• Trends in Discovery of Small Molecules and Biologics
• Models in Drug Development and Underlying Reasons for Development and Evolution
• Addressing the greater need for in-licensing opportunities across the value chain
• Concern over the lack of incubation of innovative ideas and technologies; who's responsibility is it to carry us across the Valley of Death?

Dr. Albert Giovenella, Adjunct Assistant Professor Of Medicine, and Drug Development Analyst, Dept of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Dr. Jit Patel, Director, Head of Neuroscience Preclinical Business Development, AstraZeneca

Stella Stergiopoulos, Project Manager, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development
Mary Jo Lamberti, PhD, Senior Project Manager, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development

• The use of Open Data for the prediction of chemical properties of importance to drug discovery (melting point, solubility)
• The sharing of assay results (e.g. malaria datasets)
• Large scale coordinated sharing projects in pharma (e.g. OpenPHACTS)

Dr. Jean-Claude Bradley, Professor and E-Learning Coordinator, Drexel University
Dr. Antony Williams, VP Strategic Development, ChemSpider, Royal Society of Chemistry

Protecting Life Science Discoveries under New Regimes
The past year has seen transformative changes in U.S. and foreign intellectual property laws culminating in the enactment of the America Invents Act in late September.

• This presentation will address strategies for securing and enforcing intellectual property protection for drugs and other life science innovations under these new regimes.
  

Peter Corless, Partner, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP
Kathleen Carr, Partner, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP

• What are the top ten criteria big Pharma looks for in identifying potential partnerships?
• What gaps exist between the ability of the bench, and the needs of the industry/trials?
• Learn about the importance of mentoring and insight sharing from the Children's Hospital of Boston's Technology Development fund which has awarded $2.55MM to hospital innovations

Monique Yoaquim-Turk, Technology Development Manager, Children's Hospital of Boston
Dr. Chris Waller, Senior Director of Enterprise Architecture, Pfizer

• Many companies are shutting the doors of the R&D departments; what will this mean for academic and foundation research organizations
• How to evaluate when to outsource R&D, and when to look to existing research organizations for partnership opportunities
• What role could government organizations play in this?

Dr. Erin Forbeck, Research Project Manager, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Robert Selliah, President, American MedChem

• Systems to support genetic and clinical data sharing between commercial and academic programs
• Innovative IT support for genetic medicine and clinical trial enrollment
• Rapid translation of genetic discoveries into molecular diagnostic tests

Dr. Heidi Rehm, Director, Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Partners Healthcare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine

• How have companies and countries been adjusting to globalization
• What strategies can companies and governments use to ensure
  optimal outcomes

Dr. Yali Friedman, Chief Editor and Publisher, JOURNAL OF COMMERCIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

Robert Selliah, PhD, Fuonder, and CEO, AMERICAN MEDCHEM NONPROFIT CORPORATION

• Companies like Sanofi Aventis have made huge strides in the past year to promote 'Open Innovation' as a theme and method for the new age of drug discovery
• Learn how you can get involved in these initiatives by examining their structure, mission and opportunities from the leaders at the forefront of this movement

• Maximizing the value of a technology transfer office: how to ensure you have the 'first look' into their discoveries
• Discuss best practices in industry outreach using specific case examples (Emory's 'Breakfast Club' initiative, website redesign, non-confidential summary redesign, social media strategies and more!)
• Winning the support and commitment of top leadership for technology transfer
• Embedding the technology transfer office with organizational operations and using technical staff on both sides to enhance relationship and commitment
• Being responsive to industry needs through creative and flexible deal structures, transparency and responsiveness
• Treating each deal on its own merit and focusing on the science and relationships involved

Dr. Krishna Balakrishnan, Technology Transfer Manager, NIH
Dr. Cory Acuff, Senior Licensing Associate, Emory University

• What is the role of new company formation in filling the pipeline?
• How can this help to advance promising technologies through the "Gap"?
• What is the role of universities, VC's, and pharma groups in this effort?
• How and when should the handoff from these startups occur?

Andrew Koopman, Manager, New Venture Development, NYU Office of the Industrial Liason
Dennis M Godek, MD. Partner, MediSynergics LLC

Dr. Kathleen Seyb, Senior Scientist, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Dr. Eva Lee, Center for Operations Research in Medicine and HealthCare, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Hear an overview of the trends and trajectory for this field: Where is research going and how does it reflect the needs of patients?
• Collaborative research is essential to successfully translating biological findings in rare/neglected diseases to the clinic
• What is 'Big Pharma' doing to address these needs? Examine the purpose and structure of many of the initiatives being taken on by the industry
• Disease foundations play a vital role in propelling research forward. Take a look at the human side of rare and neglected diseases

Robert Selliah, PhD, Founder & CEO, American MedChem Nonprofit Corporation
Dr. Andrew Napper, Head, High-Throughput Screening & Drug Discovery Lab, Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research
Dr. Alvin Shih, Director of Orphan and Genetic Diseases, Pfizer
Dr. Stephen Chang, Vice President of Research and Development, New York Stem Cell Foundation

• This practitioner panel will bring together perspectives from across the industry to share insight into how innovative applications of a computational infrastructure can aid in cutting costs and improving hit rates

Dr. Justin Boyd, Scientist/CSO & Co-Founder, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Chattanooga Research Institute
Dr. Jerome Baudry, Assistant Professor, Center for Molecular Biophysics, University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratories
Dr. Oliver Hofmann, Associate Director, Bioinformatics Core, Research Scientist Dept. of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Shannan HoSui, Research Associate, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health