Signature Events

Oregon Bio is pleased to offer programming to support the bioscience industry and our member companies. Below are select signature event highlights. For upcoming events, please visit our Upcoming Events page.

Oregon Biotech Summit

Biomarker Testing and the Promise of Precision Medicine

November 12, 2021

Oregon Bio’s 2021 Biotech Summit brought together biotech industry experts, researchers, providers, patient advocates, public leaders and policymakers to learn about and discuss the science and application of biomarker testing, how biomarkers have advanced treatment for so many patients and the critical need to make testing more accessible and ultimately drive improved patient outcomes and health care equity for Oregonians and Washingtonians. The Summit was completed by a virtual tour of Genentech’s new 130,000-square-foot Hillsboro Individualized Therapies (HIT) facility, a $175-million state-of-the-art new manufacturing facility for individualized therapies located in Hillsboro, Oregon.

You can hear and view the panel presentations in the video here. Let us know what you’ve learned.

Oregon Bio Digital 2020

Amplifying Diversity of Discovery, Access and Economics

Causing Good Trouble – Stewarding Biotech and Life Science in the Post-Pandemic World.

November 17-19, 2020

Listen to the conversation between Michelle McMurray-Heath, Ph.D., M.D., President and CEO of the global Biotechnology Innovation Organization and Bernard Fox Sr., Ph.D., Translational Cancer Immunotherapist, Co-Founder/CEO, UbiVac and Oregon Bio board member for a dynamic dialogue about bioscience growth, industry development initiatives and our collective future in the post-pandemic world.

Conference GuideThis virtual fireside chat was part of Oregon Bio Digital 2020: Accelerating the Diversity of Discovery, Access and Economics.

Click the image to download the complete conference guide.

Dialogue about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

July 30, 2020

Oregon Bio culled together about 100 industry pros for a Diversity Dialogue around equity and inclusion. Participants from a broad range of multi-cultural backgrounds and experiences engaged with panelists Emmanuel Akporiaye, Ph.D., founder of Veana Therapeutics; Ndongo “Don” Khouma, principal validation engineer at Genentech; and Nate Miles, vice president of Strategic Initiatives, State Government Affairs at Eli Lilly & CompanySoundharya Nagasubramanian, director of R&D in Product Information Security at Hillrom (which acquired Welch Allyn) moderated the discussion.

Our Diversity Dialogue sought to forge crucial conversations and commit to key actions to grow diversity in the ranks of bioscience and medtech company owners, leaders, workers, researchers, supply chain managers, academics and health providers. This timely event aimed to launch Oregon’s bioscience sector to do better and be better with implementing actions that further diversity, equity and inclusion  – specifically looking at worker recruitment, access to educational opportunities and workplace readiness. We will continue this DEI work with conversations at our upcoming virtual annual conference series in late 2020 and beyond.

BIO, BUSINESS AND GOOD BEANS

ZOOM COFFEE BREAK: 2020 WEBINAR SERIES

In this time of COVID-19, info is rapidly changing and the shifts of business can seem jarring. This coffee talk series was designed to keep our members updated on the topics of the day. From 30 – 45 minutes, these fast-track, touch-base sessions on key topics are relevant to bio businesses, our academic institutions and our supporting industry companies.  This is an ongoing series.  If you would like to propose a topic or join our content committee, please email info@oregonbio.org.  Play the video to see our most recent webinar or see links to past webinars, below.

Past webinars include:

  • The CARES Act and what it means for your business, with  Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt (video no longer available)
  • How will your business banker help you through COVID-19, with The Commerce Bank of Oregon (video no longer available)
  • COIVD-19 Science Unpacked: Innovating The Research and Therapeutic Response to COVID-19 (video link)
  • Maximize your savings with Bio Business Solutions a benefit for Oregon Bio members (video no longer available)
  • Operational Readiness: The Compliance Elements, with CAI (video not yet available)
  • COVID-19: Bio-Innovation, with AbSci, Biomed Diagnostics, Grace Bio-Labs, HealthSaaS, Hemex Health, StoneStable, Molecular Vision Lab, UbiVac & Providence Cancer Institute (video link)
  • Roadmap for Reopening Workplaces in Oregon and SW Washington, with Miller Nash (video link)
  • What companies need to know about PPP Loan Payback changes, with Delap (video link)
  • Retirement Benefits: Find the Right Fit, with RetirementDNA and Retirement Benefits Group (video link)

Visit our YouTube channel Coffee Talk Playlist to see all of the current videos in this series.  To learn about upcoming coffee talks visit our current events page.

BIO ON THE ROCKS 2019

March 19, 2019 at The Porter Portland, Oregon

Oregon’s bioscience community kicked off the first event of the year, Bio on the Rocks, with a legislative preview from Tim Layton and Rocky Dallum. Board Chair, Ryan Dunlap then introduced Liisa Bozinovic, Oregon Bio’s new Executive Director. We thank event sponsors: Nikon, Commisioning Agents Inc., Skanska, VWR, MacDonald Miller Facility Solutions and Arpeggiate Consulting Group.

BIO IN THE VALLEY 2018

December 6, 2018 at University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

The pathway to invention and innovation intersects at Oregon’s research universities. VIP guests arrived early for a tour of Thermo Fisher Scientific US. Keynote speaker, Roberty Guldberg, Ph.D. delivered a virtual tour of the emerging Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, and highlighted the innovative research and development occurring in his lab. From coverage of bench research to fresh start-up, Christina Tom with Magnosys spoke about the hurdles and opportunities in Eugene for those launching entrepreneurial efforts. Matt Beaudet with NemaMetrix followed and illustrated the high’s and “oh’s!” of having a rapidly expanding young business. Kyle Gee from Thermo Fisher Scientific rounded out the evening with the perspective of a successful mature company. Attendees moved from the speaker panel to networking and chatted with drinks, food and a firelight well into the evening.​

Key event sponsors including PhRMA, MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions, Skanska, University of Oregon and MolecularMD make outreach events like Bio in the Valley great opportunities for industry across the state to benefit from trade association support.

PATIENT VIEWS, PATIENT VOICES and Bio on the Rocks 2018

October 1, 2018 at OMSI, Portland, Oregon

We do what we do in bioscience because of the impact that it makes in peoples lives. Oregon Bio invited four dynamic speakers with Dianne Danowski-Smith leading the discussion on how industry impacts patient lives. Ashanthi De Silva, Bryce Olson, Fred Sporon-Fiedler and Gabriel Maldonado illuminated topics on best practices for patient group engagement and how innovation has literally saved their lives. Afterward, industry and patient representatives took the discussion to the next level with networking over drinks and food.

Key event sponsors including Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Biogen, Genentech, PhRMA, OHSU, Celgene, Commissioning Agents Inc., MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions, Skanska, Summit Development and VWR International make outstanding events like Patient View, Patient Voices a meaningful time for industry to reconnect with their driving purpose and each other.

BIO ON THE VINE 2018

September 5, 2018 at Tumwater Vineyard, West Linn, Oregon

Bioscience industry peers and ancillary colleagues mingled on the sun soaked grounds of Tumwater Vineyard for Oregon Bio’s annual Bio on the Vine networking event. New members of Oregon Bio, Bob Harder of George Fox University and Richard Glassman of The Commerce Bank of Oregon received a warm welcome. See the sizzle real for highlights!

Key event sponsors including Commissioning Agents Inc., MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions, Skanska, Summit Development and VWR International make events like Bio on the Vine not only possible, but successful venues for industry networking.

OREGON BIOSCIENCE SHOWCASE 2017

October 30, 2017 at OMSI, Portland, Oregon

With just three minutes each, ten high school and academic researchers had three minutes to ‘fast pitch’ their projects to the 300+ bioscience professionals in the audience at the Oct. 30, 2017 Oregon Bioscience Showcase. It was their unique opportunity to discuss their emerging research and its impact in the local and global bioscience ecosystem.

In a true homage to the next generation of emerging great minds, Camas, Washington high school student, 11thgrader Monica Chang, won the overall Research Fast Pitch with her project entitled, “A Closer Look at Memory: The Effect of Diurnal Rhythms on Perineuronal Nets.” Chang competed against three other high schoolers, one company founder and five academic researchers.

Leading the day of the annual Oregon Bio event, was the Company Pitch Showcase where nine emerging companies had ten minutes each to present their company profile, highlighting the companies’ viability, funding strength and predicators of present and future success. Hemex Health, a startup company at the Oregon Bioscience Incubatordedicated to bringing innovation to global health discoveries, won the company competition with its presentation about its point-of-care medical device designed for under-served regions. The device easily and inexpensively diagnoses malaria in one minute and hemoglobin disorders in about eight minutes.

The Oregon Bioscience Showcase key event partners included the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, OTRADI/Oregon Bioscience Incubator, Biotronik/MSEI, Welch Allyn, Genentech, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Eli Lilly, TE Connectivity, ThinkfastCRM, Copiers Northwest, Oregon Health & Science University, Summit Development and VWR International.

DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

July 20, 2017 at Genentech, Hillsboro, Oregon

More than 150 bio professionals, company leaders and students came to Genentech in Hillsboro on July 20 to talk about the impact of diversity in the workplace, ensuring more opportunities can be created for all Oregonians. The Diversity in The Workplace learning and professional development session began with an awareness-raising keynote by David Bangsberg, M.D., Founding Dean for the joint OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, who launched into his career inspired by hope and help for intravenous drug users. He said, “Where someone grows up determines more than just their schooling or their opportunities – it also affects their health and the health of their community.”

Following, Dr. Bangsberg joined panelists Leslie Garcia, Assistant Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant Vice Provost and Director, Center for Diversity and Inclusion at OHSU; Alex Glunz, Senior Production Manager at Genentech; and Lillian Lo, Interim Manager for Planning and Scheduling at Genentech. The diverse panel spoke of lessons learned both off and on the job as members of diverse populations across cultural, ethnic and gender communities. They spoke about key topic areas such as defining diversity, overcoming implicit and/or unconscious bias, the model that organizations can use to practice inclusion, and cultural responsiveness that can include the spectrum of the diverse workforce, including those with disabilities.

Afterward, attendees got firsthand opportunities to break out into smaller discussion groups with the panelists for more intimate and direct Q&A.

At the conclusion of the panel and breakout sessions, participants launched into one of Oregon Bio’s longtime traditions, Bio on the Vine.  The first ‘BOV’ was held a dozen years ago with about 40 attendees and one winery, which was owned by a local doctor!  But Oregon Bio has grown immensely over the years with this year’s showing of six wineries – Adelsheim, Angel Vine, CAW, Elk Cove Vineyards, Sineann and Tumwater Vineyard – and tastings from their 17 selections of our state’s wonderful bounty.

To track the pulse of the panel and the networking event, check in on Twitter – @OregonBio hashtags #diversityintheworkplace and #bioonthevine2017.

SEEKING 21ST CENTURY CURES

April 27, 2017 at Salem Convention Center, Salem, Oregon

Crucial conversations are underway across the country and world in board rooms, classrooms, universities, labs and researcher meetings in efforts to capture the myriad benefits and capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the 21stCentury Cures Act.  The ‘Cures’ Act, signed into law in December 2016, is designed to accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of present and future cures and authorizes $6.3 billion in funding, mostly for the National Institutes of Health.

Following the Day at the CapitolCarol Pratt Ph.D., J.D., Partner and Regulatory Attorney with Lee & Hayes, presented at Oregon Bio’s 21st Century Cures in Oregon event, explaining how the Act will impact the practice and research around precision medicine. She particularly focused on the ongoing collaborations among federal agencies, the import and facilitation of Big Data and the new regulatory and legal requirements of how new policies will be needed to secure and protect data.

Bryce Olson, cancer patient and Global Marketing Director of Health and Life Sciences at Intel keynoted the event, detailing his personal health journey and how he pushed his oncologist to sequence his genes to obtain entry in a targeted clinical trial that had amazing results. Bryce proudly wears a t-shirt that proclaims, “Sequence Me!”

Chris Edwards, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Oregon, also spoke at the event sharing his work on how the new $500 million contribution by Nike’s founder to the university has culminated in the $1 billion fundraising efforts for the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.

With over 100 participants, the event spurred active conversations and networking at the following Bio in the Valley event. Thanks to sponsors of the 21 Century Cures event, Biotechnology Innovation Organization and Genentech, for their generous support.

DAY AT THE CAPITOL

April 27, 2017 at Oregon State Capitol, Salem, Oregon

On April 27, Oregon’s leading biotechnology and life science companies converged in Salem at the Oregon Capitol to bring innovation and advocacy front and center with our state’s lawmakers.

Legislators and their staffs, as well as dozens from the industry were able to connect among the many companies that brought demonstrations of their products and technologies. Firms came from around the state including Nemametrix and ThermoFisher from Eugene; Valliscor from Corvallis; and Patheon and Lonza (formerly Capsugel/Bend Research) from Bend. Portland metro area organizations included DesignMedix, Elex Biotech, Jupiter Devices, Oregon Bioscience Incubator/OTRADI, Oregon Health & Science University, Recentia Health, UbiVac and Welch Allyn.

Also showcasing its new proposed biotechnology-focused building, Summit Development Group shared architectural renderings to spread the word about the new wet labs, development space and creative offices soon to be realized in Portland’s Innovation Quadrant at 808 S.E. Alder Street.

The outreach to state legislators was well timed and integrated with several pieces of proposed legislation that may have significant impacts on the industry. Following the morning session at the Capitol, Oregon Bio hosted the 21stCentury Cures event at the Salem Convention Center.

OREGON BIO 2016: THE BIOSCIENCE LANDSCAPE

October 20-21, 2016 at Reed College, Portland, Oregon