Life Sciences

Call them the pipeline companies. To qualify for the Globe 100, companies must have traded stock for the full previous calendar year. But what about companies that went public between January 2011, and now? They're in the pipeline. In fact, they could be the future stars of the Globe 100. As they grow, they will help boost the state's economy. Look for them on next year's list. The Globe gathered together three top executives from such companies: Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Boston-based video services provider Brightcove Inc., which went public in February 2011; Robert...

Call them the pipeline companies. To qualify for the Globe 100, companies must have traded stock for the full previous calendar year. But what about companies that went public between January 2011, and now? They're in the pipeline. In fact, they could be the future stars of the Globe 100. As they grow, they will help boost the state's economy. Look for them on next year's list. The Globe gathered together three top executives from such companies: Jeremy Allaire, chief executive of Boston-based video services provider Brightcove Inc., which went public in February 2011; Robert...

Chip Clark, chief executive of the Cambridge life-sciences start-up Genocea Biosciences Inc., raised $35 million from a group of venture capital firms last year. It wasn't easy. "I would describe the mood as very selective," he said. It is getting harder for life-sciences start-ups and growth companies, once the darlings of investors, to raise funding from venture capital firms. Clark's read on the market was confirmed last week, when the third-quarter 2011 MoneyTree report on venture capital investing showed a steep decline across the country in venture investments in the...

BioMed Realty Trust Inc., a California real estate firm that is a Kendall Square landlord, said Thursday that AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. has signed a 12-year lease to relocate its operations to 650 East Kendall St. in Cambridge. AVEO currently occupies space at three Cambridge addresses on Sidney and Emily streets near Massachusetts Avenue, an AVEO spokesman said. Moving to Kendall Square, a hotbed for life sciences companies, will enable AVEO to consolidate operations under one roof and have more room.

A California developer will break ground today on an 11-acre, $500 million laboratory, office, and residential complex in Cambridge's Kendall Square, one of the largest construction projects to start in Greater Boston this year. Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. of Pasadena will start construction with a six-story headquarters for drug giant Biogen Idec Inc., which will move its executive offices from Weston. The development plans call for seven buildings, including two residential structures, in the heart of a commercial district that continues to attract the biotechnology giants whose growth has...

WASHINGTON — Massachusetts officials came courting biotechnology business yesterday, descending on the nation’s capital to promote an industry convention scheduled for Boston next year, trumpet new life sciences collaborations with three countries, and invite thousands of executives gathered here to set up shop in the Bay State. “The life sciences community in Massachusetts is on fire,’’ Governor Deval Patrick told a luncheon crowd at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual gathering.

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced yesterday that it has awarded a $5 million grant to the Museum of Science, Boston, that will be used to build a new, expansive exhibit dedicated to the life sciences. Construction of the exhibit, which will be called the Hall of Human Life, will begin this summer. The grand opening is scheduled for July 2013. "It will be the most spectacular exhibit on human biology in the world," said Ioannis N. Miaoulis, the museum's president and director.

Knome Inc., a Cambridge life sciences company, has named Dr. Martin Tolar as chief executive. Knome supports researchers with the informatics and software tools used to investigate the genetic basis of human disease and drug response. Before joining Knome, Tolar was chief executive of Normoxys Inc., where he helped build a management team, secure venture financing, and advance the company's novel cancer therapeutics from a research project into clinical development, Knome said.

NEW YORK - Analysts say there may be more consolidation in the life sciences sector following Invitrogen Corp.'s purchase of Applied Biosystems Group and Thermo Fisher's acquisition of Open Biosystems. "There is some school of thought that we'll start to see a broader consolidation wave," said JPMorgan analyst Tycho Peterson in a conference call Monday. Invitrogen Corp. has agreed to pay $6.4 billion for Applied Biosystems, which was a unit of Applera Corp. The deal brings Invitrogen's systems and Applied Biosystems' disposable products together to form the...

Cambridge venture capital firm Flagship Ventures said Tuesday that it is partnering with Merck Research Laboratories and its newly formed Merck Research Ventures in a collaboration designed to foster early-stage innovation in life sciences. Merck & Co. is a large drug company based in New Jersey. As part of the collaboration, Merck Research Ventures Fund became an investor in Flagship Ventures Fund IV L.P., a $270 million venture capital fund that closed in January, Flagship Ventures said in a press release.

English is emerging as the common tongue of the global economy, and companies that fail to adopt an English-only policy could face a competitive disadvantage. So argues Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review. In her article, Neeley notes that such companies as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, and SAP have "mandated" English as their corporate lingua franca. "If you want to surpass your rivals, it's no longer a matter of choice," Neeley wrote.

Jones Lang LaSalle said it has been appointed as exclusive leasing agent by Tufts University for the first phase of development of Grafton Science Park. The Grafton Science Park is a commercial life sciences and technology park located in Grafton on the western edge of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at a Tufts University campus. The park is a new 348,000-square-foot lab, research, and office park on the school's campus on Route 30. Construction of the park's first phase of infrastructure and public utilities is complete.

Cambridge venture capital firm Flagship Ventures said Tuesday that it is partnering with Merck Research Laboratories and its newly formed Merck Research Ventures in a collaboration designed to foster early-stage innovation in life sciences. Merck & Co. is a large drug company based in New Jersey. As part of the collaboration, Merck Research Ventures Fund became an investor in Flagship Ventures Fund IV L.P., a $270 million venture capital fund that closed in January, Flagship Ventures said in a press release.

Corning Inc., world's largest maker of LCD glass, is buying a majority of Becton, Dickinson and Co.'s Discovery Labware division for about $730 million in order to bolster its life sciences offerings. Corning's life sciences unit develops, makes and supplies scientific laboratory products. The deal excludes Discovery's advanced bioprocessing platform, medical technology company Becton, Dickinson said. Shares of Corning gained 10 cents to $13.58 in premarket trading while Becton, Dickinson and Co.'s stock added 56 cents to $77.25.

(Roxbury Community College) A draft rendering of planned renovations to an existing building at Roxbury Community College. By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent Roxbury Community College announced Wednesday it will receive $20.7 million in state bonds to help fund major renovation and modernization projects, including the construction of a $16-million life sciences center within the campus' existing buildings....

The developers of a long-stalled laboratory building in Boston's Longwood Medical Area have resumed construction of the $300 million project, part of a burst of development activity in the region's health care sector. The complex, to be called Longwood Center, will be a multitiered glass building containing street-level shops and laboratory space at what is now a large vacant lot at Brookline and Longwood avenues. Builders had stopped construction in the fall of 2008, when the economic downturn left them struggling to find tenants...

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Quincy College this summer will open its doors for the second year in a row to middle school students wishing to expand their science education. The Science Summer Experience provides students entering the seventh and eighth grades with the opportunity to learn about microbiology, biotechnology, health science and other science-related courses taught by Quincy College instructors. With several recently installed state-of-the-art science laboratories, the opportunity is ripe for students to come and engage with...

A $5 million grant from the Department of Labor, funded by fees companies pay to bring in temporary skilled workers from overseas, will help train hundreds of Greater Boston workers and students for careers in life sciences and health care, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said Thursday. The grant will underwrite the Metro Boston Skilled Careers in Life Sciences Initiative, a four-year program to train 360 residents of more than 80 communities, along with support for student internships and career counseling for some 3,000 individuals.