BioZone Horizons Symposium (Speakers)

BioZone Horizons Symposium

Aims

Organized by BioZone Association, this one-day symposium will connect current BioZone members with leaders in biotechnology research (in academia and industry), entrepreneurs commercializing the results of their research or those well-established in the industry and other careers, most of whom will be BioZone alumni. The underlying aim is to share career experiences, transfer knowledge from diverse aspects of the working world, and stimulate discussion of the opportunities open to current BioZone members when they graduate. The symposium will also provide a platform for tightening the network within the BioZone community.

Event overview

The symposium comprises panel discussions under the themes of ‘Academia’, ‘Industry’, and ‘More opportunities on the Horizons’, as well as talks under ‘Technology Commercialization’. There will also be a poster session to showcase the envisioned future opportunities for the research conducted in BioZone.

Agenda

8:30 am Registration and Coffee Meet-and-Greet

9:05 am Welcome – Elizabeth Edwards, Director of BioZone

9:10 am Panel Discussion 1: Academia
Robyn Goacher, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Niagara University
Laura Hug, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Waterloo
Morjgan Nejad, Assistant Professor, Sustainable Bioproducts Faculty, Mississippi State University
Keith Pardee, Assistant Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

10:40 am Coffee break

11:00 am Panel Discussion 2: Industry
Nigel Guilford, Principal, Guilford and Associates Inc.
Sam Huang, Senior Manager of Technical Development and Research, Metaflo Technologies Inc.
Mike Kopansky, Senior Manager, Miller Compost, Miller Waste Systems Inc.
Mike Lacourt, Process Engineer, Ramboll Environ Inc.

12:30 pm Lunch Break & Poster session (1:00pm-1:30pm)

1:30 pm Seminar on Technology Commercialization
Barry Gekiere, Managing Director of MaRS Accelerator Fund, MaRS
Bradford Brinton and Laura Yu, Business Development Managers, Ontario Centres of Excellence
Andressa Lecarda, Co-founder, Noble Tech Inc.

3:00 pm Coffee break

3:15 pm Poster Session

3:45 pm Panel Discussion 3: More Opportunities on the Horizons
Sean Caffery, Executive Director of BioZone, University of Toronto
Craig Daniels, Project Manager, Scientific Writer and Editor, Hospital for Sick Children
Chris Goode, Senior Policy Advisor, Ontario Ministry of Energy
Alison Waller, Social Entrepreneur in St. Catharines, Ontario

5:15 pm Closing Remarks and Announcement of Poster Competition Winner – Mabel Wong, President of BioZone Leadership Council

5:20 pm End of the BioZone Horizons Symposium

Please contact Mabel (mabelting.wong@mail.utoronto.ca) or Elisse (elisse.magnuson@mail.utoronto.ca) if you have any questions regarding the symposium.