You can register for the symposium or apply for the Rotational Connections Lunch and/or Biotech Battles before November 1st by using this link. Students accepted to the Rotational Connections Lunch and/or Biotech Battles will be notified November 5th.
Rotational Connections Lunch Description:
During the three-course rotational connections lunch, graduate students will have the opportunity to talk and network with each of three industrial speakers during the three courses. Accepted participants will be notified on Nov 5th.
Biotech Battles Description:
In this competition, selected participants will be working as members of an interdisciplinary team composed of 5-6 graduate students and an industry expert. Undergraduates may apply, but priority is given to graduate students. Participants will be notified of their acceptance to the competition Nov 5th. Each team will be given a real world biotech problem and will be tasked to pitch a feasible solution. Teams will have approximately 2.5 hours to work together on the day of the event. On the day prior the Symposium, each team will learn about the general topic of their problem, but the exact problem will only be announced on the day of the Symposium. At the end of the competition, teams will present their solutions (~ 7-8 minutes). The audience and the judging committee will decide the winner of the competition.
This competition provides a great opportunity to learn about new approaches and perspectives, work on a diverse interdisciplinary team and gain firsthand experience of working with biotech industry professionals. Participating in the event also provides the opportunity to network with peers across a variety of departments and hone an industrial perspective.
You may reach out to us at btpassist@umass.edu if you have any questions regarding the format of the competition!
Photo Gallery:
Poster Session in the LSL Conference Center Atrium promotes interactions
Jonathan Thon expounds on his experiences starting Platelet Biogenesis.
Jennifer Brogdon from Novartis mentors students at the Rotational Connections Lunch.
Biju Parekkadan describes his work Adapting Pharmacology for use in Cell Therapeutics
Team Raffel prepares their question on how to provide off-the-shelf cell-based therapies.
KJ Jang of Emulate describes their flexible organ-on-a-chip system.
Team Thon preps for the Biotech Battles
Courtney Williams of Regeneron describes to BTP students the surprising route to her most recent research breakthroughs.
2019 Biotech Battles Participants
Team Biju – Winners of the Industry Choice Award
