News

Boston – September 22, 2026 -- Viva-Thera has nominated a preclinical candidate targeting the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of HIV-1 gp41, completing discovery and optimization in seven months through a partnership with AI drug-design firm XtalPi (HKEX: 2228). The biotech, incubated and backed by XtalPi as a strategic shareholder, made its public debut disclosing progress across four HIV modalities: vaccines, long-acting small molecules, gene therapy and cell therapy.

XtalPi's AI screened 10 million compounds to isolate five validated hits

Using generative AI, XtalPi navigated a chemical space of approximately 10 million compounds to identify five hits with strong antiviral activity and favorable drug properties. Continuous optimization of these leads drove the program to preclinical candidate nomination within seven months, according to the companies.

Brookfield, Conn. – September 22, 2026 -- ROM Technologies Inc. (ROMTech) said its PortableConnect Rehab System can address two structural barriers facing Department of Veterans Affairs knee-replacement patients: distance from rehabilitation sites and fractured coordination between VA and Community Care providers.

Rural Veterans face outsized travel burdens for post-surgical rehabilitation

Approximately 3 million rural Veterans are enrolled in VA health care, and 54% are age 65 or older. A national VA knee-replacement study found 40.8% of patients lived in rural areas, making repeated long-distance travel a barrier to consistent rehabilitation. The VA's 2026 revised budget request includes roughly $2.29 billion for Beneficiary Travel, though the agency does not break out spending attributable to rehabilitation or rural Veterans specifically.

Elizabeth, N.J. – September 22, 2026 -- New Jersey fast-casual chain Salad House catered a free, full-day youth basketball camp in Elizabeth as part of a growing NIL partnership with local high school standout Jayden Johnson.

Salad House delivers signature wraps to fuel young athletes at Elizabeth camp

The brand supplied platters of its Buffalo Chicken Wrap and Crispy Mutha Clucka Wrap during a lunch break at the Fred Erxleben Recreation Center, feeding campers between morning and afternoon basketball sessions. The camp offered free skill development, competition, and mentorship for local boys and girls.

Charlotte, N.C. – September 22, 2026 -- A newly announced security agreement among the United States, Denmark and Greenland would give Washington veto power over sensitive investment on an island holding some of the largest undeveloped rare earth deposits in the Western world, intensifying a supply race already projected to push the global rare earth market from $3.95 billion in 2024 to $6.28 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.

Potsdam, N.Y. – September 22, 2026 -- Clarkson University has become one of only 14 institutions nationwide to earn the newly created Carnegie Elective Classification for Sustainability, following its participation in the 2025 pilot program that shaped the classification's framework.

Fourteen institutions defined the pilot cohort nationwide

Clarkson helped design the review process used to evaluate the classification, which assesses sustainability integration across research, education, community engagement and campus operations. The 14 pilot institutions will form the inaugural classified cohort, to be formally announced in June 2027, with the designation valid through 2033.

Pune – September 22, 2026 -- Bitwise has earned more than 130 Databricks Delivery Expert badges, securing recognition among the top partners in a credentialing program that launched in May 2026 to identify firms with deep migration and modernization expertise across the Databricks ecosystem.

Bitwise Certifications Surpass 330 Across Its Engineering Organization

The Chicago-headquartered engineering firm, which operates delivery centers in Pune, India, has accumulated over 330 Databricks certifications organization-wide. The company also holds Databricks Silver Partner status and was previously named a Databricks Genie GTM Partner for conversational, AI-powered enterprise data access.

Indianapolis – – September 22, 2026 -- CMIT Solutions marked its 30th year in business at CMIT Connect Live! 2026, a multi-day convention in Indianapolis that brought together franchise owners, technicians and technology partners from its national managed IT services and cybersecurity network.

Dayal Bhagat wins top franchise honor for growth across three regions

The Franchise of the Year Award, the event's highest honor, went to Dayal Bhagat, who operates CMIT Solutions locations serving Roanoke, Virginia, and North Charlotte and Statesville, North Carolina. The award recognized sustained business growth, service delivery and alignment with CMIT's core values. Other nominees included Matt McCracken, Mike Minkler, Tom Shirey, Cheryl Nelan and Evan Stein, and Marty and Leslie Wood.

Milan – September 22, 2026 -- Pirelli's Board of Directors has majority approved a roughly €1 billion ($1.2 billion) multi-year investment to expand its Rome, Georgia plant, with three board members -- Zhang Haitao, Xi Xiaohong and Wang Kun -- voting against the plan.

Rome, Georgia capacity to double to 6 million tyres by 2033

The expansion will lift annual production capacity at the Rome facility to approximately 6 million car tyres by 2033, including CyberTM Tyre technology, and is expected to create around 1,000 new jobs. The buildout begins in 2027 in two phases: a robotized production line using Pirelli's proprietary MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotized System) technology will scale from 2028 to 3 million tyres annually, while a separate fully automated conventional facility dedicated to premium products will add another 3 million tyres of capacity at full operation.

Las Vegas – September 22, 2026 -- GMA Consulting has appointed Alisa Mirabal and David Robins as Senior Advisors, adding operational expertise in casino marketing technology and hospitality management to its client-advisory bench spanning public gaming companies, tribal operators, banks and government agencies.

San Jose, Calif. – September 22, 2026 -- The OpenSearch Software Foundation has recorded a 140% year-over-year jump in global project downloads, surpassing 2.4 billion total, as the vendor-neutral search and analytics platform expands its enterprise backing.

Intel, Adelean and Sidecar join as General Members strengthening technical direction

The Foundation announced three new General Members -- Adelean, Intel, and Sidecar -- who will now engage with working groups and help guide technical initiatives. Intel's membership extends its existing open source contributions to OpenSearch, which have focused on hardware-level acceleration to optimize performance.