February 16, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
One of biotech’s most popular and well-attended conferences kicked off Monday in San Francisco, as over 3,000 attendees from 40 countries descended on the city to share the latest news and advances in molecular medicine the 22nd International Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference.
Despite beginning on a national holiday, Presidents Day, and limited public transportation via the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and ferry service, the conference began with a thickly populated exhibition hall and a series of ongoing presentations. Over 200 companies are setting up and manning their booths to pitch products and technologies to the industry’s wonkiest decision makers.
Still, several participants tweeted that major storms in the South and Midwest had delayed their travel to the conference, a consequence on 2015’s bruising winter weather thus far.
“My trip to #TRICON was a bit delayed and rerouted by blizzards but almost there now,” tweeted attendee John Thompson, who listed his Twitter interests a “single-molecule DNA sequencing (nanodetector or otherwise), genomics, biotech, pharma, GMOs, and occasionally sports and other matters arising.”
Hosted by the Cambridge Healthtech Institute this year’s conference will continue for six days and has a focus on Drug Discovery, Genomics, Diagnostics and Information Technology. Tri-Conference, or #TRICON, includes an expanded program with six symposia, over 20 short courses and 17 conference programs.
Over 500 speakers will participate in 400 presentations and panel discussions in programs such as Genomic Technologies for Patient Stratification and Technology-Driven Oncology Clinical Development, and symposia including New Frontiers in Gene Editing and Clinical Cancer Immunotherapy.
This year’s organizers have also created a phone app that allows attendees to Create Your Conference, via an All Access function, or “build your own program.” Individual research can be browsed via scientific posters distributed around the conference, at a current count of 150.
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Will Job Cuts Continue? After a week that saw Quintiles, Sanofi and Actavis slashing almost a 1,000 biotech jobs, BioSpace wonders if the ax will continue to fall. Give us your thoughts about the sector’s “streamlining” below.
