Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day 2008
Sheraton Boston Hotel

Sheraton Boston Hotel

From Ideas to Industry - How the science developed in the labs of Massachusetts research institutions creates new sectors of industry

Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day is an annual celebration of the research undertaken in Massachusetts and its contributions to the Commonwealth's life sciences industry and global healthcare. The day's program will look at the past, the present and the future. How have technologies in Massachusetts impacted our current life sciences industry? What technologies are currently emerging which have the potential to change the industry? And what are the major problems and questions in life sciences that our researchers should be focused on solving?

The day's event will bring together the Commonwealth's leading researchers and innovators, along with top-tier management of biotech, pharma and medtech companies as well as the key life sciences funding sources including angels, foundations, venture capitalists, Federal Government and philanthropists.

The event has been developed by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Start-up Initiative (MALSI). MALSI is a collaborative group of public and private entities that work with emerging biotech and biomed companies. MALSI's mission is to ensure that Massachusetts maintains its lead as the #1 region in the world to start, nurture and grow a life sciences company. Through this and other events throughout the year, we will ensure that every life sciences entrepreneur or researcher who has a commercializable idea has easy and rapid access to the vast network of organizations and individuals who can help them realize their dreams. The Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, Mass MEDIC, TiE, and Mass Biotech Council are partnering to present the Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day.

Event's Highlights

The event is unique in many ways:

• Every major stakeholder in the Commonwealth in life sciences is involved in organizing this event jointly - not just the organizations listed above, also the major universities, research centers and hospitals.
• The event includes a start-up and Inventor Marketplace where an inventor will get an opportunity to meet people and learn in a structured setting about all the components he or she needs to get the idea evaluated, executed and funded.
• The event will incorporate a creative combination of keynote speakers, panel sessions, smaller breakout meetings
• We will celebrate the work of Dr. Judah Folkman, showcase cutting edge technologies, feature the emerging stars and recognize the State's life-time achievers,
• The event will be focused on commercialization (the Next 10 years) and basic science (a panel on the Next 30 years)
• We will have several networking sessions and a reception at the end.

Who Should Attend?

This event is designed to be of special interest to researchers, graduate students, post-docs, as well as entrepreneurs and innovators scattered throughout the Commonwealth. We will be working with some of the region's major researchers to ensure that they bring promising, young researchers to attend the conference.

FEES

$50 Students and post-docs
$190 Members of MATTO, MBC members, Mass MEDIC members, TiE members, and MIT Enterprise Forum
$225 Non-members

Featured Speakers

• Joshua Boger, Ph.D., President & CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• Craig C. Mello, Ph.D., Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Amar Sawhney, Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and CEO, Confluent Surgical

Speaker Bios

Joshua Boger, Ph.D.

President & CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Joshua Boger is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. He has been the Company's CEO since 1992, and also served in the additional role of Chairman of the Board from 1997 until 2006. Dr. Boger served as Vertex's Chief Scientific Officer from 1989 until 1992 and has been a Director since Vertex's inception.

Dr. Boger holds a B.A. in chemistry and in philosophy from Wesleyan University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Harvard University. His postdoctoral research in molecular recognition was performed in the laboratories of the Nobel-prize winning chemist, Jean-Marie Lehn in Strasbourg, France.

Prior to founding Vertex in 1989, Dr. Boger held the position of Senior Director of Basic Chemistry at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey, where he headed both the Department of Medicinal Chemistry of Immunology & Inflammation and the Department of Biophysical Chemistry.

Craig C. Mello, Ph.D.,

Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Craig C. Mello, PhD, is the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Dr. Mello and his colleague Andrew Fire, PhD, of Stanford University, received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi) - a particular form of RNA that has the property of silencing, or interfering with, the expression of a gene. RNAi provides both a powerful research tool for knocking out the expression of specific genes and opens a totally unanticipated window on gene regulation.

Dr. Mello holds a BS in Biochemistry from Brown University and a PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center before coming to UMass Medical School in 1994.

Amar Sawhney, Ph.D.

Co-Founder, President and CEO, Confluent Surgical

Amar Sawhney, Ph.D. is one of the inventors of the hydrogel technology, which forms the core of Confluent's technology platform. His inventions have formed the basis for the founding of several medical device and biotechnology companies and their products. In addition, other companies that are pursuing technologies that have been co-invented by Dr. Sawhney include Access Closure, Inc. (ACI), Novacell, and Azopax. Dr. Sawhney holds over 55 patents and has authored over 100 publications and scientific abstracts. Prior to co-founding Confluent, Dr. Sawhney was Director and Technology Founder at Focal, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme). In addition to Confluent, he serves on the board of MarketRx Inc. (an Incept company specializing in sales and marketing effectiveness, planning, and analytical products and services) as well as ACI.

Planning Committee of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day 2008

Aaron Sandoski, Norwich Ventures, Head of the Content Committee
Anupendra Sharma, Siemens Ventures, Head of the Sponsorship Committee
Jeff Behrens, Alnylam
Laura E. Allen, MassMedic
Mark Namchuk , Vertex
Dr. Andrew Jay, Siemens Ventures
Richard Anders , RA Scientific
Abi Barrow, MTTC
Julia Goldberg, MTTC
Laura Weibley, Pfizer
Lolita Elverillo, MBC
Kevin O'Sullivan, MBI
Bob Creeden, Partners
Jing Watnick, Novartis
Amar Sawhney, Confluent Surgical
Peter Abair, MBC
Pushwaz Virk, Harvard Bio Club
Sameer Sabir
Kanchan Mirchandani