The event California Life Sciences Day will take place on March 28, 2007 at the historic Sutter Club in Sacramento, CA. Attendees may participate in face-to-face meetings with legislators and state government officials; network at a luncheon featuring a keynote address by a leading policy maker; and join legislators and their staffs at a closing reception.

The grand opening of the BayBio Sacramento office will be held on March 27, 2007 from 4:30 to 6:30pm at 400 Capitol Mall, 11th Floor Board Room, Sacramento, CA.  The establishment of the Sacramento office will give BayBio an active presence in the State Capitol to continue advocacy work with state elected leaders on public policy priorities important to the life sciences industry. The presence of this office recognizes the growing number of companies in Sacramento’s life sciences industry in conjunction with the increasing life sciences research occurring in the region, spurred by research at UC Davis and increasing investments by the private sector. . There is no cost to attend but space is limited. RSVP to Christopher Draper at cdraper@baybio.org or 650-871-7101 x206.

The event Oracle Life Sciences Community Day will be held on Thurs., March 22th from 8:30-5:00 p.m. at Oracle Conference Center, 350 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065.  The event will feature:

• Perspectives from industry strategists and thought leaders;
• Business best practices and lessons learned from leading companies;
• Customer presentations about their experience with Oracle’s many application solutions; and 
• A unique networking opportunity with Partners, Industry Peers, and Oracle experts.

The webinar event Hiring a Clinical Research Associate–What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You  will be held on Tuesday, March 20, 2007; 1:00 – 2:30pm EST.  The program will address:

The event FountainBlue’s Life Science Entrepreneurs Forum on Positioning Your Life Science Company for Outside Funding will be held on Monday, March 19, 2007.  The speakers will include:

• Facilitator Geetha Rao
• Panelist John Cornwell with a Life Science Angel perspective
• Panelist Ken Martin, Onset Ventures with a VC perspective
• Panelist David Miller Founder, InnoSpine, with an entrepreneurs’ perspective

Registration is limited to entrepreneurs and investors and is $10-$15, plus $3 in fees.  Registration closes on March 16, 2007.

The event BIOCOM Legislative Round Table with Assembly Member Joel Anderson will be held on Friday, March 16, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the BIOCOM Boardroom, 4510 Executive Drive, Plaza Seven, San Diego, CA  92121.  The roundtable is a complimentary event for members.  Breakfast will be served.  To RSVP, contact Faith Picking at fpicking@biocom.org.  Joel Anderson represents the 77th State Assemby District, which includes almost all of San Diego’s East County and is primarily a rural district.  Cities and communities include El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Lakeside, Ramona, Alpine, and parts of Sand Diego.

The bioe2e event Myelin Repair Foundation–Revolutionizing Medical Research will be held on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, 950 Page Mill Rd., Palo Alto, CA  94301.  The pre-reigstration discount is $25 for registration before midnight on Monday, March 12, 2007; registration at the door is $35.  The program will address:

• How was MRF able to attract the top researchers from around the globe to collaborate? 
• Why have they been so successful? 
• How did MRF raise funding? 
• What were the issues surrounding IP and interactions with University Technology Transfer groups?
• Also, how could this model be applied to other diseases? 

The presenters will include the following:

• Scott Johnson, President and Founder  Scott Johnson brings more than 20 years of experience in business, including President and CEO of three startups. Johnson led such companies as Thermatrix, a venture-capital-backed company that developed, patented and sold a highly-efficient thermal oxidation technology that destroyed hazardous air pollutants. He also served as President and CEO of Cinemation, an entertainment company headquartered in Hawaii. Johnson’s first startup was SeparaSystems LP, a joint venture between DuPont and FMC that utilized advanced membrane technology for food processing. Before these entrepreneurial roles, Johnson was an executive at FMC Corporation and in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis. Johnson was diagnosed with MS in 1976.

• Russell "Rusty" Bromley, Chief Operating Officer   Rusty Bromley brings a unique combination of business experience in both academic and commercial research environments. His expertise includes the creation and protection of innovative technologies, business development, and marketing strategies for high tech and life sciences firms. Formerly he was CEO of LabVelocity, Inc., an Internet information portal for the life science research community. Prior to that he was CEO of Berkshire Holding Corporation, a privately-held, multinational manufacturer of contamination control materials for microelectronics and pharmaceutical production. Bromley’s experience also includes 17 years with American Hospital Supply Corporation and Baxter Healthcare, in both the distribution and diagnostics businesses, culminating with seven years as President of the Burdick and Jackson Division. Bromley holds a degree in Biochemistry from Rice University.

• Ben Barres, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Ben Barres is Professor of Neurobiology and Developmental Biology and Vice-Chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.Dr. Barres’s laboratory brings expertise in the development and function of glial cells in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). They have found evidence of several novel glial signals that induce the onset of myelination, the clustering of axonal sodium channels, the survival and growth of retinal ganglion cells, and the formation of synapses. Their work for MRF compliments Dr. Robert Miller’s work on characterizing the processes related to myelination and identifying relevant glial-derived signaling molecules. To understand the interactions between axons and glial cells Dr. Barres’s laboratory has developed methods to highly purify and culture neurons as well as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes (the glial cell types they interact with). The laboratory has developed a variety of novel methods to generate purified cell cultures that allow direct study of molecular interactions between the cell types and has considerable expertise in identifying and purifying these molecules.

The event sfAWIS March Networking Social will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at The Pub at UCSF, Mission Bay, 1675 Owens St, San Francisco.  There is no charge to attend and no registration is required. 

The event Fourth Annual Counseling Workshop for Careers in Biotechnology and Medical Devices  will take place at Joe Rindone Regional Technology Center, San Diego County Office of Education, 6401 Linda Vista Road, San Diego, CA  92111 from 12-4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 13, 2007.  Program attendance is limited to career counselers and related professionals and registration is free (but required).  The program will provide of an overview of the industry and views from the "bench" and the "desk." 

The Second Annual Stem Cell Meeting will be held on March 12-13, 2007 at the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California, San Francisco.  This event is the premier international event bringing together world-renowned scientists at the frontier of embryonic and adult stem cell research with decision makers and thought leaders in policy, ethics, patient advocacy, finance, business, and media to explore the challenge and promise of the research and the compelling potential of emerging therapies.  The speaker list includes: