Daily Business Report: Dec. 12, 2022
How AI fuels life sciences breakthroughs in San Diego
By Heather Dewis
San Diego boasts some of the world’s most cutting-edge companies and research institutions focused on enhancing human health and transforming how life-threatening diseases are treated. San Diego is also a leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI-ML) technologies, with large numbers of federal contract awards, patents, VC raises, jobs, and startups in the region.
Together, AI-ML technology and life sciences companies are accelerating the pace of innovation in biopharmaceuticals, surgical, medical, and wearable devices, and advanced manufacturing. In a new report, underwriter Booz Allen Hamilton and nonprofit San Diego Regional EDC explored how AI-ML is contributing to a new era of life-saving precision medicine.
Highlights:
1. San Diego is a top life sciences growth market among AI-ML peer metros.
2. San Diego’s life sciences companies are in the early stages of AI adoption, paving way for exponential impact
3. San Diego’s talent pool is active and growing
Photo courtesy of San Diego Regional EDC
Inscripta lays off dozens, closes
San Diego and Colorado offices
genomeweb
Genome editing technology startup Inscripta has closed its San Diego and Boulder, Colo., offices, laying off at least 43 people. According to a Dec. 2 worker adjustment and retraining notification filing with the state of Colorado, Inscripta laid off 43 people at its Boulder headquarters. It is unclear whether the firm has filed WARNs in California.
Multiple former employees have posted about the layoffs on the social media site LinkedIn over the past week. One laid-off engineer suggested that there were “several dozens of people” in the same situation as he was. Another laid-off employee described the layoffs as “extensive.”
Inscripta has been selling a black-box CRISPR genome editing platform called Onyx.
The layoffs come about a year and a half after Inscripta raised $150 million in Series E financing, led by Fidelity Management & Research and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The firm has raised at least $380.5 million in total.
Initially founded as Muse Bio, Inscripta emerged from stealth mode in 2017 and launched its
instrument in 2019, though initial shipments were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inscripta will apparently keep its location in Pleasanton, Calif.
Kelly Hall selected as executive vice chancellor
for San Diego Community College District
The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) has selected Kelly Hall as its next executive vice chancellor for finance and business services. Her first day as chief business officer with the region’s largest provider of higher education and workforce training will be Feb. 1. Hall succeeds Bonnie Ann Dowd, who retires in January after 12 years as executive vice chancellor for business and technology services. Hall’s appointment is scheduled to be ratified at the Jan. 19, 2023 SDCCD Board of Trustees meeting.
Hall will be responsible for developing an annual operating budget that this year stands at $992 million; overseeing the district’s fiscal audit and compliance programs; ensuring timely submission of reports required by local, state and federal regulations; and representing the SDCCD on local, state and national committees.
She will also serve as a member of the SDCCD Chancellor’s Cabinet.
It’s a position she’s familiar with. Hall has served as assistant superintendent/vice president for business and financial affairs at Southwestern College since July 2019.
Sherry Bahrambeygui to resign as PriceSmart CEO
Company founder Robert Price to assume interim CEO job
Sherry Bahrambeygui, chief executive officer of PriceSmart Inc., the San Diego company that owns and operates membership shopping warehouse clubs in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean, will be resigning her post on Feb. 3, 2023, the date of the company’s annual stockholder meeting, after four years at the helm.
“Sherry’s performance as CEO during some of the most challenging years in the history of PriceSmart has been marked by record revenues and profits as well as membership growth, club growth and the launch of online shopping and delivery,” said Robert Price, company founder and chairman of the board, who will become interim CEO.
John Hildebrandt, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer. David Price, who currently serves as the company’s vice president – environmental and social responsibility and as a member of the board, will be promoted to executive vice president and chief of staff to the interim CEO.
The company announcement said Bahrambeygui will continue her employment between now and Feb. 3 and will work towards the orderly transition of her responsibilities. She has agreed to make herself available at the company’s request for up to 100 hours of transition support during the 12months following her resignation.
Realtor and broker Nikki Coppa elected to California
Regional Multiple Listing Service Board of Directors
Longtime Realtor and broker Nikki Coppa has joined the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) board of directors. A former president of the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR), Coppa was elected to serve a three-year term on the board.
The Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR), a 4,000-member real estate trade organization for San Diego-area realtors, has announced that longtime PSAR realtor and broker Nikki Coppa has joined the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) board of directors.
CRMLS, the national’s largest and most recognized user-based multiple listing service (MLS) serving more than 110,000 real estate professionals from more than 40 associations, boards and MLS organizations.
During her 23-year real estate career, Coppa has been involved in leadership positions with several real estate industry groups, including the California Association of Realtors (CAR) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Coppa, a CAR Director since 2010, has previously served as 2020 vice chair of the CAR Defense Strategy Advisory Committee and the 2016 chair of the CAR Standard Forms Advisory Committee.
NASA’s Orion lands south of San Diego in
successful test of future Moon missions
By Chris Jennewein
NASA‘s Orion spacecraft splashed down successfully in the Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island on Sunday morning, paving the way for future astronaut flights to the Moon and beyond. The capsule dropped out of the sky under three giant parachutes in view of Navy recovery ships waiting 250 miles south of San Diego. The landing occurred at 9:40 a.m. Pacific time. Orion‘s return marked the first attempt of a risky “skip entry” re-entry technique, in which the craft dipped into the upper part of Earth’s atmosphere, skipped out of the atmosphere, then re-entered for its final descent.
NASA says the skip entry will help ensure a pinpoint landing location and in the future will allow astronauts to return to Earth under lower g-forces than usual.
Avalon Ventures spins out $135 million life sciences fund
San Diego’s Avalon Ventures has spun out a new $135 million fund focused exclusively on early stage life sciences and health care companies. The Avalon BioVentures team has expertise in drug discovery, clinical development, company formation, and operations critical to translating a scientific discovery into a novel therapeutic. Read more
Illumina debuts next-gen research
test kit to ID common infections
San Diego genomics giant Illumina unveiled a new research test kit used to identify recurrent urinary tract infections, one of the most common infections in the U.S. The development of the Urinary Pathogen Infectious Disease/Antimicrobial Resistance Panel test is par of Illumina’s commitment to supporting global preparedness for epidemic and pandemic level outbreaks. Read more
JennyCo partners with Sequencing.com
JennyCo Inc., a health care data exchange powered by Web3, has announced that it has partnered with Sequencing.com, the leading provider of next-generation DNA sequencing services. Founded by medical doctors and scientists, JennyCo’s mission is to transform health care by putting consumers back in control of their health and data. It aims to rectify the inequality in the health care data marketplace by supporting individual ownership and privacy of health care information by providing direct AI-generated personalized results, and rewards, on a HIPAA-Compliant Web 3.0 Blockchain platform.
MiraCosta College’s Technology
Career Institute teams up with
the City of Oceanside
Biomedical, engineering, and drone technicians are just a few of the programs MiraCosta College’s Technology Career Institute (TCI) is offering free for Spring 2023 to all Oceanside residents, thanks to Hire Local.
Hire Local initiative, designed to stimulate economic vitality for local residents and businesses through a combination of Incentives, Development, Education, and Access (IDEA). Through this initiative, the City and College is working to bridge the gap between in-demand jobs and resident readiness to accelerate professional and business growth and create an economic multiplier for the City. Hire Local is funded by the City of Oceanside.
“MiraCosta College’s Technology Career Institute has an established, successful model of accelerated training that can rapidly train technical, collaborative, critical thinking and other essential abilities for high-demand, high-skilled jobs. These types of intensive, hands-on training programs are particularly important for individuals who may face barriers to accessing training and employment opportunities, including veterans, high school and alternative high school graduates, non-traditional learners, and unemployed/ underemployed workers,” explains MiraCosta College Superintendent/President Dr. Sunita “Sunny” Cooke.
“MiraCosta College is dedicated to supporting our local businesses during a post pandemic workforce crisis. Our accelerated work skills programs can be completed in less than one semester and all students are provided paid internships after completion. We’re trying to get information out as soon as we can and create programs to help businesses and residents here,” explains Linda Kurokawa, executive director for TCI.
Research shows that bridging the economic gap is enhanced with access to education and employment. In 2020, the City conducted a Needs Assessment with local businesses and discovered a set of high-demand jobs that have been hard to fill because talent is not ready on day one and on the job training slows productivity. The City then worked with the College to narrow the scope of eligible certificates for its Hire Local initiative to seven certificate programs that will help students be valuable contributors for hiring companies on day one.
“We see this as a win-win because it helps our residents find meaningful careers while creating a talent pipeline for our businesses, so they can stay here and grow here,” said Michelle Geller, economic development manager for the City of Oceanside. Geller added the program is there to help people who lost their jobs amid COVID-19 get back on their feet.
Geller added all residents are eligible as long as they meet the criteria.
