Maryland/Israel Development Center unites leading research communities in Maryland and Israel
BALTIMORE, MD June 1, 2001 The Maryland/Israel Development Center, with the support of Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening and Israeli Ambassador David Ivry, officially launched today a pioneering program that partners the biotech research communities in the State of Maryland and Israel. At a press briefing held at the Institute of Human Virology (IHV), Hanan Sibel, chairman of the Maryland/Israel Development Center detailed the new program the Maryland/Israel Visiting Fellows Program in Biotechnology which promotes the establishment of long-term research business and investment ties, expand societys knowledge of human diseases such as AIDS and cancer, and encourages the commercialization of products developed as a result of the joint research, thus creating jobs in both Maryland and Israel.
The Maryland/Israel Development Center created the program to help unite Marylands mature biotech community with Israels burgeoning biotech sector for joint research and business activities. According to Sibel, the inaugural grant pairs Israeli scientist Dr. Jonathan Gershoni of Tel-Aviv University with world-renowned virologist Dr. Robert C. Gallo, director of the University of Marylands Institute of Human Virology, a center of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, and co-discoverer of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The grant was made official through a proclamation signing between the Governor, Israeli Ambassador Ivry, and the leaders from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, the Institute of Human Virology and the Maryland/Israel Development Center during todays ceremony.
Dr. Gershoni and a post-doctoral student from Israel will collaborate with Dr. Gallo and researchers in the basic research division of the IHV, focusing on chemokine-based therapies, a recently discovered approach which have proven effective in pre
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Contact: Jarrod Walpert
jwalpert@weinbergharris.com
410-427-0123
Maryland/Israel Development Center
31-May-2001