Daily Business Report: Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022
Illumina collaborates with Nashville Biosciences
to accelerate medicines development
Illumina Inc. and Nashville Biosciences LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, announced a multi-year agreement to accelerate medicines development through large-scale genomics and the establishment of a preeminent clinico-genomic resource.
Using Illumina’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms, scientists and researchers will be able to better identify disease associations and targets for intervention by analyzing data derived from Vanderbilt’s extensive, high-quality biobank of approximately 250,000 de-identified human DNA samples and associated longitudinal, structured medical data.
Drug discovery is a difficult, expensive, and often time-consuming endeavor, with 90 percent of therapies failing in development. Medicines available today work on just a few hundred targets in the body while around 3,000 genes encode proteins that may be receptive to drug intervention. Genomics-based methods can find targets that are more likely to modify disease in a beneficial way, having the potential to greatly improve the speed of therapy development.
TOP PHOTO: Courtesy of Illumina
County breaks ground on affordable
housing complex in Escondido
The County on Monday broke ground on a new 50-unit apartment complex for low-income seniors and older people who are homeless and have a serious mental illness.
The Valley Senior Village in downtown Escondido will be an affordable community for adults 62 and older. The complex is being built by the county in partnership with National CORE and San Diego Community Housing Corporation.
Valley Senior Village will offer residents an array of medical and mental health programs and services, including case management, designed to promote stability and independence. The services will be provided by the Hope through Housing Foundation, San Ysidro Health, and Interfaith Community Services through a contract with County Behavioral Health Services.
The $24 million complex includes about $10 million from the county’s Innovative Housing Trust Fund and No Place Like Home capital and operating funding, ensuring the development remains affordable in the community of Escondido for 99 years.
Grand opening set for Apollo
affordable housing project in Poway
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, and State Sen. Brian Jones will join Chelsea Investment Corporation for Thursday’s grand opening of Apollo, a 44-unit affordable housing community in Poway designed for seniors. It is expected that Apollo will be 100 percent occupied by the end of the month, with one-bedroom rents ranging from $1,101 to $1,329, and two-bedroom rents ranging from $1,240 to $1,592.
Apollo, located at 13098 Poway Road, on the northwest corner of Poway Road and Tarascan Avenue, is a three-story, elevator-served community, with 44 on-site parking spaces. Fifteen of these units have a veterans’ preference, providing housing for an increase in veterans throughout the County of San Diego.
The County of San Diego, through its Innovative Housing Trust Fund, provided $450,000 to the project. Because of the additional funds, units that would have been restricted between 50 percent and 60 percent AMI, can now be targeted at 40 percent AMI households, making them more affordable to the tenants.
Chelsea’s non-profit partner is Pacific Southwest Community Development Corporation.
Construction was performed by Emmerson Construction, and the architect was McKinley Associates.
Greater San Diego Association of Realtors
expands foreign partnerships
The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors is forming new partnerships with foreign real estate associations, seizing on growing opportunities for its members to expand their businesses in international markets.
During the national Realtors convention held in San Diego, SDAR hosted 66 delegates from 24 countries for a tour of local properties and networking event, providing the setting to negotiate reciprocity agreements with real estate associations in foreign countries. These agreements will help link SDAR members to clients around the globe by building collaborations with international real estate professionals and providing a stronger connection to international buyers.
According to the National Association of Realtors, from April 2020 to March 2021 foreign buyers purchased over $54 billion in U.S. residential properties, with California as the second largest destination among international buyers.
Governor projects $46 billion surplus
despite record California budget
By Times of San Diego
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday unveiled a proposed $286 billion state budget for 2022-23 that provides major new spending to combat COVID, homelessness and drought while still leaving a multi-billion-dollar surplus.
Boosted by federal pandemic aid and capital gains taxes paid by wealthy Californians as the stock market soared, the budget represents a 9.1 percent increase over the previous year.
“With a surplus of over $45.7 billion, California is a model for the nation on how we can confront our greatest existential threats and make historic investments in our future,” Newsom said.
He said his budget “fully funds our state’s rainy-day fund and pays down future obligations” while “fighting the climate crisis, taking on persistent inequality and homelessness, keeping our streets safe and more.”
Patricia Fermán elected president
of local landscape architects group
Landscape architect Patricia Fermán has been elected president of the San Diego chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (SDASLA) for 2022. In 2021 Fermán served as president-elect and will serve as past-president in 2023.
Fermán is the principal landscape architect with the City of Chula Vista’s Development Services Department and manager of the Landscape Architecture Division.
Her specialty is designing and implementing functional and attractive public outdoor spaces, such as streetscapes, parks, and open spaces, using complete-streets principles, water-conservation measures, and City codes and regulations in a collaborative design process with stakeholders.
Originally from El Salvador, Fermán is a 1998 graduate of UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture. She is known for being highly creative and motivated.
The mission of ASLA is to lead, to educate and to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environments.
Ryan Baker promoted to vice president
at Douglas Wilson Companies
Douglas Wilson Companies announced that Ryan C. Baker has been promoted to vice president of the firm, where he will continue to lead the Fiduciary Practice.
DWC is a real estate development, receivership and advisory firm that has completed more than 1,200 projects in 35 states valued in excess of $15 billion.
Baker, who joined DWC in 2019, has been appointed on or served as lead agent on more than 150 receivership assignments originating from banks, private equity, debt funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice.
Many projects combine the firm’s expertise as a receiver and DWC’s nationally recognized institutional real estate advisory and development platform.
Previously, Baker served as a receiver for 10 years with Mosier & Company Inc. of Costa Mesa, a court-appointed fiduciary and crisis management firm.
3Q Digital acquires San Diego’s Inseev Interactive
3Q Digital, the disruptive growth marketing agency whose goal is to transform brands into market leaders, announced the acquisition of Inseev Interactive, a leading SEO agency based in San Diego.
Accordingo th 3Q Digital, The combination of Inseev’s deep technical understanding with 3Q Digital’s growth-minded approach to content and creator marketing will power the next evolution in SEO. The acquisition will also add enhanced scalability and content creation expertise to 3Q Digital’s existing SEO offerings, the company said.
The acquisition also adds a significant number of brands to 3Q Digital’s client roster, including Touch of Modern, Rothy’s and Layla Sleep. Inseev Founder and CEO Jimmy Page will be joining 3Q Digital in a founder capacity. Additionally, Inseev’s Vice President of SEO Wesley Flippo joins the 3Q Digital Senior Leadership Team as SVP, SEO.
Superindent search suspended for
San Diego Unified School District
Citing rising COVID-19 infections rates in the county, San Diego Unified School District board leaders announced Friday that during the month of January, they would pause all activities related to the search for the district’s next superintendent.
Public forums planned for the coming week have been postponed. The State of the District Address, which was scheduled for Jan. 18, will also be postponed.
Christopher Rice-Wilson, chair of the district’s Superintendent Search Advisory Committee, said he supported the board of trustees in the decision to postpone events.
Lamont Jackson will continue to serve as interim superintendent until a permanent replacement is found. Jackson is one of two finalists for the position, along with Susan Enfield, superintendent of Highline Public Schools in Burien, Washington.
North Island Credit Union offering
scholarships to San Diego students
North Island Credit Union is encouraging college-bound students in San Diego County to apply for its 2022 Student Scholarship Program. Through the program, the credit union provides $20,000 in scholarships annually to recognize Southern California students who are motivated in their academic studies and active in their schools and communities.
San Diego County college-bound high school seniors and community college students transferring to a four-year university who maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0 are eligible to participate. Selection criteria include academic performance, school or community involvement, a letter of recommendation, and an essay submission.
Interested students can find more information and apply online at northisland.ccu.com/studentscholarship.
Online applications will be accepted through April 8, 2022. Recipients will be announced on May 2, 2022.
Sony Electronics’ Xperia 5 III now shipping
Sony Electronics Inc. announced Xperia 5 III is now shipping in the United States. Originally announced last year, the new smartphone will be available for sale as an unlocked model from Sony authorized retailers at a suggested retail price of $999.99.
Orders placed by February 27, 2022 will receive the WF-1000XM3 wireless noise cancelling earbuds (up to a $199.99 value) and 43,200 Call of Duty: Mobile CP Points with purchase (over a $500 value)i with the Xperia 5 III. Xperia 5 III will be available in Frosted Black and Green and will ship with Android 11. Xperia 5 III in Green will be available exclusively on www.electronics.sony.com.
National Pancreas Foundation partners
with Seqster to launch new patient registry
Seqster PDM Inc., a San Diego-based health care technology company, has announced its multi-year partnership with The National Pancreas Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to create the country’s largest, most inclusive pancreatic disease patient registry. The innovative new registry powered by Seqster connects to any EHR, genomic DNA test, and wearable/remote monitoring device, providing patients with a complete longitudinal health record in real-time.
The registry will put real-world patient data in the hands of cutting-edge researchers who are working tirelessly to improve care and develop new and improved therapies for individuals suffering from pancreatic disease.
Chronic pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas that does not heal or improve — it gets worse over time and leads to permanent damage.
