QB3 Webinar: Anshul Kundaje, Stanford. "Deep Learning for Genomic Discovery"

The human genome contains the fundamental code that defines the identity and function of all the cell types and tissues in the human body. Genes are functional sequence units that encode for proteins. But they account for just about 2% of the 3 billion long human genome sequence. What does the rest of the genome encode? How is gene activity controlled in each cell type? Where do the regulatory control elements lie and what is their sequence composition? How do variants and mutations in the genome sequence affect cellular function and disease?

These are fundamental questions that remain largely unanswered. The regulatory code that controls gene activity is encoded in the DNA sequence of millions of cell type specific regulatory DNA elements in the form of functional DNA words and grammars. This regulatory code has remained largely elusive despite tremendous developments in experimental techniques to profile molecular properties of regulatory DNA.

Deep learning has revolutionized our understanding of natural language, speech and vision. We strongly believe it has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the regulatory language of the genome. We have developed deep learning frameworks to learn how genomic sequence encodes millions of experimentally measured regulatory genomic events across 100s of cell types and tissues. We have developed novel methods to interpret our models and extract local and global predictive patterns revealing many insights into the syntax and grammar of the regulatory code.

Our models also serve as in-silico oracles to predict the effects of natural and disease-associated genetic variation i.e. how differences in DNA sequence across healthy and diseased individuals are likely to affect molecular mechanisms associated with common and rare diseases. These models enable optimized design of genome perturbation approaches to decipher functional properties of DNA and variants and serve as a powerful lens for genomic discovery.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Tuesday, April 5, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

Register Now

About the Speaker

Anshul Kundaje is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Computer Science at Stanford University. His primary research area is large-scale computational regulatory genomics. The Kundaje lab specializes in developing statistical and machine learning methods for large-scale integrative analysis of heterogeneous, high-throughput functional genomic and genetic data to decipher regulatory elements and long-range regulatory interactions, learn predictive regulatory network models across individuals, cell-types and species and improve detection and interpretation of natural and disease-associated genetic variation. Previously as a postdoc at Stanford and Research Scientist at MIT, Anshul was the lead computational analyst of the ENCODE Project and the Roadmap Epigenomics Project. Anshul is also a recipient of the 2016 NIH Director's New Innovator Award and the 2014 Alfred Sloan Fellowship.

Expert Consult: Mark Wicker, JD, Perkins Coie LLP. What Every Early-Stage Company Needs to Know About Licensing

Whether you are an early-stage startup seeking foundational technology or a later-stage company seeking a new product or new technology, your session may include questions about what you might consider when you want to license technology. Some potential areas to discuss include university in-licenses, pharma out-licenses and collaborations, and how your business plan affects your licensing ambitions.

Need to know more about licensing technology for your company? Apply to meet one-on-one with Mark Wicker, JD, Partner at Perkins Coie.

Our expert consults are hosted by leading experts who have generously offered their services pro bono to our entrepreneurs.

If you choose a timeslot, we will require a $100 credit card deposit. The deposit will be refunded the day after you attend. No-shows will not receive a refund. Please be punctual; arrivals late by more than 15 minutes will be considered no-shows.

If you find that you are unable to attend, you may request a refund up to 5 days in advance. (This will give us time to offer the slot to the first person on the waitlist.) We regret that we cannot honor requests made at a later time.

Where & When

Zoom Meeting
Thursday, March 24, 2022

Apply by EOD Tuesday, March 15.

Mark Wicker, a partner in the Technology, Transactions & Privacy practice of Perkins Coie, advises clients in all aspects of acquiring, developing, commercializing and licensing new technologies and products. He has significant experience structuring strategic alliances, collaborations, joint ventures, licenses, and research, development, manufacturing and distribution relationships, often using novel approaches and pioneering methods that further his clients’ business objectives. His clients range from startups to well-established firms in the life sciences, technology, wireless, social media, clean technology, chemical and material sciences industries.

During his many years of practice, Mark has built a reputation for developing sophisticated business models and formulating business-centric legal solutions to the complex challenges biotechnology and life sciences companies face as they bring novel therapeutics and diagnostics to market. He also works in tandem with colleagues in the area of intellectual property and patent litigation to develop adversarial licensing programs and to negotiate settlement and key licensing agreements. Additionally, Mark has significant corporate experience in such areas as venture capital financing, public securities offerings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Mark regularly speaks and offers commentary on life sciences and technology issues, including startup capital raising and formation and licensing transactions.

QB3 Webinar: David Winter, Department of Health & Human Services. "How to work with BARDA and the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures"

Dr. Winter’s slide deck is available here.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Tuesday, March 22, 2022

About the Speaker

Dr. David Winter is the Team Leader for both the BARDA Accelerator Network and the Blue Knight collaboration with JNJ Jabs. He earned his PhD in immunology/microbiology at SUNY-Buffalo. Before coming to BARDA, he spent 18 years at the bench at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins University, NIH, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research before moving into Program Management at NIAID/NIH. Dr. Winter left NIH to serve as the external collaborations manager for Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics in Siena, Italy. In 2010, he returned to NIH and joined the Center for Scientific Review, running two study sections- the Cellular and Molecular Immunology A (CMI-A) study section and the Innovative Immunology SBIR/STTR special emphasis panel. In 2016, he was appointed as an Embassy Science Fellow for the State Department to work with the Indonesian National Academies of Science to design a national peer review system for science grants. Outside of work, Dr. Winter teaches martial arts and races dragon boats.

Expert Consult: Caleb Bates, JD, PhD. IP Strategy in the Small Molecule Space

Would you like expert advice on IP strategy in the small molecule space from Caleb Bates, JD, PhD, Principal at Fish & Richardson?

Our expert consults are hosted by leading experts who have generously offered their services pro bono to our entrepreneurs.

If you choose a timeslot, we will require a $100 credit card deposit. The deposit will be refunded the day after you attend. No-shows will not receive a refund. Please be punctual; arrivals late by more than 15 minutes will be considered no-shows.

If you find that you are unable to attend, you may request a refund up to 5 days in advance. (This will give us time to offer the slot to the first person on the waitlist.) We regret that we cannot honor requests made at a later time.

Where & When

Zoom Meeting
Thursday, March 10, 2022

Apply by EOD Thursday, March 3.

Dr. Caleb Bates is a principal in Fish & Richardson’s Silicon Valley office. His practice focuses on intellectual property law, with emphasis on patent prosecution, strategic counseling, and worldwide patent portfolio management in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Caleb advises and counsels diverse clients, including early stage and established companies, research institutions, and venture capital and investment firms on how to best develop and leverage their IP assets. In addition to advising clients on IP strategy, Caleb has counseled clients in licensing, investor and company side due diligence, freedom-to-operate and patentability analyses, and in market clearance.

QB3 Webinar: Caleb Bates, Fish & Richardson. "Unique Challenges of Intellectual Property in the Small Molecule Space"

Every entrepreneur in drug discovery and development knows--or ought to know--that IP is your single most important asset. You need a firm understanding of the patents you control as well as any threats you face from competing claims or unclaimed territory. Companies in the small molecule space face particular challenges including the timing and scope of early patent filings. What's your IP position? Would you like a better understanding of the issues? On Tuesday, March 8, Caleb Bates, J.D., Ph.D. of Fish & Richardson will review key topics in small molecule IP. Join us.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM

Register Now

Dr. Caleb Bates is a principal in Fish & Richardson’s Silicon Valley office. His practice focuses on intellectual property law, with emphasis on patent prosecution, strategic counseling, and worldwide patent portfolio management in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. Caleb advises and counsels diverse clients, including early stage and established companies, research institutions, and venture capital and investment firms on how to best develop and leverage their IP assets. In addition to advising clients on IP strategy, Caleb has counseled clients in licensing, investor and company side due diligence, freedom-to-operate and patentability analyses, and in market clearance.

QB3 Webinar: Chris Garcia, Stanford. "Natural and Engineered Cell Surface Receptor-Ligand Interactions in Human Health and Disease"

Christopher Garcia is interested in cell surface receptors and their ligands. Using a range of methodologies, Garcia and his team investigate how ligand recognition and signaling coordinate with the physiology of the cell to determine cell function and fate. In addition to understanding basic aspects of receptor signaling and structural biology, the team is also interested in the creation of novel receptor ligands using protein engineering, and “deorphanization,” or matching of newly discovered receptors to their ligands, using proteomics. A major aim of their work is to synthetically leverage natural biological signaling mechanisms as a path to potential therapeutics.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Register Now

About the Speaker

K. Christopher Garcia, Ph.D. is a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and of Structural Biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Tulane University, and his Ph.D in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. After two years of post-doctoral work at Genentech, Inc. under Dr. David Goeddel in the Dept. of Molecular Biology, where he learned the emerging technologies of protein engineering and recombinant protein expression, Dr. Garcia moved to a second post-doctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute in the laboratory of Prof. Ian Wilson, where he succeeded in determining the first crystal structures of the T cell receptor and then its complex with peptide-MHC. In 1999, Dr. Garcia started his lab at Stanford University School of Medicine in 1999 where he also became an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Garcia was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2016.

Dr. Garcia’s interests reside at the cell surface, and his laboratory is investigating structural and functional aspects of cell surface receptor recognition and activation, in receptor-ligand systems with relevance to human health and disease. A common theme is that structural information on receptor-ligand complexes is used to engineer variant proteins and/or surrogates to manipulate receptor signaling and cellular function, as well as act as biological probes to perturb systems in vivo, with an eye towards therapeutic applications. The receptor systems studied derive principally from the immune system (TCR/MHC, cytokines, chemokine GPCR), but additionally encompass several systems that are also important in neurobiology (Neurotrophins, Semaphorins) and development (Notch, Wnt). A focus is on "shared" pleiotropic receptors, to understand the biophysical basis by which different ligands are able to elicit unique intracellular responses and functional outcomes. Dr Garcia’s lab also has an active program in deorphanizing cell surface receptors, including IgSF members. Dr. Garcia has founded or co-founded several biotech companies that are attempting to clinically develop technologies from his lab, including ALXO (SIRP/CD7 antagonist), Synthekine (cytokine engineering), Surrozen (Wnt agonists), 3T (TCR antigen discovery), and Mozart (immune modulation by regulatory T cells).

QB3 Webinar: Aviv Regev, Genentech and Roche. "Cell Atlases as Roadmaps in Health and Disease"

The recent advent of methods for high-throughput single-cell and spatial profiling has opened the way to create a human cell atlas: comprehensive reference maps of all human cells as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. Such maps reveal rich biology to help us understand in which cells disease genes act, which cells are disrupted in disease, what mechanisms underlie their (dys)regulation, and what impact therapies would have. In this talk, Aviv Regev, head of Genentech Research and Early Development, will describe how atlases illuminate the relation between genotype to phenotype, especially in the context of human genetics and diseases such as cancer and COVID-19, using single cell genomics as a conceptual and technical framework. She will also describe how this deeper approach to directly probing human biology, in combination with new computational algorithms and new therapeutic modalities, is poised to accelerate the drug discovery process.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, February 9, 2022

About the Speaker

As Executive Vice President, Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED), Aviv Regev is responsible for the management of all aspects of Genentech’s drug discovery and drug development activities. She is a member of the Genentech Executive Committee and the expanded Corporate Executive Committee for Roche.

Prior to Genentech, Regev served as Chair of the Faculty, Core Institute Member, founding director of the Klarman Cell Observatory, and member of the Executive Leadership Team of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, as well as Professor of Biology at MIT and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is a founding co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas.

Regev has served on multiple corporate advisory, scientific advisory, and journal editorial boards, including the advisory committee to the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

Regev is a leader in deciphering molecular circuits that govern cells, tissues and organs in health and their malfunction in disease. Her lab has pioneered foundational experimental and computational methods in single-cell genomics, working toward greater understanding of the function of cells and tissues in health and disease, including autoimmune disease, inflammation and cancer. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, and she is also a Fellow of the International Society of Computational Biology.

Regev has a Ph.D. in computational biology and a Master of Science from Tel Aviv University.

QB3 SBIR/STTR Workshop Spring 2022 (Virtual Program)

Get Non-Dilutive Funding for Your Startup

This workshop will take you through all the steps necessary to successfully file a well-written SBIR/STTR grant application for the April 2022 NIH deadline and Spring 2022 NSF window. Taking the workshop, you will learn how to craft an appropriate research plan, obtain persuasive letters of support, develop an efficient budget, and anticipate reviewers’ comments. We will help you speed through the application instructions, saving you hours of time. Results from past attendees indicate that taking this course triples your chances of success. The workshop culminates in a submission clinic that will ensure your application is correctly filed.

One or more team members (up to three) from the company should be prepared to participate in every session. These will be working sessions. The course comprises eight working sessions including a pre-submission review of your Specific Aims page by our course instructors.

Registration

Refund available if requested by Sept. 25.

Be prepared to commit to 40 hours of work on your submission. Companies must be incorporated by the date of the first session, or at the very latest, the second session.

Schedule (Wednesdays, 1:00-2:30 PM: 1 hour presentation, 30 min Q&A)

Sept 21 Eligibility & the registration process (NIH & NSF)

Sept 28 Specific Aims page (NIH) & the NSF elevator pitch

Oct 5 Budget & justification NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Oct 12 Research plan for NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Oct 26 Specific Aims/NSF pitch interactive peer review with Kaspar

Nov 9 Letters, bios, & other sections NIH & NSF

Nov 16 Preparing forms for NIH & NSF

Dec 14 Preparing forms & submitting your proposal to NIH & NSF

Topics

• Understanding the eligibility requirements of an SBIR grant

• Preparing to apply for an SBIR (company formation, registration at all required websites, identifying the best PI)

• Assembling all the necessary parts of the application (letters of support, sub-contract quotes and letters, facilities description, research plan, etc.)

• Strategies for designing your specific aims

• Budget strategies and restrictions

• Complete and convincing budget justifications

• Documentation required to use human samples, human subjects and vertebrate animals

• What makes a competitive proposal

• Common mistakes that applicants make

• Filling in forms and submission process

• Re-submission if your grant is not funded

• Phase II SBIR applications

• Searching for program announcements and finding non-dilutive funding opportunities

Instructors

Shauna Farr-Jones, PhD, UCSF/QB3 grant writer

Kaspar Mossman, PhD, Director of Marketing & Communications, QB3

WORKSHOP FEE

General Admission: $500

About the Instructor

Shauna Farr-Jones, Ph.D., has a record of writing successful government grant and contract proposals on diverse life science topics, providing strategic input on both research and business plans. She has helped companies secure over $200 million in grant and contract funding from numerous government and philanthropic organizations, including BARDA, NIH, DTRA, USDA, DARPA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For 17 years, she has consulted for life science companies and universities, identifying funding opportunities, preparing research plans, marketing plans, technical reports INDs, NDAs, white papers and proposals. She is also the Project Manager of the Antibody Technology Research Center at UCSF. Previously, she was Senior Writer at BioCentury Publications, where she analyzed and wrote about the biotechnology industry. She was a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts University.

QB3 SBIR/STTR Workshop Fall 2021 (Virtual Program)

Get Non-Dilutive Funding for Your Startup

This workshop will take you through all the steps necessary to successfully file a well-written SBIR/STTR grant application for the January 2022 NIH deadline and Spring 2022 NSF window. Taking the workshop, you will learn how to craft an appropriate research plan, obtain persuasive letters of support, develop an efficient budget, and anticipate reviewers’ comments. We will help you speed through the application instructions, saving you hours of time. Results from past attendees indicate that taking this course triples your chances of success. The workshop culminates in a submission clinic that will ensure your application is correctly filed.

One or more team members (up to three) from the company should be prepared to participate in every session. These will be working sessions. The course comprises eight working sessions including a pre-submission review of your Specific Aims page by our course instructors.

Registration

Refund available through the day after the first workshop session.

Be prepared to commit to 40 hours of work on your submission. Companies must be incorporated by the date of the first session, or at the very latest, the second session.

Schedule (Wednesdays, 1:00-2:30 PM: 1 hour presentation, 30 min Q&A)

October 6

October 13

October 20

November 3

November 10

November 17

December 1

December 15

Eligibility & the registration process (NIH & NSF)

Specific Aims setup (NIH) & the NSF elevator pitch

Specific Aims interactive peer review with Kaspar

Budget & justification (including Phase 2)

Research plan for NIH & NSF (including Phase 2). Also, introduction to IP confidentiality

Letters, bios, & other sections

Forms for NIH & NSF

Forms & submitting proposal

Topics

• Understanding the eligibility requirements of an SBIR grant

• Preparing to apply for an SBIR (company formation, registration at all required websites, identifying the best PI)

• Assembling all the necessary parts of the application (letters of support, sub-contract quotes and letters, facilities description, research plan, etc.)

• Strategies for designing your specific aims

• Budget strategies and restrictions

• Complete and convincing budget justifications

• Documentation required to use human samples, human subjects and vertebrate animals

• What makes a competitive proposal

• Common mistakes that applicants make

• Filling in forms and submission process

• Re-submission if your grant is not funded

• Phase II SBIR applications

• Searching for program announcements and finding non-dilutive funding opportunities

Instructors

Shauna Farr-Jones, PhD, UCSF/QB3 grant writer

Kaspar Mossman, PhD, Director of Marketing & Communications, QB3

Fee Structure

General Admission: $500

QB3 Founders Pledge members (invitation only): $150

Email Kaspar Mossman with any questions.

About the Instructor

Shauna Farr-Jones, Ph.D., has a record of writing successful government grant and contract proposals on diverse life science topics, providing strategic input on both research and business plans. She has helped companies secure over $200 million in grant and contract funding from numerous government and philanthropic organizations, including BARDA, NIH, DTRA, USDA, DARPA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For 17 years, she has consulted for life science companies and universities, identifying funding opportunities, preparing research plans, marketing plans, technical reports INDs, NDAs, white papers and proposals. She is also the Project Manager of the Antibody Technology Research Center at UCSF. Previously, she was Senior Writer at BioCentury Publications, where she analyzed and wrote about the biotechnology industry. She was a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts University.

QB3 Webinar: Kelly Harkins Kincaid, Astrea Forensics. "Cold Case Files: How Astrea Forensics Empowers Law Enforcement"

Forensic genealogy is the art of identifying victims or perpetrators by tracing family connections derived from DNA evidence left at the crime scene. But it's not easy; many detectives solving cold cases must work with fragments of human remains decades old that may fail traditional forensic testing. How can you extract and sequence DNA from a rootless hair or a heavily degraded sample? Astrea Forensics, spun out of Ed Green's lab at UC Santa Cruz, can help, using techniques derived from paleogenetics. In this talk, Astrea CEO and co-founder Kelly Harkins Kincaid will explain how her company empowers law enforcement to bring closure to families of victims who once would have remained anonymous using samples long thought to contain no DNA.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, December 9, 2021, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Kelly Harkins Kincaid has BA, MA, and PhD degrees in anthropology and is currently running two genetics companies: Claret Bioscience and Astrea Forensics. As the PI and CEO, she is involved with the design, validation, and commercialization of NGS tools, whether for application in research and the clinic (ClaretBio), or in law enforcement contexts (Astrea Forensics).

Dr. Kincaid has long been interested in hypotheses about the evolutionary and anthropogenic processes associated with the emergence and persistence of human pathogens and their concomitant diseases. Her doctoral work at Arizona State combined paleopathology, bioarchaeology, and genetics and employed enrichment strategies and short read sequencers to recover and reconstruct the genomes of ancient pathogens infecting once-living humans. She worked primarily on tuberculosis and leishmaniasis in the Americas, with experience in the genomes of plague and syphilis, as well as with non-infectious skeletal pathology. During her postdoctoral fellowship at UC Santa Cruz, she moved into NGS technology development.

QB3 Webinar: Christopher Ategeka. "The Unintended Consequences of Technology"

Scientists and entrepreneurs work every day to develop new technologies to meet society's needs. But every disruptive new technology is a double-edged sword that can have unintended consequences. Atomic energy brought the threat of annihilation. The internal combustion engine led to climate change. Social media has led to isolation. Now think about the promise of gene editing and other new life science technologies and where they might lead. How can we do our best to ensure that new technologies have the most favorable outcomes now and in the future? Join us to hear from author, entrepreneur, investor and TED speaker Christopher Ategeka.

WHERE & WHEN

Zoom Webinar
Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christopher Ategeka is an award-winning engineer, entrepreneur, and an author.

He is the author of the book, titled "The Unintended Consequences of Technology" which focuses on the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of technology, humanity, and our planet.

He is also the founder and general partner at Startup playbook. A pre-seed fund that supports software startup companies run by women and other entrepreneurs traditionally underrepresented in the Venture Capital Market.

Before that, he was the founder and board chair at Health Access Corps, which focuses on strengthening healthcare systems in Africa using local talent to combat the extreme shortage of healthcare services in underserved regions. He has done this by building bicycle and motorcycle ambulances to facilitate the emergency transport of patients to health care facilities. He also built mobile clinics by refurbishing abandoned school buses converting them into "hospitals on wheels" to allow patients access to healthcare services in underserved areas of Africa.

He has won many international honors for his work: He was named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list, Ashoka Fellow, TED Fellow, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and most recently was honored by Chancellor Carol Christ and the UC Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees with a 2021 Mark Bingham Award for excellence in achievement by a young alumnus in the last 10 years.

Expert Consult: Joe Snyder, Kilpatrick Townsend. IP Confidentiality

Are you looking for legal advice on how to handle IP & confidentiality in your interactions with potential partners and investors? 

Apply for a 45-minute Zoom timeslot with Joe Snyder, PhD, Partner at the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend, on the morning of November 10.

Applications are now closed.

Joseph Snyder is the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend's Walnut Creek office. He focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling, emphasizing patent drafting, patent procurement, client counseling and opinion writing, primarily in the chemical arts, biotechnology, life sciences and clean technology. He counsels clients on planning and portfolio analysis for patent protection, including strategic review of technologies' commercial potential, enforcement of patent rights and defense of infringement allegations. Dr. Snyder represents U.S. and foreign companies, such as pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic laboratories, universities and start-ups in all areas of intellectual property counseling and protection.

Our Expert Consults are hosted by leading experts who have generously offered their services pro bono to our entrepreneurs.

If you choose a timeslot, we will require a $100 credit card deposit. The deposit will be refunded the day after you attend. No-shows will not receive a refund. Please be punctual; arrivals late by more than 15 minutes will be considered no-shows.

If you find that you cannot attend, you may request a refund up to 5 days in advance. (This will give us time to offer the slot to the first person on the waitlist.) We regret that we cannot honor requests made at a later time.

QB3 Webinar: Vasant Jadhav, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. "Delivering on the Promise of RNAi Therapeutics"

Alnylam, based in Cambridge, MA, has led the translation of RNAi from Nobel Prize-winning discovery into an entirely new class of medicines. In 2018, their first medicine, ONPATTRO (patisiran), became the world’s first approved RNAi therapeutic. Their second medicine, GIVLAARI (givosiran), was approved in 2019, followed closely by OXLUMO (lumasiran), cleared in 2020. They are advancing a robust pipeline of innovative RNAi-based medicines in four therapeutic areas: genetic medicines, cardio-metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, and CNS and ocular diseases. Join us to learn how Alnylam conceives and develops therapies in this exciting new area.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, November 3, 2021

About the Speaker

Dr. Vasant Jadhav is Senior VP, Research at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. He has over 20 years of experience in the chemical biology research of nucleic acids spanning academic, biotech and big pharma industry for basic, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. He has a proven record of delivering insightful breakthroughs as an individual contributor and then growing in the role of team leader overseeing several large multi-disciplinary teams in highly collaborative and timely manner to deliver on the objectives.

Dr. Jadhav optimized fully modified siRNA technology and conceived novel siRNA designs, both key assets of Sirna Therapeutics. In addition, he managed collaborations with GSK and Allergan as a scientific lead in the field of respiratory and ocular diseases respectively.

He initiated, established and oversaw biology efforts of Merck’s industry leading siRNA conjugate delivery platform.  He led comprehensive efforts to engage internal and external scientific experts to unearth novel ways of enhancing cytosolic release of siRNA- the biggest barrier to fully realize potential of siRNA.

Dr. Jadhav earned his PhD from the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

QB3 Webinar: Gene Yeo, UCSD. "RNA-Binding Proteins as Regulators of Gene Expression, as Drugs, and as Drug Targets"

Gene Yeo’s lab at UC San Diego develops technologies and algorithms to explore how RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) influence RNA processing and how dysfunction is associated with human disease. Recently, Gene’s lab has been focused on developing RBPs as drugs and also as drug targets. Gene is a co-founder and member of the board of directors and scientific advisory board of Eclipse Bioinnovations, Enzerna, Locanabio, Trotana and Proteona. View Gene’s slide deck

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, October 13, 2021

About the Speaker

Gene Yeo PhD MBA is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), a founding member of the Institute for Genomic Medicine and member of the UCSD Stem Cell Program and Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Yeo has a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the UCSD Rady School of Management.

Dr. Yeo is a computational and experimental scientist who has contributed to RNA biology and therapeutics. His primary research interest is in understanding the importance of RNA processing and the roles that RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play in development and disease. Since inception, Dr. Yeo’s lab has focused on uncovering molecular principles by which RBPs affect gene expression, how RBP- mediated post-transcriptional gene networks contribute to cellular homeostasis in stem cells and the brain, and how mutations in RBPs lead to human developmental and neurodegenerative disease. His lab pioneered computational algorithms and experimental methods in human disease-relevant systems to conduct systematic and large-scale studies. These multidisciplinary methods combine machine learning, biochemistry, molecular biology, genomics, chemistry and materials research. His lab develops methods that are systematic, robust and adoptable, such as enhanced CLIP for the purposes of large-scale mapping of protein-RNA interactions (Van Nostrand et al, Nature Methods, 2016). Gene’s lab is a major contributor of resources to study RBPs that enable hundreds of labs across many areas of bioscience, such as the world’s largest resource of RBP-specific antibodies that facilitated generation and interpretation of the most comprehensive maps of RBP-binding sites to date for hundreds of RBPs (Van Nostrand et al, Nature, 2020). They have also systematically uncovered RBPs that condense into RNA granules during stress and demonstrated strategies to leverage these for therapeutic use in neurodegeneration (Markmiller et al, Cell, 2018; Fang et al, Neuron, 2019; Wheeler et al, Nature Methods, 2020). His lab also demonstrated in vivo RNA targeting with CRISPR/Cas proteins (Nelles et al, Cell, 2016) with proof of concept in repeat expansion disorders (Batra et al, Cell, 2017; Batra et al, Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2020). Work from the Yeo lab has been highlighted in Nature Methods and Nature Reviews Genetics as “Method to Watch” and featured as a top story in Discover magazine in 2016. These efforts have led to clinical programs to develop medicines for RNA-related diseases.

Dr. Yeo has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications including invited book chapters and review articles in the areas of neurodegeneration, RNA processing, computational biology and stem cell models; and served as Editor on two books on the biology of RNA binding proteins. Gene is on the Editorial Boards of the journals Cell Reports, Cell Research and eLife, and on the Advisory Board of Review commons. Gene joined UCSD as an Assistant Professor in 2008, was promoted with tenure to Associate Professor in 2014 and to Professor in 2016. Gene was the first Crick-Jacobs Fellow at the Salk Institute (2005-2008) and is a recipient of the Alfred P Sloan Fellowship in recognition of his work in computational molecular biology (2011), Alpha Chi Sigma-Zeta Chapter Krug Lecturer (2016), Singapore National Research Foundation Visiting Investigatorship Award (2017), the inaugural Early Career Award from the International RNA Society (2017), the Blavatnik National Award Finalist (2018 & 2019), San Diego Xconomy Awardee for ‘Big Idea’ (2019) and 2019 recipient of the Highly Cited Researcher in Cross-Field category, recognizing the world’s most influential researchers of the past decade. Gene’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, TargetALS, ALS Foundation, Department of Defense, Myotonic Dystrophy Association, Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation and Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. Gene has also been funded and collaborates with biotech and pharmaceutical companies such as Takeda, Genentech and Roche.

Gene is a co-founder of biotech companies which includes Locana, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Enzerna and Proteona. Gene played a critical role in the successful raising of $55M for Locana at series A (2019). Gene serves or had served on the scientific advisory boards of the Allen Institute of Immunology, Locana, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Proteona, Aquinnah, Cell Applications, Nugen (now Tecan), Sardona Therapeutics and Ribometrix. Gene is a senior advisor to Accelerator Life Sciences Partners.

Gene is the founder of the SCREEN (San Diego Covid-19 Research Enterprise Network, 2020) and founding member of the SEARCH (San Diego Epidemiology and Research for Covid Health, 2020) alliances in San Diego. SCREEN has ~1000 scientist members in San Diego focusing on grassroots research coordination and community outreach. SEARCH is focused on epidemiology studies of the prevalence of the virus completing a 12000-person study of viral spread. Gene is on the Return to Work task force in Biocom. Gene is the faculty founder of DASL (Diversity and Science Lecture Series, 2020) providing a voice for scientists to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion challenges and celebrating their scientific achievements. Gene was a Sword of Honor recipient (the highest honor) in Officer Cadet School in 1999 and has served in the Singapore Navy as a Naval officer. Gene has completed 2 full Ironman-distance and multiple half-ironman-, olympic-, sprint-distance triathlons, full marathons and half-marathons, but now spends time rock climbing.

QB3/UC Hastings Freedom-to-Operate Analysis

Patenting your invention is just one step in being able to commercialize a technology. Just being granted a patent does not guarantee that you will ultimately be successful. You need to make sure that you are not infringing on existing patents that could limit your ability to apply your technology. Ensuring that you have "Freedom to Operate" (FTO) can take many hours of a patent attorney's time.

To provide FTO analysis to selected startups at no charge, QB3 has partnered with UC Hastings. For companies accepted to the program, a team of law students with technical backgrounds will perform an FTO analysis under the supervision of an experienced attorney. The company has to interact with the students weekly to ensure progress of the project.

Applications are now closed.

This is a selective program. Approximately four applications will be chosen based on a match with the law students' technical background and interests. Strong preference will be given to incorporated companies with issued patents.

Applicants will learn of their status by early January. The program itself will take approximately two months to complete and will require a time commitment of 4-8 hours from the startup.

Scale Up Your TB Diagnostic Solution

Scale Up Your TB Diagnostic Solution

Get Access to Patient Data | Stakeholders | End Users

Partner with the Rapid Research in Diagnostics Development for TB Network (R2D2) and the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis

Are you developing a technology to diagnose tuberculosis? Are you considering adapting your diagnostic technology to the world's leading cause of death from infectious disease each year? We would like to learn more about your innovative technology, especially biomarker-based tests that can be performed on easy-to-collect samples such as blood, urine, breath, saliva, and oral swabs.

If selected, you will be connected to the Rapid Research in Diagnostics Development (R2D2) for TB Network who will support you develop your diagnostic technology by providing well-characterized specimens, facilitating rigorous clinical study evaluation at no cost, and connecting you with TB experts and key stakeholders.

Applications are now closed.

QB3 Webinar: Sonja Schrepfer, Sana Biotechnology. "The Future of Stem Cell Therapy: Hypoimmune Cell Products"

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great potential as therapies to repair damaged tissue or replace cell types missing due to genetic defects. However, even iPSCs derived from a patient can mutate in culture, causing immune rejection when they are re-transplanted. Being able to control immune rejection is key to using iPSCs as theraputics. The end goal, for safety and efficiency, is a gene-engineered, hypoimmunogenic, universal cell product. In this talk, Sonja Schrepfer of Sana Biotechnologies will describe how she and Sana are working to ensure that transplanted iPSCs survive both T cell and innate immune surveillance.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM PT, Wednesday, September 15, 2021

About the Speaker

Sonja Schrepfer, MD, PhD, is Head of Hypoimmune Platform at Sana Biotechnology, an Adjunct Professor at University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Surgery, and Founder of the Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI) lab at Stanford University.

Sonja received her MD and PhD from the Universities Wuerzburg and Hamburg where she was awarded the Heisenberg Professorship for her work to understand the immune barrier in stem cell biology for regenerative medicine. Sonja and her team subsequently decreased the immunogenic potential of stem cells to generate hypo-immunogenic tissues and organs, work that was funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and National Institutes of Health among others.

QB3 Webinar: John York, Impossible Foods. "The Science of Saving the Planet"

As Chief Science Officer at Impossible Foods, Dr. John York, PhD, leads a fast-growing R&D team expected to double in size in 2021. Before joining the company in January, York served as the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and a Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University from 2012 to 2020, where his laboratory paved the way for discoveries in protein structure and function, cell signaling and molecular genetics. He joined Impossible Foods because, as he says, “the opportunity to use biochemistry to save the planet is a spectacular motivation.” Now, Dr. York is finding a new lab and headquarters for the company's R&D operations in the Bay Area, and he’s leading the company's world-class scientists as they develop the next generation of sustainable ingredients to solve our ecological crisis. Join this talk to learn about his research and how he is approaching his new role.

The event was rescheduled for July 15 due to a conflict on Dr. York’s calendar.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM, Thursday, July 15, 2021

About the Speaker

Dr. John D. York joined Impossible Foods in January 2021 as Chief Science Officer. John oversees the company’s research and development and product innovation functions. His work focuses on building Impossible’s technology platform, expanding basic research capabilities, accelerating next-generation products, and recruiting the world’s best scientists to join the Impossible Foods team.

From 2012 to 2020, John was the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University. There, John’s laboratory paved the way for discoveries in protein structure and function, cell signaling, and molecular genetics, and furthered our understanding of the pathophysiology of disease. Under his leadership as Department Head, the Department of Biochemistry became 2019’s top NIH-funded department in the nation and nearly doubled the number of trainees.

Before joining Vanderbilt, John was an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor in Pharmacology and Biochemistry at Duke University,

Throughout his career, John trained over 50 scientists in his laboratory and over 200 graduate students, post doctoral fellows, undergraduates and high-school students through thesis, departmental and community activities.

A Midwest native, John received his BS in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry from Washington University in Saint Louis. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two incredibly wonderful daughters, off-piste skiing, tennis, woodworking, building outdoor pizza ovens, cooking (more importantly, eating!), traveling and reading the news from a variety of intellectually rigorous sources.v

QB3 Webinar: David Baker, University of Washington. "Designing Proteins from Scratch for 21st Century Challenges"

Billions of years of evolution have proteins that perform incredibly specialized functions. But evolution must take a continuous path. What if, given all we now know about how structure relates to function, we could shortcut evolution and custom-design proteins for our own aims? We can. In this talk, David Baker of the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design will describe how his group designs and fabricates enzymes, motor proteins, biologics delivery vehicles, and other sophisticated macromolecules from first principles.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM, Wednesday, July 7, 2021

About the Speaker

David Baker is the director of the Institute for Protein Design, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. His research group is focused on the design of macromolecular structures and functions.

He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry with Randy Schekman at the University of California, Berkeley, and did postdoctoral work in biophysics with David Agard at UCSF. 

Dr. Baker has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the Beckman Foundation, and the Packard Foundation. He is the recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Irving Sigal and Hans Neurath awards from the Protein Society, the Overton Prize from the ISCB, the Feynman Prize from the Foresight Institute, the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the Sackler prize in biophysics, and the Centenary Award from the Biochemical society. Sixty-five of his mentees have gone on to independent faculty positions, he has published over 500 research papers, been granted over 100 patents, and co-founded 11 companies.

Dr. Baker is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a project leader with The Audacious Project.