Daily Business Report: April 16, 2024
Series
Hidden Hazards: Toxic waste in California
CalMatters
California has a hazardous waste problem. The state makes a lot of it, millions of tons a year in electronic detritus, corrosive chemicals, old batteries, harmful shampoos and more. The waste has to go somewhere, and no one wants a new landfill in their backyard.
Since 2010, nearly half of California’s hazardous waste left the Golden State, generally to neighboring states with weaker environmental standards. Inside the state, the number of facilities permitted to handle hazardous waste dropped by 80% since the early 1980s. The remaining facilities are clustered in communities of color, often in neighborhoods with high rates of poverty. Recent environmental justice laws are meant to protect communities like those from pollution, but state regulators face pressure to keep the operations running from industry representatives who argue they are too rare to fail.
“We are not a rich people,” one neighbor to a hazardous waste recycling plant east of Los Angeles told CalMatters. “So they put all of them over here in this area.”
Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
_____________________________________
California salmon fishing banned
for second year to protect dwindling stocks
By Rachel Becker | CalMatters
In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal fishery managers unanimously voted to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in row.
The decision is designed to protect California’s dwindling salmon populations after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm and sluggish for the state’s iconic Chinook salmon to thrive.
Salmon abundance forecasts for the year “are just too low,” Marci Yaremko, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s appointee to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said last week. “While the rainfall and the snowpacks have improved, the stocks and their habitats just need another year to recover.”
State and federal agencies are now expected to implement the closures for ocean fishing. Had the season not been in question again this year, recreational boats would likely already be fishing off the coast of California, while the commercial season typically runs from May through October.
_____________________________________
Opening Portals to the Underworld
New gallery exhibit at the UC San Diego Qualcomm
Institute reveals ancient Mayan caves, heritage
By Xochitl Rojas-Rocha | UC San Diego
On Wednesday, April 24, the Gallery QI at UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute unveils a new photographic exhibition invoking Maya mythology, ritual and culture in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Created by archaeologist and visual artist Fabio Esteban Amador, the exhibit, called “Lienzo de Piedra” / “Canvas of Stone,” captures caves long-considered by the Maya to be entrances to the underworld. These caves offer archaeologists the chance to study ancient Maya culture with a specific focus on ritual and the afterlife.
Like other landmarks in the region, preservation of the Pool Tunich cave system faces challenges from nearby infrastructure projects and a changing landscape.
Over the course of one month, Amador captured colorful images of Quintana Roo’s Pool Tunich cave system using underwater lights, strobes and tinted gels. His work showcases how art and technology, together, can record culturally sensitive spaces while transporting viewers outside of their daily experiences.
_____________________________________
MiraCosta Community College District
achieves “Excellent” rating from taxpayers group
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association announced the MiraCosta Community College District achieved an “EXCELLENT” rating for its Measure MM bond construction program. Approved in 2016 by 62 percebt of the district’s voters, Measure MM is a $455 million general obligation bond to modernize aging facilities and upgrade instructional technology.
Now, eight years later, Taxpayers reviewed MiraCosta’s performance, comparing it to standards defining “Good,” “Excellent,” and “Outstanding” in bond construction program management. It found Mira Costa does an EXCELLENT job of using MM funds effectively and efficiently.
The main projects in FY2023 showed a savings of some $6 million taxpayer dollars compared to the original estimates made in 2016.
_____________________________________
Computational tools fuel reconstruction of
new and improved bird family tree
By Liezel Labios | UC San Diego
An international team of scientists has built the largest and most detailed bird family tree to date—an intricate chart delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species, representing 92 percent of all bird families.
The advance was made possible in large part thanks to cutting-edge computational methods developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego, combined with the university’s state-of-the-art supercomputing resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. These technologies have enabled researchers to analyze vast amounts of genomic data with high accuracy and speed, laying the groundwork for the construction of the most comprehensive bird family tree ever assembled.
“Our goal is to reconstruct the entire evolutionary history of all birds,” said Siavash Mirarab, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, who is a co-senior author on the Nature paper, as well as first and co-corresponding author on the PNAS paper.
The work is part of the Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) Project, a multi-institutional effort led by University of Copenhagen, Zhejiang University and UC San Diego that aims to generate draft genome sequences for about 10,500 extant bird species.
_____________________________________
Axos Bank named to the 2024 Forbes America’s Best Banks
Axos Bank, the nationwide bank subsidiary of Axos Financial Inc., was named to the 2024 Forbes America’s Best Banks list. Forbes considered the 200 largest publicly-traded banks and thrifts by assets and ranked the top 100. The 15th annual Forbes America’s Best Banks list evaluated and ranked 100 institutions based on 10 metrics that measure growth, credit quality, and profitability for the 2023 calendar year. It also considered stock performance in the 12 months leading up to March 18, 2024.
Power Digital launches Creative Affinity
Power Digital, a leading tech-enabled growth marketing firm announces the launch of Creative Affinity, an advanced module within the company’s nova Intelligence platform. Creative Affinity was designed with support from Meta and their business engineering team to connect a client’s ad creative with their own first party data, managed by Power Digital in the nova cloud data platform, delivering a new level of ad creative analysis. This module provides a nuanced understanding of the lifetime value of customers driven by specific ad creatives.
Boundless Bio announces first patient dosed in clinical trial
Boundless Bio, a clinical-stage oncology company interrogating extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) biology to deliver transformative therapies to patients with previously intractable oncogene amplified cancers, announced that the first patient has been dosed with BBI-825 in a first-in-human, Phase 1/2 clinical trial for patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer with resistance gene amplifications. Boundless Bio is headquartered in San Diego.
MD Revolution partners with Dexcom
MD Revolution, the leader in remote care management solutions for health systems and multi-specialty clinics, has partnered with Dexcom to integrate their industry-leading continuous glucose monitoring systems with MD Revolution’s remote care management platform. Over 537 million people globally are living with diabetes. Dexcom supports this population as a global leader in real-time continuous glucose monitoring. Dexcom’s wearable devices pair with a user’s smartphone to monitor glucose levels.
n-Lorem Foundation announces second annual Nano-rare Patient Colloquium
n-Lorem, a nonprofit foundation, has announced the dates for its second annual Nano-rare Patient Colloquium, which will be held Oct. 30 & 31 in Cambridge, Mass. The Nano-rare Patient Colloquium will bring together a Community of Care for Nano-rare that consists of treating physicians, industry leaders, corporate, foundation and individual supporters, the n-Lorem team and most importantly, nano-rare patients and their families.
Parhelia Biosciences launches the Parhelia Spatial Station
Parhelia Biosciences, a leader in spatial biology automation, announced the launch of the Parhelia Spatial Station at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference—a next-generation sample preparation platform designed to revolutionize spatial biology through automation and pushbutton precision. The launch of the Parhelia Spatial Station marks a critical advancement in spatial biology, which faces incredibly complex workflows.
CourseKey and Milady announce new software integration
CourseKey, a student retention platform for vocational education programs, announced an API integration with Milady, the leading provider of beauty and wellness education for schools worldwide, to simplify operations for beauty and wellness education programs. The CourseKey and Milady integration aggregates grades from the CIMA digital learning platform from Milady with attendance and skill attainment from CourseKey for a real-time visualization of student progress.
HappyCo unveils AI-powered Centralized Maintenance platform
HappyCo announced the debut of Centralized Maintenance, marking an industry-first step towards transforming maintenance operations from a challenge into a strategic advantage for multifamily property owners and managers. Powered by its custom-trained artificial intelligence (AI) companion, aptly named JoyAI, the platform automates and optimizes everything from real-time scheduling and technician matching to 24/7 resident communications, intelligent inventory management, and remote technician expertise.
Platform Science raises $125 million in growth capital
Platform Science, a leading edge application platform for transportation, announced that it raised $125 million in growth capital to accelerate innovation in the commercial transportation sector. Key strategic investors included C.R. England, Cummins, Daimler Truck, PACCAR, RyderVentures, and Schneider. New financial investors included Activant Capital, BDT & MSD Partners, and Manhattan Venture Partners. Platform Science also had strong participation from existing investors, including 8VC, NewRoad Capital Partners, and Prologis Ventures, underscoring their commitment to the company’s growth plans.
Denovo Biopharma announces positive
results in treatment-resistant depression
Denovo Biopharma, a pioneer in applying precision medicine to the development of innovative drugs, announced positive results for its biomarker‑guided Phase 2b clinical trial (ENLIGHTEN) designed to assess the efficacy and safety of DB104 (liafensine) in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). More than 23 million people in the U.S. alone suffer from major depressive disorder. Over 30 percent do not benefit from currently available antidepressants and are diagnosed with TRD.
Researchers awarded grants totaling $6.7 million from National Institutes of Health
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have been awarded two new grants by the National Institutes of Health totaling $6.7 million to develop and clinically test technologies that can non-invasively examine and quantify immune cells found in tumors. These immune cells, called macrophages, are involved in the body’s normal inflammatory responses, but they also make up a significant portion of solid tumors. The density of macrophages in a tumor can affect how it responds to treatment, so the ability to count them non-invasively could help doctors decide which therapies will be most effective.
