Biocom's Return to Work Task Force has established a partnership with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) to provide free-of-charge PPE to companies who qualify as essential businesses.

According to Amy Stulick, reporter with San Fernando Valley Business Journal, the Terasaki Institute, a Los Angeles biotech nonprofit, plans to transform the former Weider Health and Fitness Center in Woodland Hills into a biomedical research and development facility. According to a statement from Terasaki, the two-story, 50,000-square-foot building at 21100 Erwin St. will be designed to accommodate teams of scientists focused on developing bioengineered systems, medical devices and other products with biomedical applications.

According to UCLA, a team of researchers from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and peer institutions has been awarded a $5.75 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the correlation between obesity, inflammation and pancreatic cancer. The scientists hope their findings may help people avoid getting this cancer.

The Bio Revolution is a powerful new wave of innovation that is expected to transform business and society beyond healthcare, according to a recent McKinsey article by Michael Chui, Matthias Evers, and Alice Zheng. The applications and economic impact of these new biotechologies, their analysis suggests, will be far reaching - into agriculture, food, materials, energy, and consumer products and services. “The likely disruption of the Bio Revolution is vast and poised to influence a wide range of industries.”

Cal State LA will partner with Los Angeles County and the Governor’s Office to open a new COVID-19 testing site at the Rongxiang Xu Bioscience Innovation Center to serve the local community and help stop the spread of the virus according to Jillian Beck, Cal State LA News Service.

John Cumbers, Forbes Senior Contributor, building off of and providing commentary on Marc Andreessen’s recent essay “It’s Time To Build” suggests that “…biology is the building platform for California and the rest of the world in the 21st century.”

A community centerpiece of the LA Bioscience Corridor, LA Bioscience Hub has announced that Carlos Gutierrez, Chief Strategy Officer of Larta Institute, and Anna Galstyan, Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific, have joined its Board of Directors. As board members, Carlos and Anna will be essential partners in advancing LA Bioscience Hub's key initiatives and ensuring the success of its programs and presence in the Bioscience Corridor.

Double Bruin Tanya Petrossian (UCLA BS Biochemistry, PhD Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) was recently featured in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Director’s Corner, by NICHD Director Diana W. Bianchi, MD:

According to Thomas Lipkin, Director of Startups and New Ventures at UCLA, “UCLA would rank second for the number of tech transfer startups launched from 2008-2018, if carved out from the UC total.” This finding is based on the results of recent research by Dr. Dipanjan “DJ” Nag & Antara Gupta & Alex Turo published in IPWatchDog.

According to reporting by Rachel Uranga of dot.LA, “the Food and Drug Administration approved COVID-19 testing startup Curative Inc.'s saliva test for emergency use — opening up the door to larger-scale distribution.” Curative, a biotech startup, has reportedly processed 57,700 tests so far.