BIO 2002: Highlights for Wednesday, June 12
7:30 - 8:15 a.m., North Building, Halls B and C
Breakfast Plenary. The Biotechnology Heritage Award will honor Nobel laureates Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp, founders of Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen. A press conference with Gilbert, Sharp and Biogen President and CEO James Mullen will follow in Room 203C of the North Building.
Various Times, South Building, Room 712
Press Conferences. BIO will host a press conference on industrial and environmental applications of biotechnology from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. Press conferences have also been scheduled for Burrill & Co. (9:30 - 10 a.m.) to report on the state of the industry and for the Brookings Institute (11 - 11:30 a.m.) to discuss the growth of biotech centers in the United States.
8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m., South Building, Room 705
Biotechnology and Animal Rights Activism: A Battle for the Bottom Line. This session will examine the impacts (social, legal and economic) of animal activism on the biotechnology enterprise. From legislative and regulatory initiatives to complex litigation to vandalism, arson and poisoning hoaxes, animal activists are pursuing an aggressive strategy to abolish all animal research. The session features speakers from the Foundation for Biomedical Research, the National Association of Biomedical Research, and Wojdyla Advertising.
8:30 - 10 a.m., South Building, Room 717
Project Cybercell: Toward Life in a Computer. Project Cybercell is a consortium of Canadian university researchers and companies seeking to develop an accurate simulation of a living cell within the confines of a computer. The project has adopted E. coli as a model to generate concepts and technology that can be extended to more complex cell types and eventually multicellular organisms.
10:30 a.m. - Noon, South Building, Room 716
Innovative Strategies in Environmental Detection and Remediation. Biotechnology can more efficiently clean up many hazardous wastes than conventional methods and greatly reduce our dependence on such methods as incineration or hazardous waste sites. A panel of academic and industry experts will discuss the evolution of these technologies.
Noon - 1:45 p.m., North Building, Halls B and C
Plenary Luncheon. Benjamin Carson, chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, is the speaker. Dr. Carson overcame childhood poverty to become a leading pediatric neurosurgeon; he is the author of three books: Gifted Hands, Think Big and The Big Picture.
2 - 3:30 p.m., South Building, Room 717
Natural Products-Based Drug Discovery: From Troubled Present to Bright Future. Products ranging from aspirin to the cancer chemotherapy drug paclitaxel were derived from plants, yet the potential of the world's millions of species has barely been tapped. New tools discussed in this panel session may make it possible to more efficiently mine nature's diversity for additional therapeutic compounds.
2 - 3:30 p.m., South Building, Room 714A
Canadian Biotechnology Regulation: Safety Comes First. Join top Canadian regulatory officials for a discussion of Canada's regulation and labeling of biotechnology-enhanced foods, and of the evolution of Canadian consumer perspectives on biotechnology through the last decade.
Media registration policy: Only credentialed media (with photo ID credentials) from print, broadcast or radio outlets qualify for on-site registration. The deadline for freelance journalists has passed and none will be registered on-site. For details, including registration hours, visit www.bio.org.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.
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