NIST awards potential $1.5 million to develop regenerative medicine curricula

Gaithersburg's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a potential $1.5 million to two organizations, with the goal of developing regenerative medicine standards curricula. Brammer Bio, LLC, and Gaithersburg's own Standards Coordinating Body (SCB) for Gene, Cell and Regenerative Medicines and Cell-Based Drug Discovery, will each receive $250,000 per year, with the option to renew for up to three addition years of funding. 

Regenerative medicine includes cell therapy, gene therapy, and therapeutic tissue engineering. It relies on the human body's own healing abilities to regenerate or replace damaged organs, cells, and tissue. As a rapidly-growing field in medicine and research, regenerative medicine is a promising new avenue in preventing, treating, and curing cancer and genetic disorders.

NIST was charged by the U.S. Congress last year to help develop the regenerative medicine workforce of the future. It oversaw a competitive process earlier this year, through which the two winning organizations were identified. Now these organizations will endeavor to create training programs on the standards, protocols, and measurements that will provide a foundation for the field going forward.

“We are thrilled to announce our new partnerships to develop an innovative standards education program, paving the way for flexible and immersive learning experiences that support advanced biomanufacturing,” Sheng Lin-Gibson, chief of NIST’s Biosystems and Biomaterials Division, said in a statement this morning. “These educational programs will facilitate the adoption of standards and best practices to increase quality and consistency of advanced therapies and ultimately bring down costs.”

Photo courtesy Robert Rathe/NIST

Mother and child assaulted at Rockville park

A mother and her child were both physically assaulted at a Rockville park on September 28, 2024, according to Rockville City police. Around 7:00 PM at Montrose Park at 451 Congressional Lane, the child was punched in the face by a juvenile male. When the child's mother confronted the juvenile assailant, she was assaulted by a female of unspecified age. No description of the assailants has been released as of this writing.

Rockville celebrates Piketoberfest 2024 (Photos)

One day after downtown Bethesda held its biggest annual event, one of the biggest fall events returned to Rockville Pike for 2024. Piketoberfest at Pike & Rose brought out the masses for four hours of food, live music, games, and a craft beer garden. My favorite pumpkin man returned to preside over the festivities for another year. There was even a rock climbing tower for the daredevils in the crowd. Good fortune prevailed on the weather front, as the event fell squarely between two hurricane rain events.

Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care relocates in Rockville

Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care has relocated in Rockville. It has moved from the Talbott Center to 170 Rollins Avenue, right across the street from the Bethany House apartments. Parking is available behind the building, which has been converted into a 6000-square-foot modern facility.

Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care has been a fixture in the regional mortuary business for over 100 years, after its founding in 1920 in Washington, D.C. In the 1970s they relocated to Rockville, where they have been a landmark at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Talbott Street for decades, making one move across the street to Talbott Center in 2015.

As the business has grown, so have the number of services offered. Ten years ago, the company added a monument division. In 2020, they introduced pet cremation and pet funeral care services. Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care continues to actively support area temples, hospice organizations, and cemeteries, along with a wide variety of other Jewish nonprofit organizations.

Photos courtesy Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care

Rockville diner punches manager over bad service

Sometimes leaving a reduced tip, or writing a bad Yelp review, apparently isn't enough. Rockville City police are looking for a man who got violent after becoming "angry about food service at a business." The suspect was patronizing an establishment in the 2200 block of Veirs Mill Road at 4:28 PM on September 24, 2024. Angry about what he felt was bad service, he allegedly punched the store manager, and threatened to spray him with a can of mace. 

Police describe the suspect as a balding Black male of medium-build, 32 to 33 years of age, and 5'9" in height. He was wearing a white T-shirt and white sweatpants, and carrying a "large square lunch bag." If you can identify the suspect, or have any information about this incident, call police at 240-314-8900.

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar opening in Rockville Oct. 5

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar at 12266 Rockville Pike at Federal Plaza now has an opening date. It is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 12:00 PM. "Kura Revolving Sushi Bar is a unique 'eater-tainment' destination that combines authentic Japanese cuisine with interactive dining," the chain said in a statement. "With more than 100 dishes served via a two-layered conveyor belt system, guests enjoy a whimsical journey of flavors, enhanced by our drink delivery robots, Kur-B the KuraBot, and Bikkura Pon prizes. It is our philosophy and ongoing promise to prepare food using REAL ingredients free of artificial sweeteners, seasonings, preservatives and colorings." Look for Kura right next to Torchy's Tacos, which just opened this past week.

But, wait, there's more! Save the date for the restaurant's Grand Opening celebration next week on Tuesday, October 8, at 11:30 AM. The first 50 seated dine-in guests on October 8th, 9th and 10th who show their Kura Sushi Rewards Member QR code will receive one (1) sushi towel. The first 300 seated dine-in guests on October 8th will receive a commemorative Rockville, Maryland location sticker. During the grand opening celebration, premium sushi will be $3.70 per plate. Other plate prices will vary. 

Operating hours from Saturday, October 5 through Monday, October 7 will be 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Beginning Tuesday, October 8, the regular business hours will be as follows: Sundays from 11:00 AM to 9:30 PM, Mondays through Thursdays from 11:30 AM to 9:30 PM, Fridays from 11:30 AM to 10:00 PM, and Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. 

How does the dual conveyor belt system work? One circulating belt rotates plates of sushi throughout the restaurant. Freshness is retained via their trademarked Mr. Fresh sushi lid, and the time plates have been out on the belt is monitored to ensure sushi is always fresh. A second belt above the primary belt is used to deliver a la carte items you order from your table directly to you. Any of the more than 100 menu selections you choose will travel the Express Belt to your table.

What are the Bikkura Pon prizes? According to the company, "the Bikkura Pon Prize System is an integral part of Kura Sushi USA’s innovative and tech interactive dining experience and is comprised of a prize machine, touch panel and plate disposal slot located at every table in the restaurant that are connected via sensors. The touch panel registers the number of sushi plates dispensed into the plate disposal slot. After every five plates inserted, a short animation will play on the touch panel and after every fifteen plates inserted, a prize will be dispensed from the prize machine."

Photo credits: 1-2 by Kura Revolving Sushi Bar; 3-5 by Emily J. Davis; 6-8 by Rockville Nights

 

Montgomery County Black cemetery advocates sue River Road self-storage developers

A seven-year dispute between advocates for a desecrated Black cemetery in Bethesda, and the developers of a self-storage building directly adjacent to it, is moving to the courtroom. Several activists have filed suit against the project's developers, 1784 Capital Holdings, LLC and Bethesda Self Storage Partners, LLC, in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The civil case is the latest effort by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to halt and reverse development impacts to the burial ground - which is located under land occupied by the Westwood Tower apartments and a second plot hastily-purchased by Montgomery County to avoid an archaeological search for graves - and ultimately have the graveyard memorialized and restored.

The six plantiffs in the case are asking the court for "a judicial declaration that the land, designated as parcel 242, was used as a burial ground and that human remains, burial artifacts and funerary objects were wrongfully removed from the site, and for an order requiring the defendants to return such remains, artifacts and objects to BACC," a press release from BACC today notes. The plaintiffs are also seeking monetary compensation. 

Although the self-storage site was not part of the original cemetery, the concern since 2017 has been that burials in Black cemeteries sometimes were placed beyond the boundaries of the graveyard in question, when property lines were not delineated by fencing. The core of the dispute is that observers with BACC say they saw potential remains and funerary objects being excavated and trucked away, while the archaeological expert hired by the developers reported that they had determined these were not human remains or funerary objects. Those bones and objects in question are now stored in a Virginia warehouse, and BACC has sought to have them reviewed by their own experts.

Among the plaintiffs are Harvey Matthews, a former resident of the Black community on River Road between Brookside Drive and Little Falls Parkway, that was wiped out by developers who evicted the residents to redevelop the area into an industrial and commercial zone in the 1960s. A second plaintiff is Darold Cuba, a historian who has extensively researched kinship communities and networks that formed in post-Emancipation America, exactly like the one on River Road formed by freed slaves from the adjacent Loughborough plantation. Cuba is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. 

BACC and its President, Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, are also plaintiffs. BACC community organizer and activist Ari Gutman, and activist and former Green Party candidate for Montgomery County Council Timothy Willard round out the parties filing suit.

The plaintiffs have the highest-powered legal representation yet in the cemetery saga. They are being represented by the prominent and massive international law firm of Holland & Knight.

A pre-trial conference in the case has been scheduled for June 5, 2025 in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The case has been assigned to Judge James A. Bonifant.

Photo: Gail Rebhan