A Funding, LionRocket successfully raised $5.5 million in additional funding. The round was led by ID Ventures, Daesung Private Equity, Harang Invest, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, and an existing investor, T Investment.
LionRocket specializes in deep-learning-based voice and video synthesis to create digital humans, also known as “virtual humans” or “artificial humans.”
Currently, the company operates a B2C service called OnAir Studio (onairstudio.ai) to help content creators experience LionRocket’s digital human platform. By simply typing in text, creators can generate video, spoken by a realistic digital human.
LionRocket aims to reinvent the video content market by integrating digital humans into the content creation process allowing content creators to automate any time-consuming manual process.
I Squared Capital Acquires KIO Networks
The infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital is expanding its portfolio by acquiring the San Diego data center company KIO Networks. KIO Networks has data centers in Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Spain, according to I Squared Capital last month. KIO’s network will “anchor the development” of I Squared Capital’s digital infrastructure strategy in Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
I Squared Capital believes the data center company’s assets, customer depth and diversification, and experienced management team position it to capture “the rapid growth in demand for data storage.” KIO Networks has an “established track record” of developing, constructing and operating data centers, said Adil Rahmathulla, managing partner, I Squared Capital. I Squared Capital has deployed over $3 billion across six digital infrastructure investments, with assets in 41 countries on four continents, according to Rahmathulla.
