2018 BCRegMed Trainee Workshop

New in 2018, we held the first BCRegMed Trainee workshop!

The aims of this workshop were to:

Engage trainees, as current and future players in the BCREGMED and cell therapy sectors, in a discussion on the
direction and future needs of this rapidly growing area

Facilitate trainee professional development by exposing the trainees to careers in REGMED and cell therapy in BC

Provide a unique networking opportunity for student trainees to benefit from the guidance of alumni, industry and academic
experts in their fields

Agenda

1:30-2:00pm: Registration (Coffee and snacks available)

2:00-3:30pm: Peter Zandstra/Fabio Rossi “fireside chat”: The Future of Regenerative Medicine in BC”

Dr. Fabio Rossi (Professor in Medical Genetics at UBC and Canada Research Chair in Regenerative Medicine) will engage Dr. Peter Zandstra (Director of the new UBC School of Biomedical Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering) in an “fireside” discussion of the evolution of the rapidly growing BC Regenerative Medicine sector. Together with Drs Zandstra and Rossi, we will explore how cross-interactions between disciplines, and engineering and biology in particular, can help advance this field.

3:30-3:45pm: Coffee Break

3:45-5:15pm:”Meet the Experts: Careers in Biotech” panel session
Join us for this professional development panel and find out what you can do with a PhD. Take a look at our confirmed panelists include:

Dr. Paul Cassar (Associate Scientist, Project Search and Evaluation, CDRD)
Dr. Cassar is an associate scientist at CDRD (The Centre for Drug Research and Development) on the Project Search and Evaluation team. Paul is based in Toronto working to bridge national collaborations on early stage drug development programs with investigators in Ontario and CDRD. Before joining CDRD, Paul worked at the Stem Cell Network where he gained experience in evaluating translational research projects in regenerative medicine for their clinical and commercial potential. Paul has a PhD from the University of Toronto in stem cell biology and functional genomics, a BSc from McMaster University in Pharmacology, and pharmaceutical industry experience working in the Molecular Sciences division of AstraZeneca R&D Montreal.

Dr. Vronique Lecault (Co-Founder, AbCellera)
Dr. Lecault is Co-Founder of AbCellera, a Vancouver-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery of therapeutic antibodies from natural immune repertoires. Founded in 2012 as a spin-off from the University of British Columbia (UBC), AbCellera has grown from 12 to 50 employees over the past 2 years, with triple-digit revenue growth year over year. The company was recently awarded the Life Sciences BC Growth Company of the Year, and recognized on the 2018 Life Science Ready to Rocket list.

After simultaneously completing a B.Sc. in Biochemistry/Biotechnology and a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Vronique obtained her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from UBC. For her thesis, she developed a microfluidic platform to study thousands of single mammalian cells at once that is now part of AbCelleraas core technology. In her free time, she enjoys windsurfing, weightlifting, yoga and reading.

Dr. Eric Jervis (Principal Scientist, STEMCELL Technologies)
Dr. Jervis completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1998. Upon graduation he accepted a faculty position at the University of Waterloo in Chemical Engineering where he was eventually promoted to the rank of Full Professor. Dr. Jervis was a founding member of the Canadian Stem Cell Network NCE and directed the Long-term Live Cell Imaging initiative. In 2011 Dr. Jervis resigned his position at Waterloo to join STEMCELL Technologies to head the new BioEngineering Program in the Research and Development department. The Bioengineering group at STEMCELL is responsible for media and process development for stem cell culture scale-up, tools and devices for immunomagnetic cell separation, as well as tools and devices for tissue engineering and 3D cell culture. Dr. Jervis has 51 publications in refereed journals, published 2 book chapters and more than 100 abstracts. He is also a co-inventor of 5 US patents and has served on many grant and academic review panels.

Dr. Amanda Kotzer (Executive Director, BCREGMED)
Dr. Kotzer (PhD, PMP) has over 10 years of research, operations and administration management in an academic environment. After completing her PhD in the area of cell and molecular biology in the UK and a postdoctoral fellowship at UBC, she traded the lab bench for an office and is currently the Research Projects & Operations Leader of the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency. As a project leader, Amanda guides her team providing the best possible support for the department’s scientists while seeking to integrate the tools of project management in this complex, matrix environment. She is also currently the Executive Director for the BC Regenerative Medicine Network.

Dr. Leigh Anne Swayne (Associate Professor, UVic)
Dr. Swayne is an Associate Professor and cell biologist who studies brain and heart cell development in the Division of Medical Sciences at the University of Victoria. She is a MSFHR and BC Schizophrenia Society foundation scholar and her research is supported by grants from CIHR, NSERC, Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge and Development Fund.

Dr. Sam Wadsworth (Co-Founder and CSO, Aspect Biosystems)
Dr. Wadsworth is a world leader in the field of human airway tissue engineering and has published many peer-reviewed papers on related research. He completed his Ph.D. in respiratory cell biology in the UK before relocating to Vancouver in 2007 to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the UBC Centre for Heart + Lung Innovation at St. Paul’s Hospital. Since 2011 Sam has spearheaded inter-disciplinary, cross-Canada research projects to build living 3D human airway tissues. He was scientific lead on a collaboration with StemCell Technologies to develop a cell culture media to fully differentiate cultures of primary human bronchial epithelial cells, PneumaCult?-ALI is now one of the most successful products in this field. In 2013 Sam co-founded Aspect Biosystems with Konrad Walus, Simon Beyer and Tamer Mohamed. Aspect is a world-leading tissue engineering company with proprietary 3D-bioprinting technology capable of revolutionising the fields of pharmaceutical drug development, disease research, personalised and regenerative medicine by providing living human tissues on demand. As Chief Scientific Officer, he is responsible for external partnerships and internal projects to develop and use new printed tissue applications

5:15-7:00pm: Networking reception