Three new companies including Boston Life Sciences, Inc., a publicly-traded biotech firm developing diagnostics and treatments for Parkinson's disease, have moved to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Technology Center. The Internet firm emeron and fluid dynamics/polymer chemistry specialists Lea Tech, LLC, round out the list of new arrivals at the University's on-campus headquarters for start-up and emerging tech companies.

Biotech firm Boston Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLSI, www.bostonlifesciences.com) was founded in 1992 and became a NASDAQ publicly traded company in 1995. BLSI is developing a pipeline of products for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the central nervous system such as Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury and stroke, as well as treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease. BLSI currently has products in Phase III clinical trials but doesn't have an approved product on the market yet. Once approved, BLSI's first product will be Altropane, a diagnostic for early Parkinson's disease that the company plans to market to physicians, hospitals and medical centers.

According to BLSI Senior Vice President and Director for Protein Development, Irene Gonzalez, Ph.D., the Company's Baltimore location expands its R & D activities in the area, with the main office in Boston, Mass. BLSI has 12 full time employees and is led by President and CEO S. David Hillson, Esq., and Marc Lanser, M.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer.

The Internet firm emeron (www.emeron.com) is the second new arrival at the UMBC center. emeron is a full-scale Internet development, hosting, promotion and consulting company. The company's new Baltimore location expands its presence in the Mid-Atlantic region from its headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. emeron's clients include Farmers and Mechanics Bank, MBNA America, Wawa Markets, and the National Adoption Foundation, among others.

According to Gregory Robleto of emeron's Baltimore office, the company chose the UMBC Tech Center after investigating several locations in Greater Baltimore. "The Tech Center provides emeron with room for continued growth and convenient access to surrounding businesses," Robleto said. emeron is actively hiring UMBC students for internship positions as web designers or developers, said Robleto. emeron employs 25 workers who split time between the Delaware and Baltimore offices.

Engineering research and development firm LeaTech, LLC, is the third new arrival at the UMBC Technology Center. LeaTech is a member of UMBC's small business incubator and specializes in the fields of fluid dynamics and polymer chemistry. LeaTech has a contract with the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research and is courting potential customers including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Boeing Company.

LeaTech developed from collaborative research with Lisa Kelly, a member of UMBC's Chemistry faculty. The company also is collaborating with Dr. Peter Kofinas at University of Maryland, College Park. LeaTech currently employs a team of four and is led by Marvine Hamner, D.Sc.