Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022
Northrop Grumman to unveil the B-21 Raider
“The most advanced military aircraft ever built”
Northrop Grumman Corporation, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force, will unveil the B-21 Raider during the first week of December at the company’s Palmdale, Calif. facility. The B-21 Raider unveiling will be a historic moment, providing an exclusive view of the B-21 aircraft.
“The B-21 is the most advanced military aircraft ever built and is a product of pioneering innovation and technological excellence,” said Doug Young, sector vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. “The Raider showcases the dedication and skills of the thousands of people working every day to deliver this aircraft.”
Since contract award in 2015, Northrop Grumman has assembled a nationwide team to design, test and build the world’s most advanced strike aircraft. The B-21 is a product of Northrop Grumman’s pioneering digital engineering practices and advanced manufacturing techniques together with breakthrough stealth technology.
Six B-21 test aircraft are in various stages of final assembly in Palmdale. Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force confirmed in May that the B-21 first flight is projected for 2023. The actual timing of first flight will be based on ground test outcomes.
Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman
California might levy a new tax on oil companies
By Grace Gedye | CalMatters
Few things agitate drivers — and make politicians sweat — like rising prices at the pump.
Gas prices in California are consistently higher than the rest of the country, thanks to state taxes, a cleaner fuel blend, an isolated gas refining market and more.
But in September, California prices jumped even higher and that gap grew wider.
Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed the finger at the gas industry when he talked to reporters in early October, saying companies were “fleecing” drivers and called for a new “windfall profit” tax on oil companies.
Valero, an international oil company that owns refineries in California, saw its profits from July to September increase 500 percent over the same period last year. And profits on West Coast gas operations increased dramatically in April through June, compared to the same time last year, at companies that own some of the state’s largest refineries, an analysis by Consumer Watchdog found.
7 La Jolla Institute for Immunology
researchers named to 2022 Highly Cited List
By Madeline McCurry-Schmidt
Seven researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have been named to the 2022 Highly Cited List, released by Clarivate. This distinction recognizes scientists whose papers have ranked in the top 1 percent of citations for their field of study between 2010 and 2020.
LJI scientists on the list include Instructor Alba Grifoni, Professor Shane Crotty, Bioinformatics Core Director Jason Greenbaum, Professor Bjoern Peters, Professor Alessandro Sette, Senior Staff Scientist John Sidney and Research Assistant Professor Daniela Weiskopf.
Crotty, Peters, and Sette have been named to the list several years in a row. This is the second year on the list for Sidney and the first time on the list for Greenbaum, Grifoni, and Weiskopf.
“I couldn’t believe I made the list this year,” says Grifoni. “I knew our work on COVID-19 was important, but I’m just an Instructor. Considering my early position, it’s quite an achievement.”
Scripps researcher receives $5.2 million from
NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences
While drug discovery can be costly, time-intensive and challenging, emerging computational tools are dramatically accelerating the process. Scripps Research associate professor Stefano Forli has been awarded a $5.2 million grant from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to develop and distribute these innovative technologies for rapid, efficient drug discovery.
The award, which will provide funding over a five-year period, will help establish a national resource that will make advanced computational docking methods accessible to a wide community of researchers. In addition to Scripps Research, only four other centers of excellence across the country have received one of these highly competitive grants.
Jessica K. Bayne joins Hahn Loeser & Parks
Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP announced the addition of Jessica K. Bayne, who joined the San Diego office as an Of Counsel member of the firm’s Trusts and Estates Practice Area.
Bayne’s practice focuses on the development of sophisticated estate planning and wealth transfer strategies, including inter-generational dynastic planning and charitable gift planning minimizing estate, gift and generation-skipping taxes.
Bayne has extensive experience implementing tax planning strategies with various types of irrevocable trusts and wealth transfer strategies for high net worth individuals, most recently as an estate planning attorney at a firm in Northern California.
Bayne gained invaluable tax planning experience practicing at a tax and accounting firm in Los Altos.
Bayne earned her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, where she was the Chief Articles Editor of the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal.
Kintara Therapeutics granted Fast Track Designation
Kintara Therapeutics Inc., a San Diego biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new solid tumor cancer therapies, announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track Designation (FTD) to Kintara’s REM-001 Therapy for the treatment of patients with cutaneous metastatic breast cancer.
Drata joins AWS ISV Accelerate Program
Drata, a continuous security and compliance automation platform, has joined the Amazon Web Services Independent Software Vendors Accelerate Program, a co-sell program for AWS Partners that provide software solutions that run on or integrate with AWS. The program helps AWS Partners drive new business by directly connecting participating ISVs with the AWS Sales organization.
Planet Based Foods gives update on regional operations
Planet Based Foods Global Inc., parent of Planet Based Foods in San Diego, has expanded its western regional operations in the state of Colorado. This announcement follows a pair of news releases earlier this month where Planet Based Foods confirmed distribution partnerships with KeHE Distributors, United Natural Foods Inc., and DPI Speciality Foods, as well as a partnership with renowned supermarket retailer Kroger.
Teradata participating in Las Vegas convention
Teradata announced it is participating as a Diamond sponsor at AWS re:Invent 2022
hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), taking place Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, 2022, in Las Vegas. As part of the four-day event, Teradata will showcase its innovation in cloud analytics with an in-person booth experience complete with live demos of its new cloud-native product, Teradata VantageCloud Lake, its industry-leading cloud analytics offering, ClearScape Analytics, and its seamless integration with AWS’s machine learning platform, Amazon SageMaker.
Camping World to acquire RV Solutions
Camping World Holdings Inc., America’s Recreation Dealer, announced an agreement to acquire RV Solutions Inc., a family-owned RV dealership group in San Diego. This transaction includes two RV dealership locations, RV Solutions and Airstream of San Diego along with one standalone parts and service center in El Cajon. RV Solutions will soon operate as a Camping World RV SuperCenter.
Escient Pharmaceuticals announces
$120 million Series C financing
Escient Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego clinical-stage company advancing novel small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of a range of neurosensory-inflammatory disorders, announced the closing of a $120 million Series C financing. The financing was co-led by NEA, Abingworth, and Forge Life Science Partners with participation from other new investors Avego, PFM Health Sciences, and The Eleven Fund, and existing investors The Column Group, 5AM Ventures, Redmile Group, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Sanofi Ventures, Osage University Partners, and Altitude Life Science Ventures.
UC San Diego rises five spots to No. 29 in Times
Higher Education World Reputation Rankings
University of California San Diego has been named the No. 29 university in the world, climbing five spots globally in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2022. UC San Diego also rose four places nationally to No. 17 in the United States. The university ranked No. 5 among public colleges in the country, rising one spot from last year. The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2022 are based on the world’s largest invitation-only opinion survey of senior, published academics.
Yu Xin (Will) Wang joins Sanford Burnham Prebys
Molecular biologist Yu Xin (Will) Wang has joined Sanford Burnham Prebys as an assistant professor in the Development, Aging, and Regeneration Program to uncover the ways muscle, nerve and immune cells work together to overcome disease.
Wang joins the Institute following a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine.
He completed his Ph.D.in Canada at the University of Ottawa. Read more…
Device measures nerve activity that may
help treatment for sepsis and PTSD
A team of engineers and physicians at University of California San Diego has developed a device to non-invasively measure cervical nerve activity in humans, a new tool that they say could potentially inform and improve treatments for patients with sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection, and mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Read more…
Cubic wins ‘Mobile App Innovation of the Year’ award
Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) a division of Cubic Corporation, has been selected as “Mobile App Innovation of the Year” for the second year running in the 6th annual Mobile Breakthrough Awards program conducted by Mobile Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global wireless and mobile market today. Read more…
