ALACHUA –For the third time, the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) has awarded its highest honor – the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award – to UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech.

“Being named the best incubator on the planet is amazing. Receiving this award three times in a decade speaks volumes to the tremendous resource we have here in Florida with the Sid Martin Biotech incubator,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research. “The University of Florida is an international leader in translating research into relevant impact. The award reaffirms this.”

At a ceremony during InBIA’s annual conference, taking place this week online due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sid Martin Biotech Director Mark Long accepted two awards on behalf of the 40,000-square-foot business incubator located in Alachua. The facility, which is celebrating its 25^th anniversary, earned both “Rural Incubator of the Year” and the “Randall M. Whaley Global Incubator of the Year.”

“This is unprecedented and will stand as a record for quite some time,” Long said after he learned about the awards. “No university program in the United States has won more than two awards in any category, and no program around the globe has won more than a single Randall M. Whaley award.”

Each year, the InBIA awards winners in 11 categories (based on programs offered or specific type of incubator, such as food, biotech, etc.) Those 11 winners then compete for the InBIA’s most prestigious awards, the Dinah Adkins Incubator of the Year Award or the Randall M. Whaley Global Incubator of the Year award.

“This is an honor, yes, but a well-deserved one. Sid Martin Biotech has incubated – successfully – 108 startups since it opened in 1995,” said UF Innovate Director Jim O’Connell. “Most of those graduates are thriving, most contribute to the state economy. Great credit to Mark and the UF Innovate incubation team. It’s all about their attitude and intimate understanding of their business.”

The InBIA is a global network of incubators, accelerators, and other entrepreneurship centers representing 62 countries. It is the largest member-based entrepreneurial support network in the world and the go-to organization for those dedicated to nurturing startups in their communities.

Sid Martin Biotech is noted for its success in nurturing startups. Its companies have raised more than $8.8 billion in funding and created more than 8,000 high-tech jobs. More than 82 percent of Sid Martin companies are in operation five years post-graduation.

 “Sid Martin’s reputation is built on the success of the companies that graduate from the program, the amount of funding the companies acquire, and what the program offers,” said Assistant Director Merrie Shaw, who has been with Sid Martin since 2005. “Clients have access to shared common scientific equipment, lab space, conference rooms, greenhouses, a vivarium, advisors, the UF library, and more -- all in one location. That’s extremely rare.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t include the amazing staff that we have had and currently have,” Shaw said. “You have to keep the client happy and create a place conducive to their research needs, and the team does that well!”

Sid Martin Biotech won the Biotech Incubator of the Year and the Randall M. Whaley Global Incubator of the Year in both 2013 and 2017. UF Innovate | The Hub, the second of UF’s incubators, won Best Mixed-Use Incubator of the Year at InBIA last year.

“I am proud to be a part of the outstanding staff at Sid Martin, and I would like to thank each one of them for helping UF achieve credibility as the top ‘best practices’ incubator in the world,” said Long, who also directs The Hub. “I would also point out, in particular, that Merrie Shaw is the common element in all three awards, having served at UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech over the timespan of the awards given.”

This year’s InBIA conference was held June 23-25 virtually. The organization mailed the awards to winners in advance of the conference but they were announced during a virtual ceremony on June 25.

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NEWBERRY – For the past 74 years Newberry has hosted an event to celebrate the community’s rural history and the crop the town has become known for—watermelons. But this year, the milestone 75^th Anniversary almost didn't happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the need for social distancing to slow the infection rate, all public events in the spring were canceled, including traditional spring festivals in many small towns.

“This was our 75th anniversary and we really wanted to celebrate that,” said vendor coordinator Christina Bridwell. “We are the longest running consecutive festival in the United States and felt that as the state was reopening that the festival would bring hope and a sense of normality to the community.”

Bridwell said they had been working on the festival for months and had the sponsors and vendors lined up before the stay at home orders. “However, we also wanted to be safe and follow the guidelines, Bridwell added. “We tried to be cognizant of social distancing and sanitation though as well, so even though much of the work had already been done, it was not until May 20 that we made the final decision to go ahead with it,” Bridwell said.

This year, festival coordinators spaced vendors farther apart than in the past and put hand washing stations throughout the event as well as hand sanitizer and also recommended that attendees wear masks.

Bridwell said, “We want to make this is a successful event to show we can have festivals safely. There are other festivals and events sponsors that are looking at us to see how this goes. We really wanted to keep the tradition going.”

The Newbery Watermelon Festival has a rich history that started in 1946 at the end of World War II. It was not only a celebration of the town’s livelihood, but also a festival to bring happiness and normalcy back at the end of a tumultuous time. Seventy-five years later the world is facing another crisis and the festival committee felt there was again a need to bring the community together,

Newberry began as a mining town in the 1880s after phosphate was discovered in the western part of Alachua County. In 1893, the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway was extended south from High Springs to Newberry, providing transportation for the mines and leading to its formation as a railroad town and trading center. By 1896 there were 14 mines operating nearby. Newberry grew quickly, with hotels, boarding houses, and saloons to accommodate the often transient workforce. But the demand for phosphate ended abruptly in 1914 when war was declared against Germany who was the principal customer for Newberry's phosphate.

The remaining community had to find a new way to produce income and the local economy turned from phosphate production to agriculture and new commodity crops. It was particularly successful in producing watermelons and Newberry became well known for their watermelons. In 1946, the year after the end of World War II, a committee of local citizens decided to hold a festival celebrating watermelon production and the Newberry Watermelon Festival was born. Until this year, the event has been held annually on the third Saturday in May.

The festival is organized and produced by a committee of local residents with the support of the city and business sponsors. The event is produced with a large group of volunteers, including Police Explorers who help manage traffic and parking. Sponsors provided donations either as cash or in-kind products. The festival also gets additional funds by charging for parking. Some of the money raised is used to fund three $1,000 scholarships for Newberry High School seniors to cover tuition and books to attend Santa Fe College. Any additional money goes to the schools for supplies and to the Red Cross for any local need that arises.

The festival also hosts several special events and contests celebrating the rural history of the town, such as hog calling, watermelon seed spitting and watermelon rolling contests. A separate area is set up for a kids playground featuring bounce houses and a miniature train ride with the cars pulled by a tractor. The festival is meant to be a family event with various activities for a younger audience, including The Rage, a mobile Laser Tag game with different sections and objectives similar to a video game set up.

On the opposite side of the event was Mister Crabs Entertainment Center. Referred to as “edutainment,” the booths featured various educational material on butterflies, hermit crabs and other sea creatures. They also offered hermit crab adoptions, crab races and a butterfly tent where kids could feed the butterflies. Other vendors served a variety of food or sold products and crafts. Some vendors offered services or public information and being an election year, several candidates also hosted vendor tents.

But one of the big draws is always the free watermelon slices to cool down on a hot day. The servers, all wearing masks and gloves for everyone's safety, handed out slices to a seemingly never-ending line of eager customers. The melons are donated each year by local farmers; this year it was by Frey Farms. Any watermelons still available after 2 p.m. could be purchased with the remainder donated to local food banks and churches. Although the festival closed at 4 p.m., the celebration continued with live music from the Ronny McKinnley band from 6-10 p.m. While the event was smaller than in years past, it still went on and was well attended. Similar to its roots in 1946, the festival again brought enjoyment and a sense of normalcy during challenging times.

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HIGH SPRINGS – On June 17 three police cars parked at a local church with lights on as a group of youngsters gathered around. Police departments and the religious community are joining forces locally in the midst of controversies and demonstrations occurring over policies and actions by police, especially within African American communities. Deaths of unarmed blacks by police in different areas of the country have in some cases created anger toward the police.

With turmoil and negative press regarding police, local police departments want their communities to know them as people not just uniforms. Throughout the year police departments in Alachua and High Springs interact and connect with the community. Each year the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) and Fire Department distribute Christmas gifts to kids who might otherwise have no Christmas. They also host an annual community fair to meet and interact with residents in a non-stressful situation. The Alachua Police Department (APD) is heavily involved with local schools and programs for at-risk children. At Christmas they arrange the “Shop with a Cop” event taking a group of children on a Christmas shopping spree to Walmart using donations.

These are just a few of the things police officers do on their own time to help the community. Unfortunately, it is often the negative actions by a few bad cops that people hear about and the good deeds go unnoticed.

One HSPD officer, Adam Joy, is also an ordained minister. Joy has been a police officer for 13 years, but has also pursued the ministry as a dual occupation. Joy founded Deeper Purpose Community Church in April 2017. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, Joy became a licensed minister in 2007, an ordained elder in 2012, and graduated from Church of God by Faith Theological Institute (CTI) of Jacksonville in December 2018 with his Diploma of Christian Pastor Studies & Certification. His wife, Cherie Muse Joy, assists as the women's religious counselor at the church.

The church has separate programs geared toward youth. Deeper Purpose Youth & Student Ministries (DPYSM) was founded in February 2015 by Joy, who in the months leading up to its founding, would take a portion of his paycheck from his full-time job as a police officer and put it toward youth related activities, outreach, and projects. Friends and family also began to donate. Joy says that since being founded, DPYSM has poured thousands of dollars back into communities in and around North Central Florida.

Each Wednesday, the church holds a separate service for youth with different themes or activities each time. With the controversy occurring over police relations, Joy invited several officers from the High Springs and Alachua police departments to attend a Community Youth and Police Relationship Summit for a question and answer session with community youth.

On June 17 local police and the ministry united at the church as a circle of chairs filled with youths between ages 6 and 17 sat in front of the police cars parked at the church with lights on. “The purpose of this special night was to bridge the gap more and to build more trust and understanding between our community’s youth and law enforcement, as well as building better relationships between the two, by engaging in conversation,” Joy said. “I feel that good lines of communication between our youth and law enforcement are important for the trust of the community and understanding of who each person is.

School Resource Officer Jason Taylor and Officer Joe Tillman from High Springs Police Department, as well as Tiausha Brown from the Alachua Police Department, attended. An interactive discussion followed with both youth and officers asking and answering questions to better understand viewpoints from each. But the gathering also offered recreational activities as Officers Tillman and Brown faced off against the teens in basketball. Officer Taylor let the smaller youth play games with K9 Justice. Pizza, subs donated by High Springs Subway, cupcakes, chips and drinks were a popular addition to evening’s activities.

“This was originally going to be a one-time event, but it went so well that I would like to make it once every three months, so everyone can address issues that are current,” Joy said.

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ALACHUA – Bioservices Inc., a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced it has been awarded a contract to advance development of a cocktail of anti-botulinum neurotoxin monoclonal antibodies (mAb) by the Department of Defense (DOD) through the Joint Science and Technology Office of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND). The contract ceiling value is $42.6 million. 

In this program, Ology Bioservices will execute a randomized, double-blinded Phase 1 dose-escalation clinical trial of a cocktail of mAb against botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A and B. In addition, the company will further refine the manufacturing process for the mAb as well as conduct nonclinical studies to support advanced development of the product. The candidate was originally developed by Xoma Corporation and later acquired by Ology Bioservices.

Ology Bioservices successfully transferred the technology and manufactured this candidate therapeutic for the DOD under a previous contract awarded in 2017.

“This contract is an important milestone for both Ology Bioservices and the DOD,” said Peter H. Khoury, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Ology Bioservices. “Monoclonal antibodies represent an important, innovative option in medical countermeasure development, allowing the DOD to more effectively layer CBRN defense. We are excited to bring this next generation of countermeasure to the clinic.”

About Ology Bioservices

Ology Bioservices is a privately held, full-service Contract Development Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) serving both government and commercial clients, specializing in biologic drug substance manufacturing from early stage through commercial product. The company has 183,000 square feet of manufacturing, process development and QA/QC space in its state-of-the-art Advanced Development and Manufacturing Facility in Alachua, Florida.

The company’s infrastructure provides unique services to its clients, including full regulatory support from preclinical through licensure, clinical trial operational support and bioanalytical testing, as well as CGMP manufacturing up to Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3). Ology Bioservices has more than 20 years of experience developing and manufacturing drugs and biologics for the U.S. government, with over $1.8 billion in government contracts awarded. The team at Ology Bioservices has decades of experience manufacturing, developing and licensing vaccines and protein/antibody therapeutics. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ologybio.com.

About DTRA

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency enables the Department of Defense, the United States Government, and international partners to counter and deter weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and improvised threat networks.

Countering WMD and improvised threats is a global problem that requires DTRA’s unique global presence and execution capabilities. As a Combat Support Agency, DTRA provides various forms of support to the Combatant Commands (CCMDs) and the military services with both defensive and offensive capabilities. The agency is uniquely prepared to address some of the most immediate, consequential, and non-conventional weapon threats to national security through leveraging and expanding collaboration with interagency and international partners.

As the DoD’s research and development leader focused on WMD and improvised threats, DTRA facilitates innovation through combining traditional research with unconventional means to develop and quickly field solutions to the most complex, deadly and urgent threats facing the United States and the rest of the world.

DTRA has over 2,000 uniformed military personnel and DoD civilians working on every continent except Antarctica. The agency has thousands of global engagements in more than 100 countries and in addition to multiple locations stateside and overseas, the agency has liaisons in many embassies.

About the JPEO-CBRND

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) is the DOD Joint Service’s lead for development, acquisition, fielding and life-cycle support of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense equipment and medical countermeasures. As an effective acquisition program, the JPEO-CBRND puts capable and supportable systems in the hands of the service members and first responders, when and where it is needed, at an affordable price. Our vision is a resilient Joint Force, enabled to fight and win unencumbered by a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear environment, championed by innovative and state-of-the-art solutions.

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