The CHOC Children’s Research Institute and University Lab Partners (ULP) have come together to developed a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program - the Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This program is geared towards inspiring Orange County high school students to become the next generation of biotech innovators.

According to reporting by Ron Leuty of San Francisco Business Times UCLA has joined into a partnership with German drug maker Evotec SE, Palo Alto Samsara BioCapital, and family fund KCK Ltd. to launch the Autobahn Labs virtual incubator. The novel incubator is based on the concept of a bridge model to fast-track early-stage academic research into startup companies.

The 2020 Life Science Industry Report produced by BioCom finds that in Los Angeles County the industry provides 195,820 jobs (direct, indirect, and induced) and economic activity of $44.2 billion in 2019. For the state of California, the life sciences industry provided 1.4 million jobs and $372 billion in economic activity.

BioLabs LA, celebrating its one year anniversary, is now home to 20 companies and 59 resident scientists that share lab equipment with an estimated value of $1.5 million. According to journalist Howard Fine, reporting in the Los Angeles Business Journal, “companies at BioLabs LA incubator have raised $31 million in the past year to fund R&D.”

According to Carmen Gosey from the Office of LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, “nineteen high school students from Compton Manuel Dominguez High School graduated from the Bio-Flex Pre-apprenticeship program, created to expose and offer high school and college students’ hands-on experience at a Bioscience company. The program is a flexible, yet structured career pathway for the next generation of Bioscience workers in LA County. So far, more than 75 students have graduated from the Bio-Flex program after being placed with companies such as Takeda, Oak Crest Institute of Science, Protomer Technologies, and Pasadena Bio Collaborative Incubator.”

VoyageLA features a personal interview with the first full-time CEO of BioscienceLA, exploring his background, experience, and current work in an innovation catalyst for bio and life sciences in the LA region.

Bloomberg Hello World journalist and best-selling author Ashlee Vance showcases the California biotech startup Curative, which has been working throughout the COVID-19 crisis to significantly increasing testing capacity for the region.