as its new Vice President of Clinical Research. Erickson was previously Senior Director Clinical Sciences Ophthalmology at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and also has served at Unigene Laboratories and Opthalmic Research Associates, in addition to experience at Tufts University Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, and Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. aerie pharmaceuticals research executive medical lifescience kristine erickson MORE

In an unusual addition to the list of recruits to NASA's astronaut program, NASA said this week that a SpaceX engineer, and a Caltech researcher, are both among the list of twelve new candidates at a chance for future space exploration with the agency. MORE

Salesforce.com founder and CEO Marc Benioff , and his wife, Lynne , have given $20M in a gift to the University of Southern California , to go towards cancer research, the school said late Thursday. marc benioff salesforce university donation charity cancer research larry ellisonAccording to the school, the funding will go towards construction of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC. MORE

Newport Beach-based patent storehouse Acacia Research said today that it has named Matthew Vella as President of the firm. Vella has been at Acacia Research Group since 2006, and has been serving as Executive Vice President since October of last year. Prior to Acacia, Vella had served at ATI Research and Nortel Networks. acacia research patent legal executive president MORE

Pasadena-based Arrowhead Research , which is developing targeted RNAi biopharmaceuticals, said late Thursday that it has named Patrick O''Brien as the company''s new General Counsel. arrowhead research general counsel rnai biopharma lifescience executive legal O''Brien had most recently been Group Vice President, Legal, for Shire, and also had served at Johnson & Johnson, at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and in private practice. READ MORE>>. MORE

Culver City-based NantWorks , the collection of companies run by biotech billionaire Patrick Soon Shiong, has backed gene sequencing startup Genos Research , the companies disclosed today. The company said it will give consumers the option to sell or provide their data to researchers for specific diseases, or for other uses. genos research biotech biotechnology natnworks venture capital lifescience gene sequencing MORE

Playa Vista-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies --one of several companies looking to develop transportation systems based on Elon Musk's concept of the "Hyperloop"--says it has begun construction on what it says will be a "full-scale" passenger and freight system in Toulouse, France. The company said it plans to implement a closed, 320 meter system this year, and another "full-scale" system of 1km sometime in 2019, as part of its testing. MORE

Santa Barbara-based optical circuit switching technology devleoper CALIENT Technologies said today that it has linked up with a 10-university research organization, to expand the use of optical circuit switching in software defined data center and metro networks. The company said it has linked up with the Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN) to help bolster research in optical networks. calient technologies university research optical networking network MORE

Newport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research has made its first move into the blockchain and cryptocurrency market, saying this morning that it has made an investment in New York-based Bitzumi. According to Acacia, it invested $1M in equity in Bitzumi in a joint venture, with the option to invest up to an additional $9M in the company. Bitzumi is developing technology for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, including a next generation decentralized exchange. MORE

Dating apps from Los Angeles-based Tinder --not to mention similar apps from Bumble, OK Cupid, Zoosk, WeChat, and many others--are apparently full of security holes , according to researchers. Researchers said they were able to hack into the apps for many dating sites--tracking user locations, matching to social networking profiles, Facebook account information and user IDs, and much more. MORE

uSamp said the Kiplinger organization has chosen the firm to power a custom, online market research panel under the Kiplinger brand. Power and Associates, Buzzback Market Research, and others. usamp kiplinger market research survey panel sample finance publishing MORE

The new products include a product for analyzing RNA; a panel for identifying somatic mutations in myeloid malignancies; plus software apps specifically aimed at cancer research. illumina lifescience genetic genomic oncology cancer research sequencing gene genes MORE

snapchat snap research jobs employment utah siliconslopes silicon slopesVenice, California-based Snap, Inc. , the parent firm of Snapchat , has reportedly set up a new, secret location in Lehi, Utah, according to a report this week. The report says that the new lab is being headed up by former Scan.me co-founder Kirk Ouimet, who founded Scan.me out of Brigham Young University, and sold that to Snap for the basis of its Scancodes product. MORE

One of them is a San Antonio researcher hoping to use gene therapy—a potentially one-time, long lasting treatment—to do the trick. San Antonio — Most diabetes treatments work by giving the body the insulin it needs to break down sugar. MORE

A Google security researcher, Tavis Ormandy, revealed a major vulnerability in the gaming software from Blizzard--now fixed--which would had enabled hackers to install any software they wanted. According to the researcher, Blizzard's software included what is called a "DNS rebinding flaw" which would have enabled attackers to install malicious files, use network drives, and otherwise compromise a computer. MORE

Other research and science agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Science Foundation, received funding boosts as well. At the end of March, Congress passed a $1.3 MORE

NewEgg said that Digitech Image Technologies LLC--a subsidiary of Acacia Research--had sued Xerox, Toshiba, Fujifilm, Ricoh, Overstock.com, and Newegg for patent infringement over the patent, which had previously been owned by Polaroid. Acacia Research is based in Newport Beach, and acquires patents and aggressively licenses them to companies; the company is no stranger to patent infringement lawsuits and countersuits. MORE

Tan Capital Partners has acquired the intellectual property of market research firm Osurv for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced on Friday MORE

San Diego-based Maravai LifeSciences announced this morning that it is acquiring Glen Research Corporation , a Sterling, Virginia-based provider of reagents used in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Maravai LifeSciences is a provider of specialty reagents to the research, biotherapeutics, and OEM market, and is owned by private equity firm GTCR. maravai lifesciences glen research merger acquisition biotherapeutics MORE

Newport Beach-based Acacia Research , the patent licensing firm, said today that it has named David Witt as Vice President of Acacia Research Group LLC. Acacia Research acquires and aggressively licenses technology patents. semiconductor executive legal patent research acaciaWitt joins the firm from Texas Instruments, where the company said he was involved in architecture and development of TI's OMAP2, OMAP3, and OMAP4 application processors. MORE

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced plans today to open a research and development center in Toulouse, France MORE

uSamp's services are used by companies to conduct market research and surveys. usamp sampling market research self serviceEncino-based uSamp , the provider of online, web-based sampling and polling services, said today that it has enhanced its self service SampleMarket service. MORE

ACADIA said the new funds will go towards research being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl of UCLA. acadia pharmaceuticals venture capital biotech lifescience multiple sclerosis ucla research biomedical MORE

Newport Beach-based patent licensing firm Acacia Research Corporation reported late Friday that it has shuffled its CEO. In a statement, Acacia Research said that Ryan recently turned 68, and has been at Acacia Research for the last thirteen years. Vella joined Acacia in 2006, having previously served at such firms as ATI Research and Nortel Networks. executive property intellectual licensing patent research acacia MORE

Los Angeles-based SuperMetalix , a UCLA technology spinout developer super-hard metals, said today that it has named Dr. Kesh Keshavan as the company's Director of Development, to head up the company's research and development efforts. supermetalix research development metals metallurgy materials spinout ucla executive MORE

The University of Southern California has just received a huge, $200M donation from Oracle founder Larry Ellison , to create a new cancer treatment research center. larry ellison cancer research medicine transformative gift donation nonprofit oracle founderAccording to the school, the donation will create the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC , a multi-disciplinary center focused on the prevention and treatment of cancer. MORE

A Google security researcher, Tavis Ormandy, revealed a major vulnerability in the gaming software from Blizzard--now fixed--which would had enabled hackers to install any software they wanted. According to the researcher, Blizzard's software included what is called a "DNS rebinding flaw" which would have enabled attackers to install malicious files, use network drives, and otherwise compromise a computer. MORE

Pasadena-based Arrowhead Research , which develops biotherapeutics and other technology, announced today that it has named Bruce Given, M.D., Sandoz Research Institute, and Schering-Plough Corporation. arrowhead research executive biopharma pharmaceutical lifescienceas its Chief Operating Officer. Given was previously CEO of Leonardo Biosystems, and also has been on the board of Calando Pharmaceuticals, one of Arrowhead's subsidiaries, as well as ICON plc. MORE

as its Senior Vice President of Research. Milla was most recently at Adaptive Biotechnologies, and also has served at GlaxoSmithKline, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Roche Palo Alto, and Janssen Research & Development. synthorx protein therapeutics biotech synthetic biology lifescience executive marcos milla research MORE

Sensor data can be synced together, making data collection possibilities for academic and clinical research boundless. This presentation will give an overview of the VivoSense software, how it meets the needs of a universal physiological data analysis program and its built in algorithms that provide quality physiological end points for research. Wednesday, April 25, 2018 -- IEEE Buenaventura EMBS Talk on Vivonetics. MORE

Marcus Hutchins , the malware researchers who was credited with stopping the rampant "WannaCry" ransomware attack ealrier this year, has been arrested by the U.S. Hutchins is an employee of Los Angeles-based security research company Kryptos Logic. Department of Justice in Las Vegas. According to Motherboard , Hutchins was arrested for his "role in creating and distributing the Kronos banking Trojan", citing a spokesperson from the USDOJ. MORE

Irvine-based MFour Mobile Research , a developer of mobile survey and research software, announced today that it has raised $5M in a new funding round. According to the company, the funding will go towards scaling technology and research staff. market panel fund ventures newroad kaynew capital venture survey research mobile mfour MORE

RuiYi has its executive headquarters in La Jolla, but is conducting research in China, via facilities in Pudong, Shanghai, China. capital venture lifescience research antibody monoclonal ruiyi MORE

Scientific equipment maker Agilent is funding a new scientific research center at the University of Southern California , focused on biomedical research, through a new scientific collaboration. lifescience michelson research biotech instrumentation scientific agilentAccording to Agilent, it is working with the University of Southern California (USC) Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience to create an Agilent Center of Excellence (CoE) in Biomolecular Characterization. MORE

Golomb was given the National Medal of Science for his advances in mathematics and communications; his research has been key to advances in everything from radar, cell phone communications, to space communications. MORE

El Segundo-based iRise , a developer of software visualization tools, said today that it has been adopted by market research firm BuzzBack Market Research. Tags: irise market research software visualization MORE