Massachusetts news

• Trump's NIH cuts 'particularly alarming,' Baker says

  16-03-2017 20:57 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  Gov. Charlie Baker said he finds cause for concern with many of the proposed cuts in President Donald Trump's budget blueprint released Thursday, including an "alarming" reduction in federal research spending that he cast as a more immediate concern for Massachusetts than the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.Trump released a $1.1 trillion spending blueprint for the country on Thursday that increases federal spending on defense, border security, law enforcement and school choice initiatives, but
  
  Read more

• Red Sox and Cubs team up for April charity events in Boston

  16-03-2017 20:54 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox may have parted ways in 2011, but that doesn't mean they've stopped making important deals together.The philanthropic arm of the Red Sox has teamed up with the Foundation To Be Named Later — which Epstein started with his twin brother Paul after leading the Red Sox to their first World Series victory in 86 years in 2004 — for a weekend of charitable events on April 28 and 29 during the Red Sox-Cubs series at Fenway Park to raise funds for the two n
  
  Read more

• Why is Boston’s Citgo sign such a big deal?

  16-03-2017 19:29 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  Maybe this question will brand me with an indelible scarlet “O” — for “outsider” — but I must ask: Why, exactly, is Boston so enamored of a sign bearing the name of a Venezuelan oil company?I am referring, of course, to the famed Citgo sign, which sits atop 660 Beacon St. — and will continue to sit for “decades to come,” according to a deal between building owner Related Beal and Citgo, brokered this week by the city.“The Citgo sign has
  
  Read more

• What the data tell us about H-1B visas in Massachusetts

  16-03-2017 16:25 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  This story was originally posted on WBUR's Bostonomix.Immigration is at the center of an intense U.S. policy debate. And the next big political fight may focus on H-1B visas — which allow U.S. companies to hire college-educated foreign workers.Legislation to overhaul the H-1B program has already been introduced in Congress. And in January, a draft executive order from the Trump administration began circulating online.Tech companies often say they struggle to find talent locally and depend&
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• GE acquires U.K.-based fetal monitoring company

  16-03-2017 15:52 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  GE Healthcare is expanding in its maternal and infant care business, with plans to acquire a 20-employee company based in the U.K., Monica Healthcare.The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.The 12-year-old Monica Healthcare makes a fetal monitor that is used by midwives, labor and delivery nurses. To date, 1,000 sites across Europe, Asia and North America are using the monitor on 100,000 patients just in the last year alone.The company makes a wireless patch that can help hospitals monito
  
  Read more

• The Stubborn Staying Power of the Alewife Herring

  16-03-2017 14:18
  A once-abundant migratory fish all but disappeared with the construction of river dams. But now more alewives are seeking passage through local waters.
  
  Read more

• Seres gets FDA mulligan on microbiome drug, eyes pivotal trial

  16-03-2017 12:00 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  The much-hyped field of microbiome research — an effort to harness the trillions of bacteria living inside the human body to treat serious disorders — suffered a major setback in July when the most advanced drug so far failed in a mid-stage study.But on Thursday, the outlook for the field brightened somewhat when the company behind that gastrointestinal drug, Cambridge-based Seres Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MCRB), announced that it would launch another Phase 2 trial. If all goes well, the
  
  Read more

• ​Five things you need to know today, and a cut above March Madness

  16-03-2017 11:16 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  Happy Thursday, Boston! Here are the five most important things you need to know — and the best March Madness-related story I've read so far this week — all to help you start your busy business day.What today's interest rate increase means for your businessYesterday’s increase by the Federal Reserve of its benchmark interest rate won’t have much effect for most people in the short term, analysts say, but it could be the next step to some more dramatic changes in the longe
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Pig organs in humans? George Church-founded biotech banks $38M to try

  16-03-2017 05:01 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  In October 2015, renowned Harvard geneticist George Church made waves when he and a team of researchers published a paper showing that the gene editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 could be used to snip away certain parts of the pig genome, potentially making it safe to transplant whole pig organs into humans. The research raised the prospect that scientists could solve a vexing medical problem: the constant shortage of available donors.That prospect got one small step closer to reality on Thursday with the
  
  Read more

• Fast-growing Boston fintech firm enters biggest market yet: B2B

  16-03-2017 05:01 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  Flywire, a Boston-based financial services technology firm, is moving beyond the processing of international payments for college tuition and health care services into the much larger business-to-business sector.The company announced Thursday that its platform will now accept cross-border business-to-business transactions, at a rate below those offered by many banks and wire transfer services. It is targeting industries such as technology, professional services, luxury goods and travel.Founded&h
  
  Read more

• Mass. tech group had role in Hawaii case that blocked Trump immigration order

  16-03-2017 01:40 via feeds.bizjournals.com
  The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council filed an amicus brief in support of a Hawaii lawsuit that led on Wednesday evening to a temporary nationwide block of President Donald Trump's latest executive order on immigration.MassTLC, an advocacy group representing some of the largest tech companies in the state, filed the brief with the federal district court in Hawaii on Tuesday, calling the pending immigration rules illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and antithetical to the values of the&h
  
  Read more

Follow @MassNewslocker on Twitter!