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What’s Inside: BioLabs’ Golden Ticket Competition; Medrio’s Report on Securing Biopharma Funding in Today’s Market; Gov. Newsom Vetoes AI Safety Bill; and more.
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We’re championing the progress made by California’s life science community and want to hear about your company’s latest scientific breakthrough, investment milestone, or commitment to creating positive change for our industry. Submit your story here for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue. |
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What’s Happening at Biocom California
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Festival of Science & Engineering Call for Company Exhibitors
The 17th annual San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering returns to Petco Park on March 1 and companies are now invited to apply as exhibitors. This day-long event offers the opportunity to engage with over 17,000 attendees and inspire the next generation of innovators. Through hands-on, interactive STEAM exhibits and activities, life science companies and community organizations can connect their employees with diverse youth across San Diego County in meaningful and rewarding volunteer events. Learn more about participating at lovestemsd.org or by contacting Annie Warner.
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Record Turnout at Statewide Life Science Workforce Symposium
At Biocom California Institute’s most successful Life Science Workforce Symposium to date, nearly 400 attendees from San Diego, Greater Los Angeles and the Bay Area came together to explore career opportunities in life sciences, with a special focus on veterans, recent graduates and underrepresented groups. Industry insights from Vicki Brannock highlighted the sector’s $414 billion economic impact in California, while keynote speaker Kimberly Samayoa, MBA, shared her inspiring journey from Navy service to leadership at Merck. A panel moderated by Miguel Motta offered valuable advice, emphasizing the importance of networking, developing soft skills and authenticity in job searches. New this year was Career Hub, our AI-powered site for job seekers and employers.
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Biocom California Hosts Annual Sunshine in D.C. Reception
We hosted our annual reception in our nation’s capital, which brought together Biocom California members, congressional staff and friends of our industry. The event introduced Joe Panetta and Tim Scott, Biocom California President and CEO and Board of Governors Chair, respectively. Many thanks to our sponsor Neurocrine Biosciences for helping us make the night memorable.
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Industry Intelligence & Member Moments
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- BioLabs and Lundbeck are hosting a Global Golden Ticket competition through November 11 for early stage startups to win one free lab bench space for a year at any operating BioLabs’ location in the U.S., Germany or France.
- Cellaris is offering a Challenging Target Award program that helps companies de-risk and accelerate their drug discovery platform using their MICRO-TAG platform.
- Cryoport announced a strategic collaboration with SK pharmteco to provide fully integrated logistics and manufacturing services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
- Cultura’s CEO Anne Benge was recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as CEO of the Year in the Small Private Company category for spearheading the organization’s people-first culture and support for the local community.
- Expression Systems’ Baculovirus Expression Vector System is a proven platform for high-yield, scalable production of adeno-associated virus gene therapies and virus-like particle vaccines for preclinical, clinical and commercial use.
- MeCo, a presenter at the 15th Annual Biocom California Life Science & Investor Conference, published Phase 2 study results in Clinical Cancer Research, establishing the MeCo Score as the first validated predictive biomarker for anifibrotic therapy—a groundbreaking approach to fighting breast cancer.
- Medrio recently released a new report, backed by Biopharma Dive, which uncovers insights on how founders of SMB organizations can increase their chances of securing biopharma and biotech funding in a risk-averse market.
- RiverVest Venture Partners welcomed Nafise Masoumi, Ph.D., as a senior associate where she will focus on deal sourcing, due diligence, and analysis of prospective investments and provide operational support for RiverVest’s portfolio companies.
- San Diego Community Power launched the Community Power Network to collaborate with local organizations, expand impact, offer financial support and guide community reinvestment.
- Sapient has partnered with Rancho BioSciences to expand the former’s multi-omics and real-world database for greater insight delivery to inform drug development decision making.
- Several women leaders from our member companies were recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as among the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business”: Kitty Aguilera, Colliers International; Argelia Barcena, Gensler; Jenn Buechel, DELFI Diagnostics; Jane Chung, Sutro Biopharma; Jenny Ciszewski, Deloitte; Jaime Fox, Deloitte; Jennifer Friel Goldstein, Silicon Valley Bank; Katie Hilkemeyer, KPMG; Gretchen Hoff Varner, Covington & Burling; Susan Hubbard, Exelixis; Sara Kenkare-Mitra, Alector; Kathryn Lowell, BioMarin; Kazuko Morgan, Cushman & Wakefield; Nicole Paulk, Siren Biotechnology; Betsy Ricketts, Ultragenyx; Tina Self, Bayer; Elaine Sun, Mammoth Biosciences; Kate Wilson, Gilead Foundation; and Lori Wren, Deloitte.
- Sorriso Pharmaceuticals completed enrollment of its Phase 1b clinical trial of patients with ulcerative colitis.
- UC San Diego Extended Studies is offering a Biostatistics in Healthcare course covering essential topics like descriptive and inferential statistics, probability and data inference—all with real-life projects to apply knowledge.
- UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences neurobiologists have now identified a mechanism in the brain that generates drug-induced cognitive impairments and the study’s reports have been published in Nature Communications.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes AI Safety Bill That Divided Silicon Valley
The measure would have made tech companies legally liable for harms caused by AI models. In addition, the bill mandated that tech companies enable a “kill switch” for AI technology in the event the systems were misused or went rogue. Newsom described the bill as “well-intentioned,” but noted that its requirements amounted to “stringent” regulations could burden the state’s leading artificial intelligence companies, as Silicon Valley competes in the global AI race.
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Keep Innovation in Berkeley Moves to City Council
On November 12 at 6 p.m., City Council will vote on Keep Innovation in Berkeley, the last step in a multi-year effort where Biocom California has worked closely with city officials to help establish. This package of zoning changes would make it easier for life science companies to operate and grow in Berkeley. Lending your support through email to council or testimony is crucial to its passage.
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Motion Introduced to Overhaul Business Taxes
On October 8, Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Monica Rodriguez introduced a motion to overhaul business taxes in the City of Los Angeles. It instructs the Office of Finance to return to council within 60 days with both small changes that can be enacted by the council and more comprehensive changes that would need voter approval. Biocom California has been advocating for years for changes to gross receipts and other business taxes in LA, we see this as a new opportunity to engage on business tax reform that we’ve been speaking to city leaders about for years.
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Update on Carlsbad Climate Action Plan Building Electrification Reach Code
On October 2, the Carlsbad Planning Commission voted to move forward with policy language for the city’s updated Climate Action Plan (CAP) that is supported by Biocom California and other business stakeholders. The guidance, called Option 1, directs city staff to update the CAP without language related to building electrification. We have been educating city staff and elected officials about the impacts of a potential 100% building electrification policy on life science. The proposal will go to Carlsbad City Council before the end of this year.
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Biocom California
For over 29 years, Biocom California has helped move the life science industry forward with transformative resources that enable companies to make meaningful connections. With a membership base of over {{{dynamic_content_1600}}} companies, we connect our members to each other so they can collaborate and work stronger and smarter together. We connect organizations to capital investment and purchasing solutions so they can grow faster and work more efficiently. We’re their link to advocacy that fights for innovation and we provide an environment where their business and talent can thrive. Biocom California is how the life science industry gets connected.
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