The San Diego Biotechnology Network is pleased to feature Fate Therapeutics and Stemgent at our July 21st networking event. These two companies represent exciting, interdisciplinary biotechnology research being done in San Diego that holds direct promise for making a difference in our quality of life. The event will feature a short talk followed by networking with the speakers and scientists from the two companies. As usual, we hope that the casual atmosphere at our venue, Tango del Rey, will stimulate discussions and meaningful interactions for all in attendance. We also encourage you to utilize the online tools available to communicate before, during, and after the event.

CATALYST: Providing Exclusive Access to the Most Advanced iPSC Technology for a New Paradigm in Drug Discovery & Development

Ken Batchelor, Ph.D., CSO (Fate), Stephen Chang, Ph.D., CSO (Stemgent) will present a short talk describing CATALYST:

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

Fate Therapeutics is interrogating adult stem cell biology and applying induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to develop Stem Cell Modulators (SCMs), small molecule or biologic compounds that guide cell fate for therapeutic purposes. Fate’s approach has broad therapeutic potential in areas such as regenerative medicine, hematological diseases, metastatic cancer, traumatic injury and degenerative diseases. In addition, Fate Therapeutics and Stemgent have formed an alliance – Catalyst – a collaborative program to provide Catalyst Members with first access to the most advanced iPSC technologies for drug discovery and development. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in La Jolla, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.

About Stemgent

Stemgent helps our customers advance stem cell science by providing proprietary reagents and technologies developed by some of the world’s leading stem cell scientists. Stemgent’s product offering includes virus-delivered reprogramming factors for iPS cell generation, cytokines and matrices for healthy stem cell growth, primary and reporter cell lines, stem cell characterization tools, polymers for transfection, and small molecules for reprogramming, self-renewal and differentiation. This unique product mix is designed to serve researchers who study stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, and those who use cells derived from stem cells to advance their understanding of major diseases. For more information visit us at www.stemgent.com.

Event Details

Who: Biotechnology professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: San Diego Biotechnology Network’s July Networking Event Featuring Fate Therapeutics and Stemgent
When: Tuesday, July 21st, 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Where: Tango Del Rey, 3567 Del Rey Street, San Diego 92109 (Directions below)
Cost: $20, including appetizers ($15 for Academics) +$5 at door
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/july

Directions: From the North: South on Interstate 5, Exit Balboa Ave, Straight to 4th Traffic Light then left on Bunker Hill St. Building directly ahead 3 blks. From the South: North on Interstate 5, Exit Grand/ Garnet Ave, Straight to 3rd Traffic Light then right on Bunker Hill St. Building directly ahead 3 blks.

I attended the ‘Mastering Your (Cell) Fate: Stem Cells, iPSCs and the Future of Medicine’ session at BIO yesterday, which featured a panel of specialists: G. Steven Burrill, CEO, Burrill & Company, Aaron Rowe, Reporter, Wired News, Paul Grayson, CEO, Fate Therapeutics, Ian Ratcliffe, CEO, Stemgent, and Richard Gregory, Senior VP Head of Research, Genzyme. Members of the audience included biotech professionals, media, and even some patients. iPSCs are ‘induced Pluripotent Stem Cells’ which are mature adult cells which have been ‘reprogrammed,’ in contrast to embryonic stem cells (for a full description see Stem Cells 101 on Fate Therapeutics’ website).
The panel discussed the fact that although stem cell research is gaining a lot of attention recently, therapies involving cell treatments have been around for years, bone marrow transplants as a prime example. Nevertheless, Burrill pointed out that venture capital is still mostly on the sidelines when it comes to stem cell funding. Reasons? Burrill said that a big issue is the perceived risk of getting stem cell therapies through the FDA. Someone in the audience commented that the challenges facing stem cell companies currently may be similar to those faced by other non-small molecule therapies such as Biologics, which didn’t ‘take off’ until a blockbuster drug hit the market. The panel consensus was most of the work is actually being done in Academia, with Stemgent’s Ratcliffe commenting that most of their customers come from this sector.
After the session, I spoke with Fate Therapeutics’ CEO Paul Grayson, and we discussed their unique strategies for overcoming these perceived challenges. Fate received generous VC funding early from ARCH, Polaris, and Venrock, likely due to the fact that their founders and management are a veritable ‘who’s who’ in stem cell research and technologies. In addition, they maintain close ties with academic institutions such as Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), and UCSD. Fate continues to ‘think outside of the box’ when it comes to creating a workable business model, and has recently partnered with Stemgent, also based in San Diego, to create an unprecedented interdisciplinary agreement called ‘Catalyst‘ which represents a new paradigm in which pharma, early stage biotech, and academia will work together to create the research tools which will be directly used to develop therapeutics. In exchange for annual funding from pharmaceutical companies (Grayson says they are targeting 5 companies for a total of $50M), Fate and Stemgent will create tools which will be accessible only to member companies. Dr. Shen Ding, founder of both Fate and Stemgent, is an Associate Professor at TSRI, bringing cutting edge research from academia to the collaboration.
Grayson says that the Catalyst collaboration has been helped by the translational medicine movement, in which academic scientists focus on the applicability of their research to public needs. In the BIO iPSC Panel, it was estimated that around 100 stem cell companies currently exist, and Grayson estimates that only 20 will be still standing after two years. With the looming uncertainties in risk and regulatory issues, it may be likely that such interdisciplinary collaborations will be needed to help stem cell companies and technologies to succeed.
On a regional note, I’m working on featuring Fate at one of our upcoming San Diego Biotechnology Network events, as they are exemplary of our vision to bring different sectors and disciplines together to stimulate growth in our region as well as in biotechnology in general.

You may know I’m a blogger at the Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in Atlanta. I’m here and adjusting to the time change. I’m eager to cover stories about San Diego Biotech–we’ve got a lot going on here! Today Paul Grayson, CEO of Fate Therapeutics, and Ian Ratcliffe, CEO of Stemgent, will be speaking in the ‘Mastering Your (Cell) Fate: Stem Cells, iPSCs and the Future of Medicine’ session.’ Check out the BIO blog for the latest. I hope to speak with them, stay tuned! It’s raining off and on here, but I always forget how nice it is to see lots of trees.

Want access to a network of tens of thousands of scientists who you can help you advance your career? Learn about your peers’ work in real time, and discuss it with them? We’ll spend an hour covering LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, FriendFeed, and examples specific to life science and biotechnology during this networking event. We’ll introduce you to new resources and ideas which are revolutionizing science communication. This event will be customized to your needs: we’ll ask you what you want to learn about before (and even during!) this very interactive event. You’ll have time to ask questions and network throughout the event, and go home with resources and a plan to get a jump start with these exciting new tools. Sign up now to reserve your spot, and we’ll see you May 28th!

About the Presenters

Mary Canady began 20 years ago as a bench scientist in biochemistry and moved to the business side of biotechnology 10 years later, working at life science companies including Invitrogen and Calbiochem. In 2008 she founded Comprendia, a company specializing in helping biotechnology and life science companies grow through strategic marketing and business development. She recently started the San Diego Biotechnology Network (SDBN) a ‘2.0’ generation networking group, facilitating interactions through monthly events combined with online media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs.

William Gunn did his doctoral studies at Tulane University on Bone Repair Using Human Multipotent Stromal Stem Cells. During his studies he explored social media and helped found the Friendfeed Life Scientists room, where over 700 scientists daily share information and solve problems. He moved to San Diego in 2008 to pursue science and social media, and works for Genalyte developing molecular diagnostics assays. He also works with Mendeley, an academic reference management service, where he helps researchers leverage social media tools for collaboration and discovery.

Sponsored by

About Proven

PROVEN is an employee owned Consulting, Staffing and Solutions firm based in San Diego, CA. Our customer centric approach focuses on the needs of our clients and candidates. We provide flexible consulting and contingent staffing solutions in the areas of Scientific, Clinical, Information Technology, Engineering and Finance & Accounting on a direct-hire, contract-to-hire, and contract basis.

May Event Flyer (PDF)

Event Details
Who: Biotechnology professionals in the greater San Diego area
What:Social Media for Scientists: San Diego Biotechnology Network’s May Networking Event
When: Thursday, May 28th, 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Where: Tango Del Rey, 3567 Del Rey Street, San Diego 92109 (Directions below)
Cost: $20, including appetizers ($15 for Academics) +$5 at door
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/may

Directions: From the North: South on Interstate 5, Exit Balboa Ave, Straight to 4th Traffic Light then left on Bunker Hill St. Building directly ahead 3 blks. From the South: North on Interstate 5, Exit Grand/ Garnet Ave, Straight to 3rd Traffic Light then right on Bunker Hill St. Building directly ahead 3 blks.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight. We’ll have onsite registration ($25, $20 for academics with ID), so feel free to stop by. You’ll be able to network with people from 50+ companies at the event, and we always do our best to ensure that you make as many contacts as possible. Also, Regulus Therapeutics will be giving a presentation on microRNA therapeutics, a very hot drug discovery topic. We’ll also be giving away some shwag from Labarmor, including a stylish black labcoat!

Event details: http://sdbn.org/april

See you there!

People from the following companies will be in attendance tonight:

Want more details about these companies? Many are listed on our San Diego Biotechnology Company Directory: http://sdbn.org/directory

The San Diego Biotechnology Network is a next generation organization dedicated to helping people connect better than ever before. What makes it different? Well, for starters, members can interact easily both online and face to face, making your connections more powerful and easy to maintain than ever before. You can leverage this group in many ways, and the fact that it has 1000+ members (and growing fast) means that you have a lot of power!

1. You can contact anyone else in the LinkedIn group directly through LinkedIn. We’ve been careful to allow only Biotech professionals in the greater San Diego area. Let’s say you want to contact someone at a particular company. To find someone who works there within the group, use the LinkedIn advanced search, fill in the company, and select the SDBN from the ‘Groups’ selection on the right. You can even offer to meet someone you’d like to connect with (either in the group or out) at the next event, or list a specific request to the discussion board (e.g. ‘looking to meet others with Stem Cell startup ideas’).
2. Attend the events. There is no substitute for meeting people face to face. Benefits? Grow your network literally overnight. Collect business cards and ask people to connect. There is no better way to find out what is going on in San Diego Biotech. Our April event is a great place to start, Regulus Therapeutics will be our featured company, and will talk about microRNA therapeutics.
3. Consider contributing more to group discussions on LinkedIn. See an interesting news item? Post it! Have a question about San Diego Biotech, or Biotech in general? Post it! Just be careful to not be too self-serving, people can be put off.
4. Volunteer. Want to meet nearly everyone at an event? Volunteer to work the registration table. There’s no better way to connect and become recognizable to those at the event. We’ll even give you free admission and you’ll be free to mingle after the ‘rush.’
5. Tell us how to make it better. We have many ideas to make the SDBN the most engaging and empowering group possible, and input from you helps a lot! Some of the ideas we’ve thought of are charity events, focus groups, more workshops, and entrepreneur/VC challenges. We’re going to send out a poll soon, but why wait? Tell us on our contact form or leave a comment below.
6. Visit the SDBN site often to catch up on news, jobs, and events. We’ve created feeds and resources specific to San Diego Biotech:
   1. News: http://sdbn.org/news
   2. Jobs: http://sdbn.org/jobs
   3. Company Directory: http://sdbn.org/directory
   4. Calendar: http://sdbn.org/calendar
7. Invite others to join the group! The bigger the SDBN gets, the more we all benefit. Just send them to http://sdbn.org/signup or to the LinkedIn Group at http://tinyurl.com/sdbiotech

In summary, we hope that you continue to explore and find ways to help us make this group as useful as possible. One thing to keep in mind for social media in general, is to behave online as you would in person. Nobody likes a person that spends the whole time talking about themselves in person, and the same goes online. You’ll get a lot more out of the SDBN if you contribute to it–this could be ‘paying it forward’ with introductions for people, leaving helpful posts and comments, or volunteering. In May, we’ll be presenting a workshop on Social Media for Scientists, including tips and pointers for using it for your career, your science, and your company. Stay tuned and let us know how we can help!

Pictures from our March 18th SDBN event featuring Milo Shapiro from IMPROVentures are now posted on Flickr. The photos showcase our new venue, Tango Del Rey, which was a big hit! We had around 100 in attendance, and Milo went through a series of fun games aimed at helping us break the ice and take more chances in talking to people we don’t know. There was a clear change in the atmosphere after his session, people were interacting much more, and I hope we can keep this momentum going at our future events. We’re going to bring Milo back in a few months for another session, so he can pick up where he left off–feel free to leave any comments on what you’d like to see. We plan to poll you about your ideas soon. Also, be sure to sign up for the April 30th event which will feature Regulus Therapeutics, a very exciting local company developing microRNA therapeutics. It will be at Tango Del Rey, and we can hold 200 people there, so get the word out! The more people who attend, the more you’ll be able to network with.

SDBN’s April event will feature Regulus Therapeutics, an exciting new company focused on the development and commercialization of microRNA therapeutics. SDBN events are the only place you can learn about the hottest scientific research in San Diego, and also have plenty of time to network with 100+ biotechnology professionals.

For more information about Regulus Therapeutics, see their fact sheet. Dr. Bal Bhat, Ph.D., Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry, will give a 15 minute presentation on Therapeutic Targeting of microRNAs.

Event Details
Who: Biotechnology professionals in the greater San Diego area
What: San Diego Biotechnology Network April Event Featuring Regulus Therapeutics
When: Thursday, April 30th, 5:30-9:00 p.m.
Where: Tango Del Rey, 3567 Del Rey Street, San Diego 92109
Cost: $20, including appetizers ($15 for Academics)
For more information about the event: http://sdbn.org/april, registration and confirmation required.
Contact: http://sdbn.org/contact

We’ve gotten people from a lot of great companies signed up for our event this Wednesday March 18th, see below for a partial list. Sign up soon so that you will be able to make connections with them (the list below is just under 50, we’ll surely surpass that with the last minute additions):

SIGN UP BY NOON MONDAY. ONSITE REGISTRATION WILL BE $30 ($20 FOR ACADEMICS).

Pictures from our February 17th Event are now posted on Flickr. We had 100+ Biotechnology professionals, representing more than 50 companies, and it seemed that everyone had a great time. Nanosyn presented a short presentation on their capabilities, and it was well received. Here are some of the comments we heard:

“It’s a whole roomful of scientists…and they’re all talking to each other!”
“It was refreshing to talk science at a networking event!”
“I want to thank you–I got a job offer that resulted from one of your events.”
“Can you post a list of the companies attending at the reception desk?” (will do!)

The only criticism may be that the Rock Bottom venue may be too small for us. You may know that we’re hosting our March event in a new location that we’re very excited about, Tango Del Rey, a Spanish-themed venue off of the 5 at Balboa. Here, we can accommodate more of you, and the result will be that you’ll connect with more people at our events, which is what we’re all about! Our March event will also feature a special session that will help you to improve your face-to-face networking skills, led by Milo Shapiro of IMPROVentures. Sign up today!