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Katie Baca-Motes — Co-Founder, Scripps Research Digital Trials Ctr — Re-Engineering Clinical Trials

Re-engineering clinical trials around participants — katie baca-motes, co-founder, scripps research digital trials center, scripps research.


Katie Baca-Motes, MBA, (https://www.scripps.edu/science-and-medicine/translational-i…aca-motes/) is Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, and Co-Founder of the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center (https://digitaltrials.scripps.edu/).

Katie leads various initiatives, including launching their new Digital Trials Center, focusing on expanding the institute’s portfolio of decentralized clinical trial initiatives including: DETECT, a COVID-19 research initiative, PowerMom, a maternal health research program and PROGRESS, an upcoming T2 Diabetes/Precision Nutrition program, as well as overseeing the institute’s role in the NIH “All of Us” Research Program as a Participant Center.

The Scripps Research Translational Institute (SRTI), was founded in 2007 with the aim of individualizing healthcare by leveraging the remarkable progress being made in human genomics and combining it with the power of wireless digital technologies.

The Scripps Research Digital Trials Center, a part of SRTI, leads groundbreaking studies that address the world’s most pressing health concerns, by pioneering “site-less” clinical trials, leveraging rapidly evolving digital health technologies to re-engineer the clinical trial experience around the participant, rather than the research site.

Dr. Douglas Willard — Game Changing Development Program, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA

Advancing Space Tech For Future Missions — Dr. Douglas Willard, Ph.D., Game Changing Development Program, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA


Dr. Douglas E. Willard, PhD, (https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/game_changing_de…g-willard/) is Program Element Manager, Game Changing Development Program, Space Technology Mission Directorate, at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Game Changing Development (GCD) Program advances space technologies that may lead to entirely new approaches for the Agency’s future space missions and provide solutions to significant national needs. GCD collaborates with research and development teams to progress the most promising ideas through analytical modeling, ground-based testing and spaceflight demonstration of payloads and experiments and their efforts are focused on the mid Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range 0, generally taking technologies from initial lab concepts to a complete engineering development prototype. The Program employs a balanced approach of guided technology development efforts and competitively selected efforts from across academia, industry, NASA, and other government agencies.

GCD strives to develop the best ideas and capabilities irrespective of their source. The Program’s investment in innovative space technologies directly supports NASA’s mission to “Drive advances in science, technology, and exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality, and stewardship of Earth”. GCD’s focus on transformative space and science technologies will enable science missions and NASA’s Artemis Program. Additionally, GCD’s technology developments serve as a stimulus to the U.S. economy while providing inspiration and opportunity to our nation’s youth.

Previously, Dr. Willard was the Deputy Division Chief of the Laboratories, Development and Testing Division at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He served in many leadership roles at Kennedy, including Chief Engineer for Research & Technology Development and Branch Chief of the Engineering Analysis Branch within the Engineering Directorate. He also served for many years as a research physicist in Kennedy’s Applied Physics Lab.

Russia now faces critical digital crisis with only limited time left

The Russian government is now facing a digital storage crisis as Western cloud services have pulled their services from the country.

Western cloud storage providers have pulled out of Russia following heavy Western sanctions designed to cripple the Russian economy. According to reports, the Russian government is looking at several different ways to solve the problem of finding hosts for Russia’s data, and some of those solutions include leasing all available data storage across Russia or seizing all data storage from Russian businesses that have left the country.

The Hydrogen Stream: Universal Hydrogen builds manufacturing facility in the United States

Abundant fuel cell raw materials and renewables potential could add up to a green hydrogen economy in the Philippines, according to Jose Mari Angelo Abeleda Jr and Richard Espiritu, two professors at the University of the Philippines Diliman. In a paper published in this month’s Energy Policy, they explained the country is a latecomer to the sector and should develop basic and applied knowledge for training and research. The country should also establish stronger links between industry and academia, the report’s authors suggested. “The establishment of the Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute (Perpi) is a move towards the right direction as it will be instrumental in crafting policies and pushing for activities that will usher for more private-academ[ic] partnerships for the development of fuel cell technology in the Philippines,” the scholars wrote. “However, through enabling legislation, a separate and dedicated Hydrogen Research and Development Center (HRDC) will be pivotal in ensuring that sufficient government and private funding are provided.” The authors reported progress in the production of fuel cell membranes but few developments towards large scale production, transport, and storage facilities. “The consolidation of existing renewable energy sources for hydrogen production can also be explored in order to ensure reliable and sustainable hydrogen fuel supply,” they wrote. “This is because the country will gain more benefit if it focuses more on the application of fuel cell technology on rural electrification via renewa[ble] energy-based distributed power generation, rather than on transportation such as fuel cell vehicles.”

Paris-based energy engineering company Technip Energies and Indian energy business Greenko ZeroC Private have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore green hydrogen project development opportunities in the refining, petrochemicals, fertilizer, chemical, and power plant sectors in India. “The MOU aims to facilitate active engagement between the teams of Technip Energies in India and Greenko to step up collaborative opportunities on a build-own-operate (BOO) model – in which Greenko will be the BOO operator and owner of the asset and Technip Energies will support with engineering services, integration and EP/EPC [engineering and procurement/engineering, procurement and constructrion] – for pilot and commercial scale green hydrogen and related projects in India in order to offer economically feasible technology solutions to clients,” the French company wrote today.

U.S. Senate approves bill to make daylight saving time permanent

The best news of 2022, so far.


WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023, ending the twice-annual changing of clocks in a move promoted by supporters advocating brighter afternoons and more economic activity.

The Senate approved the measure, called the Sunshine Protection Act, unanimously by voice vote. The House of Representatives, which has held a committee hearing on the matter, must still pass the bill before it can go to President Joe Biden to sign.

The White House has not said whether Biden supports it. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to say if she supports the measure but said she was reviewing it closely.

SpaceX drone ship leaves port for sixth back-to-back Starlink launch

SpaceX drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) has departed Port Canaveral in anticipation of the company’s sixth consecutive Starlink launch.

Known as Starlink 4–12, the mission will be SpaceX’s sixth uninterrupted Starlink launch – just shy of the company’s record of seven Starlink launches between commercial payloads. Though SpaceX would probably prefer to avoid month-long streaks without commercial launches, the company’s ability to use its own launch capabilities to deploy its Starlink constellation means that it can maintain valuable economies of scale while simultaneously launching satellites that generate some revenue.

With approximately 200,000 active subscribers, Starlink should already be generating around ~$250 million in annual revenue – perhaps enough to pay for anywhere from five to ten Starlink launches. Viewed another way, $250M would also pay the average annual salaries of more than 2,300 employees. Even if it doesn’t come close to the $1–2 billion SpaceX is likely spending annually on Starlink development, deployment, and operations, it’s still better than the alternative that all other launch providers are left with: nothing.

Russia has requested military and economic assistance from China, US officials say

Russia has asked China for military support, including drones, as well as economic assistance for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, according to conversations CNN had with two US officials.

The requests came after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the officials said. That official declined to detail the Chinese reaction but indicated that the Chinese had responded.

Potential assistance from the Chinese would be a significant development in Russia’s invasion. It could upend the hold Ukrainian forces still have in the country as well as provide a counterweight to the harsh sanctions imposed on Russia’s economy.

As prices top $4 a gallon, should you consider an electric vehicle? One consideration: They’re more expensive to insure and repair. Here’s why

Tesla will sell car insurance, but electric-vehicle insurance and repairs are more expensive than for traditional cars. Here’s why.


The average cost of repairs are nearly 3% higher for a small EV versus a small internal-combustion engine car, says CCC Intelligent Solutions, a data and consulting firm that has examined the impact of EVs on the automotive, insurance and repair industries.

The same researchers found that spending on replacemet parts as a share of the overall repair costs was higher for a small EV despite that EV having 9.1 parts replaced per claim on average, versus 9.6 parts for small ICE cars. Access the full report here.

“The repair and replacement parts for many components of EVs are different from gasoline cars, and their relative scarcity/lack of economies of scale, plus their higher price, means that the insurance premiums to cover them are also higher,” said Lane of the University of Kansas.