SAN DIEGO, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Biotech Networks, the leader in connecting life science professionals since 2008, is establishing three new regional hubs to extend the organization’s reach throughout the US western region and the US east coast. The new hubs will include life science professionals and organizations in Texas, Utah, Colorado and North Carolina. This expansion is being launched in conjunction with the 2022 Biotechnology Innovation Organization convention taking place in San Diego June 13-16. Biotech Networks will be hosting two virtual career fairs in June which will be inclusive of the new hubs.

The increase in remote work, rising cost of living expenses, and a shift towards better work life balance have led a growing number of US life science professionals to relocate to emerging biotech hubs. Biotech Networks’ platform has been developed and highly successful in California and is being replicated in these emerging hubs, allowing life science professionals and organizations to connect and exchange information and resources. Biotech Networks provides regional news and jobs for each of its now ten hubs in conjunction with global virtual events, allowing life science professionals to build the local and global communities they need.

Biotech Networks chose 3 emerging regions for their most recent expansion, beginning with the US western region, which already is comprised of Biotech Networks in California, Washington and Oregon. Texas Region Biotech Networks will serve that state’s life science industry in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, Texas, and may expand to adjoining states depending on interest. This region has world class research institutions such as the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT Southwestern Medical Center and it also boasts the Austin entrepreneurial hotbed. The second new US western region Biotech Networks hub is Utah Colorado Biotech Networks, which includes the Denver/Boulder Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah and includes the research institutions University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University of Utah.

On the US east coast, Biotech Networks has established the Boston Cambridge Biotech Networks, Pennsylvania NY NJ Biotech Networks, and DC Maryland Virginia Biotech Networks, and is now expanding with North Carolina Biotech Networks which will initially include that state, with plans to expand to South Carolina. North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park region boasts research powerhouses Duke University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State, with most life science research taking place in Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we all work and live, and networking within and between biotech hubs is now more important than ever,” said Mary Canady, PhD, Biotech Networks President. “Biotech Networks breaks down the connection barriers by providing engaging virtual events and resources to advance life science innovations wherever they are being made.”

Since 2020, Biotech Networks has hosted highly engaging virtual events, including speed networking, diversity and inclusion panels, career fairs, and career development workshops. Biotech Networks is hosting virtual career fairs for the US western region and US east coast in June, see website for more information. Dr. Mary Canady is available to meet with potential partners at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization convention in San Diego June 13-16, meeting requests can be made on the Biotech Networks website.

Read the PR Newswire release here.

SAN DIEGO AND WASHINGTON (PRWEB) MARCH 17, 2022

Biotech Networks, the leader in connecting life science professionals since 2008, is once again expanding its reach by launching a community in the Washington DC area and by providing a remote jobs resource. DC Maryland Virginia Biotech Networks (dcbn.org) is a new hub that will connect and provide resources to professionals and organizations in the greater Washington DC area. Remote job postings will be listed on the Biotech Networks parent site, the first of its kind resource which is in response to workplace changes that have taken place due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for more accessible employment opportunities.

Biotech Networks was founded in California and had previously expanded to reach all US west coast life science hubs in Washington state and Oregon. More recently, hubs in the US northeast were launched in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. This growth is being fueled by Biotech Networks’ expertise in leveraging cutting edge online and virtual event technologies to forge connections within the industry as well as the surge in hiring by life science organizations.

The Washington, DC area, including Maryland and Virginia, is a robust life science hub, home to the National Institutes of Health main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This campus includes the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). A large number of scientists and policy experts and related companies reside in this US Capitol region, and its strategic mid-Atlantic location has contributed to its growth as an important biotech hub. The DCBN hub is currently providing the latest news, jobs, and virtual events to the region, with eventual plans to host in person events.

Biotech Networks will welcome its new DC Maryland Virginia Biotech Networks hub to their April 12th 2022 US East/West Coast & Remote Virtual Career Fair. Hiring organizations will have a range of sponsorship opportunities to connect with graduate-level candidates in all Biotech Networks hubs, and will gain exposure to the organization’s 50,000 followers. Candidates will quickly and easily gain access to learning about jobs and meeting with the hiring organizations by video or text chats.

Biotech Networks is also launching their remote jobs resource at the April 12th career fair event, to be housed on the parent website biotechnetworks.org. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated many companies to move towards more flexible working from home situations. Several companies in the industry have realized that remote or hybrid working conditions is more inclusive of workers with family care needs. Additionally, providing the flexibility of working from home give competitive edge to companies looking to fill positions in a frenzied hiring climate.

“Expanding Biotech Networks on the US east coast with DC Maryland Virginia Biotech Networks and providing a remote jobs resource furthers our goal to be the leader in connecting the life science industry,” said Mary Canady, PhD, Biotech Networks President. “The sharing of ideas and resources between biotech hubs through online resources and virtual events, along with the acceleration of hiring processes, will speed up life-saving research and the development of products to improve our collective quality of life.”

Learn more about Biotech Networks and their upcoming events at biotechnetworks.org

Read the PR Newswire release here.

Biotech Networks, the premier life science organization catalyzing connections between thousands of professionals in the field globally, is hosting the first virtual career fair focused on improving diversity in California’s life science industry. Biotech Networks pivoted in 2020 to virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging cutting edge software to ensure that valuable connections that fuel life science research and development advancements continue to be made. Biotech Networks is now leveragi

Source: Biotech Networks Hosts First Virtual Career Fair Focused on Improving Diversity in California’s Life Science Industry

In this episode he explains why Illumina started a podcast and what the goals are. Because he keeps the conversations high level and avoids jargon, he has built an audience far beyond those who use or might use Illumina’s products or services.

The advantage of a podcast he notes is that because the budget requirement is small, it’s possible to do more stories than you could with a video series. And that keeps the content fresh.

For small companies with limited budgets, Paul thinks a podcast is a great way to find your audience.

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.

SPONSOR

This episode is sponsored by the Sensors Global Summit. It takes place December 10-12 in San Diego. Save 10% with the promo code SGS10 when you register at?www.sensorsglobalsummit.com.

The process begins in December with applications due by December 18, 2019. Companies will move through several rounds (like an NCAA tournament bracket) where a winner will be chosen from the final six on March 28.

This episode explains the process, where the money comes from, the requirements to be an angel investor, the successes of last years participants and what will be different this year- including more money.

Learn more at: TheSDangels.com

The worldwide demand for seafood is rising while the supply of fish is diminishing. BlueNalu is working to close that gap through cellular aquaculture – manufacturing fish meat in bioreactors.

It begins with a fish biopsy. Muscle, fat and connective tissue cells are separated out and grown in bioreactors. The three cell types are intended to be combined at the end to create fish meat that can be fried, grilled or prepared any way you like with no bones, no heads, and no tails to worry about.

Lou Cooperhouse, CEO of BlueNalu, explains the importance of this “third leg on the stool” in addition to wild caught and farm raised seafood along with benefits to our oceans and the seafood industry.

We discussed:

• The market for manufactured seafood protein
• The strategy for bringing this product to market and goals for price parity
• The impact on the seafood supply chain
• What makes the BlueNalu approach different from other clean meat alternatives

BlueNalu Resources

Our Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Labviva. Search for reagents and supplies based on your area of research. Products are displayed along with relevant publications and protocols gathered by AI.

Save 10% on your first order.

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Jeane Wong calls herself a bus driver for bigger brains. She has built a community of scientists who are sharing their knowledge and experience with kids in San Diego Schools.The Leagues’s origin story could have come out of the Marvel Universe. It started with a pre-school.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Who the programs are designed for
• What makes them different
• Why it’s important for San Diego
• How scientists can get involved

You can learn more at?the League’s Facebook page

The LXSE on Instagram

Or email??leaguexse “at” gmail.com

Website

Learn more about the podcast and SDBN at?https://sdbn.org/buzz/

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Stanley Maloy is a life scientist and the Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation at San Diego State University. He has a passion for entrepreneurship.

We often think some people have a gift for being an entrepreneur – coming up with new ideas and bringing them to market. And unfortunately, a lot of would-be entrepreneurs fail. But entrepreneurship can be learned like any other skill.

In this epsiode, we discussed the I-Corps program of the NSF and how that is making an impact.

Stanley describes:

• Who is eligible
• What makes a good candidate
• What learning entrepreneurship looks like
• Why it’s important to include under-represented groups
• Opportunities for entrepreneurs other than a startup

Mentioned in this episode:

The Mom Test?

Business Model Canvas

Lean Startup

If you want to learn more:

https://www.csuperb.org/csuicorps/

I-Corps CSU

I-Corps BIO

https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-ccorps/

Learn more about the podcast and advertising opportunities at?sdbn.org/buzz

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We’ll cover innovation, entrepreneurship, careers, diversity and more.

In this episode, Mary Canady, the founder of the San Diego Biotech Network and Chris Conner, the host of Life Science Marketing Radio, talk about their collaboration and vision for the podcast.

Subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher

Learn more about the podcast and advertising opportunities at sdbn.org/buzz.

We’ll cover innovation, entrepreneurship, careers, diversity and more.

In this episode, Mary Canady, the founder of the San Diego Biotech Network and Chris Conner, the host of Life Science Marketing Radio, talk about their collaboration and vision for the podcast.

Learn more about the podcast and advertising opportunities at?https://sdbn.org/buzz/.

?Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

?Subscribe on Stitcher

We?ve been covering the many ways San Diego life science researchers and professionals can grow from attending DIA 2019, and of course we?re overjoyed that there are so many great blended networking and learning opportunities at the event. DIA 2019 is organized to connect you with others at the event in different ways, representing different learning and interaction styles to help you find an environment with which you?re comfortable.

Content Hubs. 30 minute learning-networking hybrid sessions designed for smaller groups to connect face-to-face. Topics include career growth, value-based healthcare, data analysis, product launches, clinical trials and patient engagement, and more, see all Content Hubs here.

Engage and Exchange. Got a bit more time to dive into a topic, and to interact with others? Check out the Engage and Exchange sessions, which are 45-60 minute problem-solving activities you?ll participate in with a breakout group. Topics include communication and negotiation skills, clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and more, see all Engage and Exchange sessions here.

Poster Sessions. As the standby for scientific conferences, you may find that poster sessions are where you feel comfortable interacting with other attendees. The posters are split into student (presented Monday June 24^th) and professional (presented Tuesday June 25^th and Wednesday June 26^th) sessions. You can plan ahead by viewing poster abstracts here. There is no better way to learn about a topic, and to network with an expert in an area, than to meet them in front of their poster.

Exhibit Hall. You?ll find that the exhibit hall is one of the best places to network, with 450 companies that are eager to show you their latest products and services. Networking and business cards abound in the exhibit hall, and you should get cards printed now if you don?t already have them. See the full exhibitor list here where you can search, browse, and see company products and news, and you can favorite and print the list of exhibits you want to visit.

Dedicated Networking. DIA 2019 is serious about networking, check out this dedicated page that highlights the opportunities, including the dedicated networking space in the San Diego Convention Center?s Sails Pavilion, the DIA Community Zone. Community round tables will take place here, which are by design a great place to network and learn, with topics ranging from pharmacovigilance to clinical trials.

Targeted Networking. As we?ve covered before, DIA 2019 uses the Sched app so you can plan your schedule (get it?), and you can also see who?s speaking at each event. With the smaller formats mentioned above, it?s likely you?ll be able to meet several of the speakers, so you should plan ahead to attend sessions with that in mind. This networking is especially important for drug discovery, development, clinical and regulatory professionals on the US west coast, because we cannot easily meet with US east coast regulatory agencies due to our distance from them. DIA 2018 hosted 240 FDA representatives in Boston last year, and the attendance is expected to be comparable at DIA 2019.

These networking and learning opportunities should help you to convince your boss (or yourself!) to attend DIA 2019, if you still need more information, download this justification letter that you can customize and send to the decision maker. We attend a lot of life science conferences, and DIA 2019?s content and format are very advanced, and thus useful, compared to most, and we hope you can attend.

If you?re following our Drug Information Association 2019 (DIA 2019) blog series, you know that we have outlined some great reasons for San Diego scientists and professionals to attend the local event in June. Many life science conferences offer great subject matter content, but not as much in the way of resources to further attendees? career growth. DIA 2019 is refreshingly different in this regard, with many opportunities to learn everything from the ?hard skills? of navigating US and international regulatory agencies to the ?soft skills? of developing great teams.

Below, we outline five different ways you can gain new skills that will help you advance your career at DIA 2019.

Predefined Tracks

As pointed out in our first DIA 2019 post, some San Diego life scientists may be stepping outside of their comfort zone in learning about drug development and may be overwhelmed by the DIA 2019 schedule. Thankfully, DIA 2019 has outlined 13 different tracks, so that you can set a course to become more knowledgeable about a certain area, even if you don?t know much about the topic at the outset:

1. Clinical Safety and Pharmacovigilance
2. Clinical Trials and Clinical Operations
3. Data and Data Standards
4. Medical Affairs and Scientific Communication
5. Patient Engagement
6. Preclinical Development and Early-Phase Clinical Research
7. Project Management and Strategic Planning
8. R&D Quality and Compliance
9. Regulatory
10. Regulatory CMC and Product Quality
11. Statistics
12. Value and Access
13. Professional Development

Track #13, Professional Development, will be a very useful track, including a resume workshop, a session on career transitions, and networking tips, including a session on getting the most out of the meeting. If you?re still not sure, you can view the top 10 DIA 2018 sessions for free, to decide which sessions to attend.

Short Courses

For an additional cost, you can take a half or full day DIA 2019 short course before the conference. A broad range of offerings is provided, from learning how to work with domestic and international regulatory agencies, to data interpretation and visualization, to learning how to lead a team.

Continuing Education

DIA 2019 offers continuing education credit in several areas, including physician, nursing, project management, pharmacy and legal education. Additionally, DIA is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).

DIY Schedule

As with most conferences, you can search for keywords to find sessions of interest and build your schedule. DIA 2019 turns this up to 11 for planning a schedule that benefits you because they offer many insightful sessions AND they let you build your schedule easily through the DIA 2019 Sched app. You can simply search for your favorite topic on the agenda and add the items. Here are some example searches that you might find relevant:

• CRISPR
• Social Media
• Artificial Intelligence

You can even sign up for the Sched app before you register, build an impressive schedule, and email it to your boss so you can get approval quickly.

Easy Networking

Networking is always a win-win activity for conferences, as it helps attendees personally and professionally. DIA 2019 is structured to facilitate lots of networking, we spoke a bit about it in our previous posts and will cover it more in depth in our next post, stay tuned to the DIA 2019 blog series to learn more!

• Providing more marketing to sponsors before, during, and after the event to help them get a better return on investment (ROI)
• Using our local knowledge of biotech company locations and great local eateries to attract high quality attendees
• Preregistering attendees and providing quick access to attendee lists so sponsors can follow up
• Affordably pricing the events to further improve ROI

As a result of our careful planning, we attracted high quality attendees and sponsors, and made many connections between them. Many of the May Lunch On Us sponsors enthusiastically expressed their satisfaction with the event (which is hard to portray, but we’re working on that…). If you’re a potential sponsor, and are wondering whether our events are right for you, check out the attendee demographics and interests below, and please join us at our next SDBN Lunch On Us Events.

Word Cloud of the May SDBN Lunch On Us Registrant’s Companies. Due to our careful choice of locations, many leading biotech companies were represented.

Word Cloud of Job Titles of May SDBN Lunch On Us Registrants. Because registrants know what to expect, and the location is convenient, we attracted many high quality attendees, including a few CEOs.

Our June 2019 events will be strategically placed to reach the industrial and the academic markets, and they’re 2 days apart, so you can make just one trip to San Diego, if you’re not local. Join us as a sponsor for SDBN Lunch On Us.

You may have seen a recent blog post in which Scripps Research graduate Sudip Parikh, now Senior Vice President of the Drug Information Association (DIA), talks about his journey from being a researcher to leading the DIA, an organization that serves to bridge drug discovery to marketed drugs. In the article, Sudip pointed out that the DIA 2019 meeting in San Diego June 23-25 will be a great place for drug discovery researchers to learn how their work is translated into cures, and for drug development professionals to improve their knowledge and skills. The SDBN is happy to be working with DIA to promote their flagship meeting, and we are publishing a DIA 2019 blog series leading up to the event.

A good conference keynote speaker sets the tone for the meeting and provides an inspiring perspective to attendees and the field in general. DIA 2019?s keynote speaker, Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is an excellent choice to kick off the meeting, as the NHLBI?s $3 billion budget funds cutting edge research which leads to the development of drugs that improve millions of lives. In addition, Dr. Gibbons? vision for the NHBLI can be viewed as a template for more modern, collaborative successful drug discovery and development.

Dr. Gibbons joined the NHLBI in 2012, continuing a career of distinguished public health service that he credits to his mother, who founded and supported numerous charities and individuals during his childhood in a predominantly African American neighborhood near Philadelphia. Dr. Gibbons has brought his commitment to stewardship to benefit patients and scientists alike by setting the strategic vision of the NHLBI. Below is a snapshot of several key NHLBI initiatives that Dr. Gibbons is leading that are highly relevant to both the DIA 2019 meeting and the San Diego life science community.

New Collaborations to Cure Disease. Dr. Gibbons is spearheading the NIH/NHLBI?s Cure Sickle Cell Initiative, which will leverage the many years of disease research data, new genetic methods such as gene therapy and gene editing, and increased patient engagement towards the goal of finding a cure in 5 years. Sickle cell disease has been called the ?first molecular disorder? as its genetic cause was discovered in 1949, but 70 years later palliative care is the only treatment option for the 300,000 afflicted people that are born each year. Socioeconomic forces have contributed greatly to the lack of a cure, calling for an interdisciplinary approach.? The Cure Sickle Cell Initiative is taking a ?Nucleotides to Neighborhoods? approach which will leverage the resources and data from academic institutions, biotech and pharmaceutical companies, federal agencies, professional societies, and patient advocacy groups to bring advanced therapies to these patients. This approach is inspiring to San Diego life scientists and professionals, as they can use similar strategies to advance therapies in discovery and developmental stages locally, especially with our wealth of genomic resources and data. Which local organizations could join the Cure Sickle Cell Initiative and similar programs and which diseases do we have the data to make a real difference?

Increases in Discovery Research Funding. Dr. Gibbons has led the NHLBI to fund more early stage research, realizing its importance. Since 2012, NHLBI has increased its funding percentage for R01 grants by more than 10% for both established and new investigators. NHLBI-funded projects have a very broad scope as the organization supports research involving the heart, lungs, and blood, and learning about the current opportunities and the direction of funding will help you, whether you?re working in academia or industry. NHLBI?s commitment to increase discovery research funding goes hand in hand with their collaborative efforts such as the Cure Sickle Cell Initiative, as there are many benefits to bringing scientists closer to the patients they serve. NIH?s All of Us Research Program, which will generate patient data on an unprecedented scale, is also key to NHLBI?s collaborative efforts, and has a strong genomics component. While local organizations are already participating in collaborations such as All of Us, it would be great for more local researchers and professionals to learn about how the San Diego life science community can be even more involved.

Scientific Career Advancement. Dr. Gibbons is an excellent choice to be the keynote speaker at DIA 2019 because he shares their vision in supporting scientists? career growth (for more details see posts in this series). One of the objectives of the NHLBI Strategic Mission is to ?further develop, diversify, and sustain a scientific workforce capable of accomplishing the NHLBI?s mission.? Key to this objective is increasing the diversity of the workforce by expanding exposure to potential young scientists. Indeed, these efforts dovetail with NHLBI?s overall mission to improve the health of all Americans, as a diverse scientific community will better address the needs of underrepresented populations, such as the African Americans who are more susceptible to sickle cell disease. NHLBI?s support of scientists extends to working scientists, and in a recent presentation he outlined the many grants and awards available, including a loan repayment program. ?Dr. Gibbons is also very supportive of the scientists and health professionals that work at the NHLBI, encouraging them to be heart healthy by exercising during the day. Local scientists and principal investigators should attend to learn about these funding ?opportunities for themselves or their lab.

With Dr. Gibbons as the keynote speaker, you can be assured not only of an inspiring and informative presentation, but that the DIA 2019 meeting will share his vision of collaboration. Throughout the meeting you?ll network with many who can advance your drug discovery, drug development, or patient engagement goals. Check back soon to see the next in our DIA 2019 series.

I had a great experience as a Scripps Research graduate student in La Jolla. After graduating, I moved to the east coast and had the opportunity to work on the United States Senate Appropriations Committee, where I learned how much my graduate research, and its funding, had been guided by what happens in Washington, DC. Currently, I work for the Drug Information Association, a 55-year-old organization that covers drug development from scientific discovery through patient access.

I?m excited to come back to San Diego, as the region also sits at the interface between drug discovery and development, with more companies progressing into the clinic than ever. Looking back at my early career in San Diego, I wish someone had told me why I should attend DIA?s annual meeting so I would have understood how to focus my research for greater impact on human health. DIA 2019 has so much to offer San Diego researchers and biotech professionals, and I?ve distilled the highlights into my top 5 reasons to attend, below.

Five Reasons to Attend DIA in San Diego June 23-27:

1. Get Thought Leaders? Perspectives. Our honorary Co-Chairs represent thought leadership from the agencies regulating the drug development process and the organizations advancing exciting new therapeutics. Meeting Co-Chair Professor Guido Rasi, MD, is the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and will give a global perspective on the drug approval landscape. Co-Chair Joanne Waldstreicher, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer at Johnson & Johnson, where she has a pivotal role in overseeing the safety and epidemiology of pharmaceuticals, devices, and consumer products for safety, epidemiology, clinical and regulatory operations transformation. The co-chairs, along with DIA leadership, will begin the meeting with a plenary DIAmond session and have focused the event on two main topics: advanced therapies and data, which are described in more detail below.
2. Learn the Latest on Advanced Therapies. When I was a graduate student at Scripps Research, technologies such as CRISPR and gene therapy were not even discussed. DIA2019 will feature a keynote from Gary H. Gibbons, MD, Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health. NHLBI-funded research includes the development of advanced therapies such as gene therapy for sickle cell disease as well as novel therapies for cystic fibrosis. Dr. Gibbons will discuss highlights of NHLBI-funded research, as well as the data used to develop these new therapies. The program is full of important lessons learned from the development and commercialization of advanced therapies such as biologics, precision medicines, gene therapy, and the emerging field of gene editing.
3. Dive Into Data. San Diego research centers and genomics companies have been a big driver in the unprecedented levels of DNA sequencing and personal health data being generated. Learn about the data that is used to determine whether a drug is safe, and how new digital tools and artificial intelligence/machine learning will change the process. You?ll also see how statistics and visualization tools that you may be familiar with, such as R, are used in the drug development process, and improve your skills in using them. Of equal importance is the ethics of data collection and utilization. Who owns a person?s biological data, and what is our responsibility to protect their privacy and to potentially reimburse patients or contributors?
4. Plot Your Path. When I was a graduate student, I had no idea about the path a drug candidate would take to become a medicine. When you add current issues associated with advanced therapies, as well as options for developing drugs internationally, there are at the same time great challenges and opportunities. At DIA 2019, you can choose from any number of workshops ranging from artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development to administering clinical trials internationally. You can learn how to lead and work effectively on a drug development team, and how to use social media to build your personal brand. Pre-conference short courses (additional fee) and DIA 2019?s interactive conference sessions (see details below) are great places to learn. In addition, walking the exhibit hall will also be a great opportunity to learn firsthand from more than 400 pre-clinical and clinical contract research organizations and providers.
5. Network, Network, Network. While DIA 2019 is a large meeting, we?ve gone to great lengths to ensure that meaningful interactions are made between attendees. We?ve hired experts who specialize in interactions to structure DIA meetings to maximize connections between attendees. The key is interactive sessions with 30-100 attendees, which makes large DIA events much less intimidating, even for bench scientists. Check out the schedule and look for the Content Hubs, Engage-Exchange, Professional Development, and Networking-Community Events subsections (use the color-coded filter on the right). Also check out the networking schedule and note the Monday morning meeting orientation and that San Diego Convention Center?s Sails Pavilion is a dedicated networking space, with round table discussions to be announced soon. At DIA 2018 in Boston, 240 representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) attended, as well as many representatives from international regulatory agencies, so you?ll make great connections.

DIA 2019 is also very affordable for startups, virtual companies, and academics alike, especially when you consider the professional and career development opportunities. In addition, registration for DIA 2019 includes a DIA membership so you can benefit from our resources all year long, check out the registration rates and discounts. The west coast can feel like it?s a ?world away? from regulatory agencies in Washington, DC, and beyond. Attending DIA 2019 in your own back yard is more cost effective than travelling to meet with these organizations. Even if you don?t yet have a drug ready for development, the connections you?ll make are priceless.

I?m looking forward to helping advance California drug discovery and development by hosting DIA 2019 in San Diego. I hope to see some of my Scripps Research colleagues at the event, as well.

*Content sponsored by Drug Information Association, Inc.?

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Figure 1. The number of companies in each category are shown, broken down by the number of employees in each company. Not surprisingly, therapeutics, also known as drug discovery, companies are the largest sector. Additionally, the number of companies with 1-10 employees is normally the largest percentage, indicating that San Diego is a great environment for early stage startups. Note that some companies are in more than one category and are thus counted more than once for this figure. Users can easily use the advanced search to view the companies represented by each element of this chart, such as searching for all of the Diagnostics companies with 11-50 employees.

Figure 2. There are 64 publicly traded San Diego biotechnology companies in the directory, and you would expect that the percentage of public companies for each group would be the same, and would result in a similar ranking as Figure 1. This is not the case, presumably because it is more likely that a medical device or diagnostics company will progress to being publicly traded than a company selling research products or engaged in drug development.

Figure 3. We also looked at the total number of companies founded each year, since 1998, as well as the number of small companies that were founded, as San Diego is a startup breeding ground. We thought that both numbers would have “exploded” from 2013 to 2018 since the directory increased from 430 to 675 companies. However, this was not the case, there were peaks in the number of companies founded in 2008 and 2013, presumably coinciding with market conditions. We surmise that the growth in the directory is more a result of more companies having a stronger online presence, which makes them easier to find. We don’t always include startup companies from incubators or accelerators such as JLabs, Biolabs and COI Pharmaceuticals as they often don’t have a freestanding website, so our data may be skewed towards lower values. These efforts are definitely important for growth in the region.

Figure 4. As mentioned in figure 3, the increase in the number of companies in our directory isn’t thought to be due to more companies being founded, but rather due to these companies having a stronger online presence. This exposure includes social media, for which we’ve seen an approximate doubling in the number of San Diego life science companies on Twitter since we started tracking in 2013. For perspective, when this author was searching for a local job in the 00’s, she had only a one page printed listing of companies, likely from Biocom.

Figure 5. Number of biotechnology organizations by ZIP code. The companies are highly concentrated in the 92121/Sorrento Valley ZIP code, with 319 located in this area. Neighboring La Jolla (92037) and Carmel Valley (92130) are distant 2nd and third with 54 and 43 companies, respectively, and Carlsbad’s 92008 is fourth with 29. Click on each ZIP code area to see the number of biotech organizations in each, and the link at the bottom of the popup window will lead to a list of the organizations in that ZIP code (which we think is pretty cool!).

While this directory is the most comprehensive regional life science company database available online, it likely contains errors and omissions. Some companies maintain a website even after they’ve ceased doing business, and we used deductive reasoning to judge whether a company is still in business. Additionally, with mergers and acquisitions it is difficult to determine whether a company still maintains a San Diego presence.

All entries in the directory can be claimed by a company representative so that they can be edited as needed, and companies can also buy a yearly premium listing with many benefits, see details here. If you’d like to claim your company, search for it and click on the “Claim This Listing” button, and if it is not listed, submit it here. In addition, any entry can be flagged for deletion or corrections.

The directory will serve to connect the San Diego life science community as well as to promote the companies listed. The SDBN is already actively promoting companies to our 20K followers through SDBN Advertising, and will soon be providing complementary marketing services such as videos, webinars, written content, and direct mail. Sign up for the SDBN Newsletter to hear the latest updates.

SDBN was very involved with the April 2017 March for Science San Diego (MSSD), our members marched, volunteered, and sponsored the very successful event with 15,000 participants. The national March for Science organization is still going strong, and we’re keeping the momentum going in San Diego. We’re raising money for local cancer research by organizing a Padres Pedal the Cause Team. Our team?will raise money and cycle 25+ miles in the event November 11, and we’re holding a fundraiser September 14th to cover the team’s cycling gear (cycling jerseys, shorts) and to contribute to the team’s fund. In order to ensure that life saving research continues to thrive in San Diego, we need not only funding, but to build more bridges between scientists and the public.

Towards this goal, we’re planning a fun Pub Crawl for Science event September 14th, at the newly formed “Miralani Makers District,” which contains 3 beer breweries, 2 wineries, and a sake brewery all in one business park, see map by clicking here. Registrants will receive a punch card and the “pub crawl” will be visiting 4 of the participating establishments and getting their card punched at each (purchases are NOT required). For everyone who completes their punch card, we’ll have a raffle of many items from the breweries, wineries, and life science businesses, see list of items here. In addition, all attendees will receive a limited edition March for Science San Diego pint glass, which will only be available at the event! You can get up to 4 raffle cards and pint glasses per attendee, which you can use for yourself or invite friends, sign up for the Pub Crawl for Science event by clicking here. If only scientists attend, we defeat the purpose as we’re all re-funding ourselves, so please invite your non-scientist friends and family.

In addition to raising funds for local cancer research at this event, we’ll help scientists and groups to connect with everyone who supports local scientific research and the March for Science. We’ll have some fun and informative activities to help you learn more about the great science happening in the region. Click here to register for the September 14th event, and if you’re a scientist who can help with the activities at the event, let us know on the form.

Also, there’s still time to join our Padres Pedal the Cause team, see details here. If you can’t attend the Sept. 14th event, you can still donate to our team and directly support local cancer research, and please do!

Participating Businesses

We’ll also have El Shrimp Bucket food truck (menu) and Deli Sushi and Desserts is participating in the event (CASH only). Dinner is not included in the registration price, and both will have vegetarian/non seafood options.

Team Sponsors

We’re offering $500 sponsorships for our Padres Pedal the Cause team, the benefits include:

• Linked logo on our team page and MSSD/SDBN landing pages
• Logo on March for Science San Diego Padres Pedal the Cause cycling jerseys
• Raffle item/presentation at Sept. 14th event
• “Thank you” social media posts to our combined SDBN/MSSD 20,000+ followers

The deadline to be included on the team jerseys is September 11th, contact us soon to sponsor!

Event Details

Who: Scientists, organizations, educators, communicators and science supporters in the greater San Diego area
What: Pub Crawl For Science: Padres Pedal Fundraiser
When: Thursday September 14th 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Where: Protector Brewery/Miralani Makers District, 8680 Miralani Dr #128, San Diego, CA 92126 (directions below)
Cost: $15 donation gets you a March for Science pint glass, raffle ticket & networking, food and beverages available for purchase (Deli Sushi is cash only)
Contact: https://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: https://sdbn.org/pubcrawl

Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions:

Note: We strongly encourage you to carpool and designate a driver, or use a ride sharing service for this event. Of course, we do NOT encourage you to drink a full serving of alcohol at all of the breweries/wineries on this pub crawl. Most establishments offer tasters, which are a great way to sample alcohol.

Miralani Drive is north of Miramar road near its intersection with Camino Ruiz. Camino Ruiz is easily accessible from Mira Mesa Blvd as well. From UTC, take La Jolla Village Blvd/Miramar Road east to Camino Ruiz, take a left and Miralani is the second light, take a left. The business park is on the right after about a quarter mile. From Sorrento Valley, take Mira Mesa Blvd east to Camino Ruiz, and Miralani is at the bottom of the hill, take a right and the business park is on the right after about a quarter mile. OR plug/click on 8680 Miralani Dr, San Diego, CA 92126 into your GPS

Parking: Park on the street on the same side as the business complex (there is construction/we don’t want anyone crossing the street) or behind the businesses in the complex–take a right just as you come in and follow the lot, which will eventually turn left.

Sponsors

Sponsorships are available for this event, contact us for details.

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: SDBN Speed Networking
When: Monday, January 30th 2017, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 (Recruiters), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: https://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: https://sdbn.org/january

Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.

Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

Sponsors

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: SDBN Speed Networking
When: Monday, February 15th, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 (Recruiters), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: https://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: https://sdbn.org/february

Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.

Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

Major questions to be addressed:

1. What funding and collaborative strategies have worked well to survive during the pronounced funding ?drought? over the past 5 years?
2. What intellectual property and data sharing models have worked best?
3. How have the emerging collaborative drug discovery paradigms from the last 5 years transformed drug discovery?
4. What are the implications of the recent improvement in the venture capital and public markets for continued growth in the use of collaborative models?

As always, we’ll be collecting questions from you when you register so that we’ll have a lively discussion, click here to register and join us March 23rd!

Panel

	Miguel de los Rios, Vice President of Research and Development, Sevion Therapeutics
	Teri Melese, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Industry Research Alliances, UCSD
	James Schaeffer, Vice President- California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr)
	Scott Struthers,President, San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange, Founder & CEO, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

Moderator

Richard Lin, Founder and CEO of Explora BioLabs

Premier Sponsor

Sponsors

We still have sponsorships available for this event, contact us soon to reach our 15,000 life science followers!

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: March 23rd 2015 Collaborative Drug Discovery Event
When: Monday, March 23rd, 2015, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 (Recruiters), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: https://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: https://sdbn.org/march

Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.
Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

Special thanks to Mark Leibowitz, Diana Wetmore, and Michael Young for their input on this event.

Q: Who should take the Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit?
A: The minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree in a life science discipline, and Ph.D. level participants are encouraged to participate as well. A basic knowledge of the principals of biotechnology research are required, and industry experience is not required.

Q: What skills will I learn that are specific to biotech and pharma?
A: See the detailed description by clicking here. The program will achieve the following two major objectives:

Q: What qualifications does the instructor have?
A: Yves Theriault has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and 18 years experience in biotech/pharma project management. He holds a Certificate in Project Management from UCSD and is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Q: Does the Toolkit give me credit for the UCSD Project Management Certificate?
A: Yes, those who complete the Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit can use the 4 continuing education credits (CEU’s) towards the UCSD Project Management Certificate.

Q: How is this Toolkit different from the UCSD Extension public courses?
A: The Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit is the only accredited, classroom taught (as opposed to online) course on the topic in the San Diego region. Students will get unique one-on-one interactions with the instructor, as well as networking opportunities with other project management professionals during class and informal gatherings.

Q: Why is UCSD Extension collaborating with the SDBN to provide customized courses?
A: The SDBN is the first organization which can assess the needs of San Diego life science professionals. As such, it represents a powerful tool for determining the specific needs of the region and meeting them to improve prospects for individuals as well as growth for companies. We conducted a survey of SDBN members in 2014 and found that project management was the biggest training need. We held an event in November 2014 and further found that local life science professionals wanted to learn more soft skills such as leadership and communication. We chose to implement the Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit in January 2015 to meet these needs, and will continue to elicit feedback and provide customized courses to the life science community.

Q: Is there a class project with this program?
A: There will be several group assignments but no major class project as the instructor prefers to spend more time on shorter, focused assignments.

Q: Do I have to pay for parking?
A: No, the class will be held at UCSD Extension University City Center, and it is both convenient to many local biotech companies, near the intersection of the 805 Freeway and Governor Drive, and free to park at.

Q: Where can I learn more about the Toolkit?
A: Learn more and register at http://bit.ly/ucsdecepm1 and contact Locke Epsten by email or phone (858) 534-9150) with any questions.Registrations will be accepted until January 22nd.

UCSD Extension is the the most complete source of accredited life science continuing education in the region. The public course offerings are extensive and tailored to the region, see the online listing by clicking here. UCSD Extension also offers customized courses through its Corporate Education arm, normally at companies with a minimum attendance of 15. Because more than 50% of San Diego biotech companies have fewer than 50 employees, it makes it difficult for most companies to use this valuable service. Our approach in helping UCSD Extension better meet the needs of the region is to understand which of their courses are most in demand, and then we can customize them for individual groups. Towards this end, we ran a survey of SDBN members in the summer of 2014 to determine their needs. More than 120 local life science professionals participated, and we found that 32.9% anticipate needing training in the next 6 months. We also found that survey respondents indicated the most interest in UCSD Extension Courses covering the following areas:

• Project and people management
• Biomarkers, In vitro diagnostics
• GLP/GMP
• Regulatory affairs, requirements, and compliance
• Quality Assurance/Control
• Biostatics/Bioinformatics
• Drug Discovery, Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics
• Intellectual property and innovative technologies

Based on these results, we are planning SDBN events and accompanying custom UCSD Extension offerings, and we began with the Global Biotech Project Management event in November. Per the survey results, we saw enormous interest in the event, with the highest SDBN website traffic for one day in our history on the day we announced the event. We polled the event participants and found that many were interested in a customized biotech project management (PM) course.

Based on this feedback, UCSD Extension’s first custom offering will be the Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit beginning January 23rd 2015 taught by Yves Theriault, a panelist at the November SDBN event with 18 years of relevant PM experience. Yves, UCSD Extension Corporate Education Director Locke Epsten, and the SDBN developed the Toolkit based on SDBN members’ feedback. The Toolkit will provide essential core project management training as well as sessions on leadership, team building and communication skills, all crucial to success in biotech/pharma project management, learn more by clicking here.

Those who complete the Toolkit will earn 4 continuing education units (CEU’s) which can be applied to the UCSD Extension Project Management Certificate. The Toolkit will be a unique opportunity for local, face to face instruction on the topic, and the SDBN will facilitate networking among the group based on feedback from registrants. Initial networking ideas are exclusive happy hours for Toolkit participants and project management professionals and hiring managers. Our objective is not only to educate, but to ensure that the training results in participants reaching their goals.

The Toolkit will be offered on one Friday morning a week from January 23rd to April 3rd 2015. The idea is that Fridays are normally more “flexible” in scheduling. We hope that companies in the region will realize the importance of PM training and include this time and budget allowance for their employees in their 2015 planning or utilize 2014 tuition reimbursement funds while there is still time. The Toolkit will be offered at the UCSD Extension University City location, and we also envision carrying out training at local companies. If you’re interested in hosting a training on project management or on any of the topics mentioned above, contact us. It’s a great way to connect with the community and position your organization as a leader in the topic area. If you’d like to keep up with the courses we’ll be offering, sign up for the SDBN newsletter.

Learn more and register for the Biotech/Pharma Project Manager’s Toolkit by clicking here.

For our November 17th 2014 event, we?ll hear from leading project management professionals about the needs and trends in global biotech project management. In addition, we?ll do a networking activity which will help you determine how you can best prepare for obtaining more skills in this area. We’ll also get your input on 2015 events we’re planning with UCSD Extension in 2015, and everyone who attends will receive a coupon as well for a future SDBN/UCSD Extension biotech project management workshop.

Click here and join us November 17th to learn and prepare yourself for Global Biotech Project Management!

Panelists

	Jenny Chaplin, Development Director at Pfizer
	Steve Linton, Director of Project Management at Halozyme
	Kevin Tays, Associate Director of Project Management at Janssen Research & Development
	Yves Theriault, President , CEO and Founder at Performance Project Management

Premier Sponsor

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: November 17th 2014 SDBN Global Biotech Project Management Workshop and Networking Event Sponsored by UCSD Extension
When: Monday, November 17th, 2014, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 (Recruiters), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: sdbn.org/november
Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.

Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

For our November 17th 2014 event, we?ll hear from leading project management professionals about the needs and trends in global biotech project management. In addition, we?ll do a networking activity which will help you determine how you can best prepare for obtaining more skills in this area. We’ll also get your input on 2015 events we’re planning with UCSD Extension in 2015, and everyone who attends will receive a coupon as well for a future SDBN/UCSD Extension biotech project management workshop.

Click here and join us November 17th to learn and prepare yourself for Global Biotech Project Management!

Panelists

	Jenny Chaplin, Development Director at Pfizer
	Steve Linton, Director of Project Management at Halozyme
	Kevin Tays, Associate Director of Project Management at Janssen Research & Development
	Yves Theriault, President , CEO and Founder at Performance Project Management

Premier Sponsor

Event Details

Who: Life science researchers and professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: November 17th 2014 SDBN Global Biotech Project Management Workshop and Networking Event Sponsored by UCSD Extension
When: Monday, November 17th, 2014, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Green Flash Brewery Tasting Room, 6550 Mira Mesa Boulevard San Diego, 92121 (directions below)
Cost: $25/20 (Academic), $50 (Recruiters), dinner provided, beer and soda available for purchase.
Contact: sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: sdbn.org/november
Registration: sdbn.org/register

Directions: From the west: From the 805 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head east for 2.0 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the left/north side of the street at Flanders Drive. From the east: From the 15 North or South exit Mira Mesa Blvd, head west for 3.6 miles, the Green Flash Tasting Room will be on the right/north side of the street at Flanders Drive.

Parking: The Green Flash lot holds about 70 cars, so come early and carpool if you’d like to park there. You can also park on the street, but be very mindful that there are some poorly marked ‘no parking’ areas, especially on Sequence where there is a center lane.

In many ways, San Diego is the perfect location for the ASHG 2014 annual meeting, and not just for the perfect weather and the beautiful convention center. The area is home to the two top genomic technology leaders, Illumina, and Life Technologies (now Thermo Fisher). Apart from these powerhouses, a large number of smaller biotechs in the area also deal with genomics. Yesterday, I listed several of them represented at the meeting as exhibitors: Cypher Genomics, which provides specialized bioinformatics services, Edico Genome, which recently launched the first microprocessor dedicated for genome sequencing, Genection, which is developing a NGS panel for testing mutations in AML, and Pathway Genomics, which provides a host of genetic tests related to personalized health. I forgot to add to the list, BioNano Genomics, which has a platform for detecting structural variations in human genomes. With such a variety of exciting technologies, it seems appropriate to devote a blog post focusing on these upcoming genomic businesses. Here goes:

Pathway Genomics:? Pathway is probably the first to provide a person?s genomic information in the palm of their hands, literally (well, almost). During ASHG, they announced the launch of their patient app that allows existing Pathway customers to view their genetic data on mobile devices. Ardy Arianpour, the Chief Strategy Officer at Pathway provided a demo of this sleek app. Customers who have, or will order any of the several physician-prescribed genomic tests offered by Pathway will be able to see the data under two main tabs: ?Report? and ?Lifestyle?. Each tab has comprehensive details of the genes tested, risk factors, and other important information. Perhaps the coolest feature of the app is that for each sections related to either specific genes, or certain lifestyle aspects, there is a link at the bottom that will connect the patient to a genetic counselor on a click. This is in line with Pathway?s commitment to provide ?accessibility of customer data, and great customer service? according to Arianpour. He also added that Pathway was very focused on providing good genetic counseling (Very prominent ?Recruiting Genetic Counselor? signs were hanging at the Pathway booth for those looking for jobs in the area). The app is available for download both through iTunes and Google Play stores.

Cypher Genomics: Cypher has developed a software for improved annotation and interpretation of genomic data. According to Co-Fouder and CEO Ashley Van Zeeland, ?Cypher Genomics is thrilled to be a part of the vibrant San Diego genomics and life science community that was on display at this year’s ASHG meeting.? Our genome interpretation technology was highlighted in two platform presentations that illustrated the value and importance of accurate genome interpretation as the technology moves out of the research lab and into the clinic?. The details on one of the talks, identifying a new cause of a debilitating rare disease, was covered in a press release. The second talk by Lauren Ariniello of Scripps Translational Science Institute looked at 56 specific known and expected pathogenic (the ?ACMG-56?, which – according to the ACMG – is implicated in various diseases for the elderly population. Arinello and colleagues wanted to find the likelihood of these pathogenic variants in a healthy population. They recruited and sequenced patients aged between 85-107 years old, recruited through Scripp?s Wellderly group (with a mean age of 95, this was easily the oldest cohort study being reported at ASHG!). Using the Cypher?s bioinformatics pipeline, they reported that 6% of Wellderly individuals have pathogenic variants deemed reportable by ACMG.

Genection: A number of academic and commercial entities at the meeting spoke about next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based cancel panels, including customizable ones. Genection, a subsidiary of Invivoscribe, is focused on Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), and has developed MyAML, a NGS panel that targets 194 genes for the prognosis and stratification of AML patients. Genection presented a scientific poster at ASHG with data demonstrating the comprehensiveness of myAML in characterizing clinical AML samples. According to Suzanne Graham, Senior Manager for Marketing and Business Development at Genection:? ?By identifying all contributing mutations, MyAML can assist in identifying the drug cocktail that would eliminate all relevant clones.? We have the ability to identify critical gene fusions at the gDNA level, thus identifying biomarkers that can be used to follow patient through their drug treatments.?

Edico Genomes: Edico, which was in the news recently for raising $10million in series A financing, has developed the first ever processor optimized and dedicated for rapid analysis of NGS data. The processor called DRAGEN (Dynamic Read Analysis of GENomeware) was formally launched at ASHG at an event titled ?Enter the DRAGEN? (but of course!). However, the company already had an early launch customer in Sequenom, another San Diego based firm that is the leading provider of non-invasive prenatal testing. A joint poster presented by the two at ASGH demonstrated that data analyzed by the DRAGEN process was in excellent concordance with previous analysis, but also ~30x faster!

BioNano Genomics: Though originally founded in Philadelphia, PA, the company moved its headquarters to San Diego several years ago. Its platform Irys, along with associated reagents and chips, enables high-resolution, single-molecule imaging of non-amplified DNA by channeling and confining molecules through proprietary nanoarrays. This enables direct observation of structural variants including replications, deletions, translocations and inversions. BioNano had couple of major announcements at ASH, including a simplified workflow by reducing the number of chips required to analyze a full human genome (thereby reducing cost), as well as the adoption of the Irys system by four major genomic centers. A number of posters were also presented by scientists from Baylor College of Medicine, UCSF etc. demonstrating successful use of the Irys platform.

Among the two heavyweights, I already covered Illumina?s session on expanding into the clinics on Monday, October 20^th. Ion Torrent held a similar session Tuesday. That will be covered in the next, and concluding blog post about ASHG14.

The second day of the ASHG 2014 meeting once again featured a number of very exciting concurrent sessions. I was torn between attending the rather cute, and appropriately named ?Cloudy with a Chance of Big Data?, ?Population Structure, Admixture, and Human History?, or ?Impact of Human Knockout Alleles?. I had already covered a bit about Big Data, so the last two seemed more interested. In the end, the human knockout alleles won out, not in small parts due to the fact that the first speaker was Daniel MacArthur of Harvard University, who is among the very prolific scientists on social media (@dgmacarthur).

MacArthur spoke on behalf of the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) about a new efficient and scalable pipeline for analysis of available exome analysis data. While globally there are more than 200,000 exome sequences available, most of it is siloed, and it is difficult to assign variability in the data from different groups to biology or technological differences. The pipeline tool developed by the group involved taking raw bam files and processing using the GATK tool kit. The pipeline was used for aggregating and calling 92k exomes covering a variety of disease and populations. They validated the final data by concordance with Sanger Sequencing data, or very high depth data from PCR-free 2x250bp sequencing. The lab also developed a very cool 3-D data visualization tool that showed among other things, a good representation of different ethnicities in the data, and certain rare variants that are distributed all over the world. The effort to build this sort of a database is quite incredible, with MacArthur describing it as the ?largest ever collection of human protein-coding genetic variants?. The best part of course, is that the groups is sticking to tradition of sharing, and all this data is available through the website: exac.broadinstitute.org (the site crashed a few hours after the announcement, as actually predicted by MacArthur!). Users are encouraged to analyze and publish freely for individual variants. In response to a question later, MacArthur also mentioned that phenotype data would be layered on this, but was unable to provide an exact timeline.

The remaining talks in the session were on a similar vein, with researchers developing tools to analyze knockout alleles in large datasets representing geographical groups or diseases. For example, Patrick Sulem spoke about the deCODE project that performed whole genome sequencing of over two thousand Icelanders, a country with total isolated and bottlenecked population of near 320,000. They found that 1/13^th of the individuals had a rare complete human knockout. In the future, the project plans to scrutinize hospital records, re-contact individuals for further clinical exams and biological tests to obtain more phenotype on people with the knockouts. They also plan to perform deep RNA sequencing on these individuals.

I also got the opportunity to hear Andrew Su talk on ?Microtask crowdsourcing for annotating diseases in PubMed abstracts?. Currently databases for disease gene variants, pharmaceutical effect, signal pathways etc are highly fragmented and incomplete. The ideal database would combine all these together. This is obviously a massive undertaking but Su ran an experiment to see if we could take the first step by annotating disease information from abstracts in the Pubmed database, thereby converting free text to a knowledge network. Given that a new Pubmed abstract is published every 30 seconds, such an undertaking would have to be crowdsourced ? but could non-scientists do as well as scientists in this task? Su demonstrated that non-scientists recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) could actually do better than PhDs in annotating texts from Pubmed ? but only when aggregated: 6 lay people could do it better, faster and cheaper than a PhD! While his experiment is not scalable (since they were paying recruits ~7cents/article), Su hopes to develop an interface that will harness citizen scientists to do the job.

The other highlight of the day was Illumina?s session on products for diagnostics. Application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in the clinical space is still evolving. However, as Matt Posard, Senior VP of New and Emerging Opportunities at Illumina said in his opening remark, the question is not ?if but when? sequencing will be ubiquitous in the clinical space. It does help that last year Illumina introduced MiSeq Dx, the first FDA cleared NGS-system (along with FDA-approved IVD kit s for cystic fibrosis, and a universal kit). ?Dr Jamie Platt from Molecular Pathology Lab Network spoke at the event, especially highlighting the usefulness of having a FDA-approved system, especially with the FDA indicating recently that it might scrutinize the so-called lab developed tests (LDTs) more closely. As such LDTs require significant investment in test development and validation, training, and reporting. The availability of a FDA-approved system reduces such burden significantly, and this is beneficial especially for smaller laboratories. However, FDA-cleared assays can only be used for the purpose it is approved for, e.g the MiSeqDx cystic fibrosis 139-variant assay is not indicated for stand-alone diagnostic use or for newborn screening, fetal diagnostic testing etc. As such, early results from her laboratory showed good concordance for Illumina?s cystic fibrosis assays with other tests.

Tomorrow I will cover the various genomics companies on the exhibition hall floor, including a focus on some of the smaller local San Diego biotechs such as Cypher Genomics (news release today), Edico Genome, Genection, and Pathway Genomics.

In the meantime, keep with #ASHG14 and @omespeak.

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2014 annual meeting kicked off in full force today at the San Diego Convention Center. The meeting brings together over 7000 people including basic scientists, physicians, ethicists, and other professionals working in the field of human genetics. Given the large number of interesting concurrent sessions, as well as over thousands of posters covering everything from genetic technologies, specific applications of genetics in various disease states to ethics and genetic counseling, it is impossible for a single blogger to cover all the amazing science! What I will try to do is cover few of the more interesting sessions, as well as some posters, and exhibitors with brief summaries. I would strongly suggest that you follow the #ASHG14 tag on Twitter to get the latest updates on various topics.

The field of human genetics has been revolutionized in the last few years by the falling cost of genome sequencing. The first human genome sequencing was a $3 billion effort involving 200 scientists over 11 years. The latest sequencing machine launched by Illumina earlier this year, HiSeq TenX, can sequence human genomes for as low as $1000 within a week. One of the consequence of inexpensive sequencing has been the tsunami of data that need to be analyzed into clinically relevant information and outcomes.

Therefore it was quite appropriate that one of the first session in the morning was focused on the big data problem. The Distinguished Speaker?s Symposium, titled ?Separating Signal from Noise?, consisted of Ajay Royyuru of IBM, David Glazer of Google, and Muin Khoury of CDC, reflecting the cross-disciplinary effort required to tackle these problems. Ajay Royyuru showed how IBM?s Watson can go beyond answering questions on Jeopardy, and interpret huge chunks of genomic data. The machine learning ability of Watson was being used in solving the ?cognitive overload? problem faced in oncology. These analytical abilities are currently available to partners (e.g. the partnership with the New York Genome Center), but beta and commercial release is supposed to be by 2015 and 2016. The next speaker, David Glazer?s spoke of how genomics was becoming a data problem with ?N of million activities? and how Google?s tools like Dremel (that can work with trillions of rows of data) might solve the problem. Glazer showed examples of codes that have been used to analyze large data sets (including data deposited in the 1000 genome project) within hours. While this is a good progress, he pointed out that the ?world of biology is not tidy biology, there?s no black and white answers?, and further progress could only be made through standardization of the data analysis. The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health is trying to move in that direction through standardizations and benchmarking of tools.? Mouni Khoury further elaborated on the ?squishiness? of bology, talking about the need for strong epidemiological foundations, and knowledge integration of genomic data analysis so as to have both clinical validity and utility. He highlighted some failures of big data applications such as Google?s vast overestimation of the flu outbreak in the 2013 season, and the often repeated errors of confusing correlation with causation. He also noted that less than 1-2% of current genomic research is applied beyond bed side right now.

The session on Crowdsourced Genetics featured the most moving talk of the day by the husband and wife duo of Eric Vallabh Minikel, and Sonia Vallabh, an unusual tag-team combination, on their efforts in using crowdfunding research on prion diseases. More unusually, neither Sonia nor Eric were originally trained as scientists. Sonia was working as a lawyer, and Eric as a data analyst. In 2010 Sonia?s mother passed away suddenly after suffering from a rare neurodegenerative disorder Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) associated with a prion protein. Testing showed that Sonia carried the mutant D178N (cis- 129M) allele of PRNP gene.? This lead the couple to embark on a journey of educating themselves on the disease via night school, embarking on graduate school in biomedicine, raise awareness, and start a crowd-sourced effort to fund research into prion disease! Follow their story and the blog at cureffi.com.

Other highlights of the session included a talk by Yanich Elrich on using applying bioinformatics tools on publicly available genomics data. They were able to extract lifespan information on millions of data points from the pedigree database geni.com. Result was a very cool video showing births of people through history, echoing the pattern of human migration in the modern age. Such ?social media? data can eventually be expanded to look at phenotypes other than age information. The Elrich lab also announced the launch of a genetics crowdsourcing platform, dna.land. The platform allows users to upload their 23andMe data to the website ? this will eventually allow researchers to correlate more phenotypes. Currently the site is only in the alpha stage, and users are encouraged to upload data and provide feedback to iron out issues. Atul Butte meanwhile spoke of using not just analyzing publicly available genomic data to get to a clinical trial stage, but also using marketplace services such as Assay Depot to reduce cost of drug discovery. He pointed out how the $4-12Billion cost of drug discovery was unsustainable. Butte ended his talk with a vision of how Silicon Valley could spur a new generation of ?garage biotechnologists? performing preliminary research on a cure for cancer, on a credit card.

(A brief primer on this session is also available here.)

Both the sessions highlighted one common issue ? the need to have data open and sharable among scientists. Seems like it happens more readily in the field of genomics than other sciences. Additionally, I noticed that two of the speakers, Atul Butte and Dr Khoury have uploaded their talks online.

I will update with more thoughts on the various companies exhibiting at the conference tomorrow, especially those from the San Diego area. In the meantime, continue to follow me at @omespeak, or even better, the #ASHG14 hashtag.

Professor Evan Snyder from the Sanford-Burnham Research Institute opened the debate by stressing the importance of medical research to the wider economy, and making a point about the benefits: ?If you think medical research is expensive, try disease.? Snyder said that our current knowledge is built on spectacular advances made a generation ago, and questioned what legacy we would leave in thirty years if we allowed funding to slip now.

Peters picked up on the theme of NIH funding, citing the drop in R01 grant funding rates and pointing out that competitor countries are becoming more attractive for young scientists. He is an advocate for science in the House, and sits on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. He is also the co-chair of the Congressional Algae Caucus (?Don?t like my algae jokes? They grow on you.?) and is enthusiastic about alternative energy sources. He considers himself a ?deficit hawk? and is generally on the right wing of his party, supporting tax reform and reducing regulation, even to the point of voting against a medical device tax that is part of the funding for the Affordable Care Act. But he was clear that he believed in investing in long-term funding, rather than being subject to ?the tyranny of today?s money? ? short-term financial thinking. He said that he was trying to build bridges with the Republican Party; at least, the part of it who were willing to engage. He seemed optimistic that some of the most recently-elected representatives from both parties were more interested in making progress than blocking it.

?Washington DC,? Peters said, ?is the place where innovation goes and gets confused.? He thinks that the nation needs to embrace the opportunities that science and technology offer, while supporting the research that drives progress. To that end he urged the audience to ?be the expert witness in your communities?: explain why the science that we?re doing is important, and why the government should fund it. And that?s something that goes beyond party politics and is something we can all aspire to.

We’ve been working to get as many representatives from local biotechs as possible at our September 22nd Networking Town Hall event with Congressman Scott Peters and were curious as to how many of our 400+ local life science organizations are in the 52nd district which he represents. This map uses data from our San Diego biotech directory as well as this map of the 52nd California congressional district. Not surprisingly, 300, or 75% of the biotech organizations are in district 52 represented by the grey shading. To determine whether an organization is in the district, use the menu at the top left to find and click on the organization. Use the zoom controls on the bottom right or your mouse if needed to adjust the view of the map. Basically, only the companies west of the 5 freeway and north of La Jolla Village Drive are excluded, as well as companies in the Carlsbad area.

San Diego county employs 50,000 people in the life science sector, and we can definitely make an impact in congressional elections to ensure continued support for funding for science. Even if your company isn’t in the 52nd district, you may live in the district and be able to vote to support scientific funding, or encourage others to do so. Join us on September 22nd for a Networking Town Hall with Congressman Scott Peters to learn how you can make a difference. We’ll open with remarks from Evan Snyder, professor and director of the Stem Cells and Regeneration program at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. You’ll also network with other local leaders and we’ll discuss ways we can work with Congressman Peters to continue to grow as a leading biotechnology hub.