sanofi pasteur Archives | Research & Innovation

YORKbiotech and Schulich School of Business launch 2010 sanofi pasteur Healthcare and Biotechnology Venture Challenge

fmaquito — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Are you an innovator with a product or service relevant to the health-care industry? Are you having difficulty commercializing? Are you looking for professional help from world-class MBA students? Does competing for more than $10,000 in prize money and a chance to present your innovation to a panel of industry experts sound appealing?

We have your competition ready.

YORKbiotech presents the fourth annual (HBVC 2010) with 91��ɫ's .

Through the venture challenge, selected teams will design a fully utilizable commercialization plan, receiving expert feedback and the chance to glean indispensable knowledge from mentors throughout the competition.

For those seeking additional support, the HBVC also provides an opportunity to attend an educational seminar taught by Schulich faculty and experienced insiders. There participants will learn the basics of business plan writing, the features of a successful proposal and tips on presenting to potential investors.

Financial rewards are not all that HBVC 2010 has to offer; in fact we think it's the least important part. Curtis Caldwell, the 2008 grand prize winner, put it best when he said, "We knew we had a good idea, but had not determined the best way to commercialize it. The HBVC teamed us up with an experienced mentor and…we also benefited from pitching our plan and getting feedback from a panel of industry experts. The HBVC put us on the right track to start a business."

Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to take your innovation to the next level. If you're ready to commercialize, you're ready for HBVC.

For more information, visit the Web site. Registration applications are due by Sept. 17.

The post YORKbiotech and Schulich School of Business launch 2010 sanofi pasteur Healthcare and Biotechnology Venture Challenge appeared first on Research & Innovation.

High-school students get an inside look at science and research at 91��ɫ

fmaquito — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

On May 6, the Science in Action bus brought 30 high-school students from the 91��ɫ Region District School Board (YRDSB) to the University as part of a tour created to showcase the many opportunities that await these future scientists and entrepreneurs.

, along with the Regional Municipality of 91��ɫ, the Town of Markham and YRDSB organized the tour to educate students about the potential of medical and biotechnology research and development in the region. As part of their day, the students also visited IBM, Estée Lauder, Apotex, AMD Markham, MDS Sciex, Dalton Pharma Services, sanofi pasteur, 91��ɫ Central Hospital, Markham Stouffville Hospital and Seneca College at 91��ɫ, to see how successes of scientific and health innovation contribute to the quality of life of Canadians.

During their visit to 91��ɫ's Keele campus, the students, led by Emmanuel Matiya, a 91��ɫ student ambassador for the University's Recruitment Division, had the opportunity to tour the new Sherman Health Sciences Research Centre. The building, which is set to open this fall, is home to researchers in the health, science and engineering fields. Students toured the future labs of the Centre for Vision Research and learned how biomedical and assistive technology experiments will be conducted. With support from the Faculty of Health, the high-school students also visited the School of Nursing's resource centre to watch how nursing students can run clinical simulations on low- to high-fidelity mannequins.

“Setting the foundation for future entrepreneurship and scientific innovation is an important role that YORKbiotech plays in the growth of the bio-economy in the 91��ɫ Region,” said Janet LeClair, chief administrative officer of YORKbiotech Inc. “Through programs like the Science in Action tour we are able to demonstrate the value of collaboration by bringing students closer to research and business in various sectors.”

91��ɫ Region is in the heart of a hub of Ontario's innovative technology sector with over 120 companies involved in producing medical devices, biopharma and medical assistive devices. In addition, more than 900 companies in the information and communications technology, digital media, software and manufacturing sectors reside in the region.

YORKbiotech is a regional innovation network for biotechnology-related industries at the centre of the Greater Toronto Area. The mission of YORKbiotech is to act as a catalyst, harnessing the wealth of intellectual and technical resources to promote economic success and growth of the biotechnology and related industries as a key component of regional economic development. Read their about this event.

By Sana Mulji Dutt, research communications specialist, YORKbiotech.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post High-school students get an inside look at science and research at 91��ɫ appeared first on Research & Innovation.

For 91��ɫ profs, it's science on-demand at Royal Canadian Institute gala dinner

fmaquito — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to have dinner with a scientist? Ask questions about Canada’s laser radar on NASA's 2007 Phoenix mission to Mars, the role of human genomes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the consequences of dwindling fossil fuels or perhaps how biochemical pathways affect obesity?

The Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) for the Advancement of Science, Canada's oldest scientific society at 161 years, is hosting a gala dinner featuring 25 scientists, and guests get to choose which one they’d like to sit with.

Five of the scientists are from 91��ɫ, which is a sponsor of the dinner. They are physics Professor Emeritus Allan Carswell, humanities and science & technology studies Professor Bernard Lightman, Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino, anthropology and science & technology studies Professor Natasha Myers, and Canada Research Chair in Ecology & Conservation Biology, Professor Bridget Stutchbury. In addition, Mark Lievonen, president of Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., a 91��ɫ alumnus and member of 91��ɫ's Board of Governors, will also host a table.

Right: Giuseppina D’Agostino

Founder and director of Osgoode's Intellectual Property Law & Technology Program (IP Osgoode), D’Agostino, a recent recipient of the Law Commission of Ontario’s Visiting Scholarship Program, will talk about "Challenges to the Commercialization of Intellectual Property". The commercialization of intellectual property is often said to be indispensable for fostering a vibrant, creative and innovative economy, but many challenges remain before an invention can be brought from the lab into the marketplace. D’Agostino is currently investigating the intellectual property and privacy aspects of the electronic health record in Canada.

Left: Bernard Lightman

Lightman, editor of the history of science journal Isis, will discuss "Who, Exactly, Was Charles Darwin? The Making of a Cultural Icon". Lightman's early work, summed up in his , centred on the birth of a new form of unbelief in the wake of the debates over evolutionary theory. More recently, he has tackled the issue of how science was popularized in the second half of the 19th century in Britain. His current project is a biography of the eminent Victorian physicist John Tyndall.

Right: Allan Carswell

Former president of the Canadian Association of Physicists and vice-president of the Canadian Academy of Science, Carswell founded Optech Inc. in 1974 to develop commercial lidars (laser radar). He and a Canadian team provided a lidar on NASA's 2007 Phoenix mission to Mars as part of a meteorological station, MET, for studies of the Martian atmosphere. After the landing in May 2008, MET provided measurements of outstanding value, including the discovery of snowfall on Mars. An internationally recognized leader in the lidar field, Carswell will present "Canada Goes to Mars".

Left: Bridget Stutchbury

Stutchbury, Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology and a field biologist who has studied bird behaviour and conservation for 25 years, has followed Canadian migratory songbirds to their wintering grounds in Latin America to understand the threats they face far away. She is author of , a Governor General’s Literary Award non-fiction finalist, and the forthcoming T. She will discuss "Conservation Biology Studied Through Birds".

Right: Natasha Myers

Myers' research examines the lively visual cultures that thrive in contemporary life science laboratories and classrooms, with an interest in the artistry, craft and creativity of scientific work. She will discuss "Art Meets Science". Myers has been engaged in art-science collaborations for over a decade. Her most recent project was the 2009 Art Meets Science Series at 91��ɫ, a year-long series of events designed to foster a culture of collaboration among 91��ɫ’s artists and scientists.

Left: Mark Lievonen

Lievonen (BBA Spec. Hons. ’79, MBA ’87), a member of the Board of Directors of Oncolytics Biotech Inc. and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, will talk about the Canadian Vaccine Capability: Collaborating for Continued Success.

In addition, ex-91��ɫie Brock Fenton, a biology professor at the University of Western Ontario and former chair of 91��ɫ’s Department of Biology as well as former associate vice-president research, will ask "How do Universities Interact With Society?" He has written several books about bats intended for a general audience, including Just Bats (University of Toronto Press, 1983) and The Bat: Wings in the Night Sky ( Key Porter Press, 1998)).

Right: Brock Fenton

Scientists are chosen from various disciplines and many southern Ontario academic institutions. Each scientist hosts a table of eight. The gala partners are awarded several places, and their guests, as well as individual ticket purchasers, can choose the table of greatest interest to them. After a reception of an hour or so, dinner will start. Each scientist will provide a brief overview of their subject and/or current work and guests are then free to ask any questions or suggest topics they would like the host to discuss. For tables and topics, click here. Following the dinner, the president of the RCI will open a general question-and-answer period at which time any of the participants are free to direct a question to any of the scientists present.

The RCI for the Advancement of Science is a not-for-profit organization founded in Toronto in 1849 by a small group of civil engineers, architects and surveyors and led by Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) who established the concept of time zones.

The gala will take place Thursday, April 22, from 6 to 9:30pm, in the MaRS Collaboration Centre, 101 College St., Toronto. Tickets are $250. The dinner will help to raise awareness and funds for the RCI's outreach activities, in particular the free public lectures it presents every year in Toronto and Mississauga on a diverse range of topics. The fundraising also goes toward providing scholarships for deserving high school students to attend university.

91��ɫ provides the Webcasting and archiving for all the lectures through the support of University Information Technology and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. Click to view archived Webcasts of previous lectures. 91��ɫ also supplies many of the speakers. This winter two of the six Toronto were from 91��ɫ.

For more information, visit the Web site or contact 91��ɫ biology Professor Ron Pearlman, a member of the RCI council and the gala organizing committee, at ronp@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy o f YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post For 91��ɫ profs, it's science on-demand at Royal Canadian Institute gala dinner appeared first on Research & Innovation.

YORKbiotech announces winners of Sanofi pasteur Healthcare and Biotechnology Venture Challenge

fmaquito — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

What do you get when you match an inventor with a business student? Among many things, you get a commercialization plan for a new product or discovery that could potentially transform health care.

That was the case in YORKbiotech's sanofi pasteur Healthcare and Biotechnology Venture Challenge 2009 competition, which matched students enrolled in the MBA Program in 91��ɫ's Schulich School of Business with inventors of viable health-care inventions to devise market strategies and goals to commercialize new products. Industry mentors were on hand to offer teams advice and guidance. Each team consisted of two students working with product inventors and a mentor for a chance to win more than $17,000 in prizes.

Above: From left, Gavin Zealey (contest judge), scientist Arjen Bogaards and MBA students Dilip Chary and Saif Mohamed

The project, which started last fall, saw teams work with the inventors to learn about the product and then create a commercialization plan before Nov. 29, 2009.

In the final stage of the competition, three shortlisted teams pitched their invention commercialization plans to a panel of judges in a session that resembled an episode from “Dragons' Den”, the popular CBC Television venture-capitalist show. Industry experts Gavin Zealey, executive director of corporate development for sanofi pasteur Ltd.; Borys Chabursky, founder and president of SHI Consulting Inc.; and Janet Lambert, president & CEO with Lambert BioConsulting, served as the competition's judges.

The winners of the 2009 sanofi pasteur Healthcare & Biotechnology Venture Challenge are:

Sono Pharmaceuticals Inc., which placed first for its venture involving photodynamic therapy and sonodynamic therapy to produce an immune-therapeutic response to treat certain cancers. The team includes scientific entrepreneur Arjen Bogaards and MBA students Dr. Dilip Chary (who is also a family practitioner) and Saifuddin Tajuddin Mohamed. The team was awarded $7,500 and a business advisory package provided by MaRS Business Services, valued at $2,500.

Above: From left, Schulich Professor Amin Mawani, MBA students Aravind Petlu and Nilotpala Jena, and scientist Herman Lo

The second place award of $5,000 went to ViewsIQ Inc. for its real-time slide-scanning system for digital pathology. The product, named EyesIQ, is a diagnostic tool for scanning, storing and retracing pathologists' image data. The team included scientist Herman Lo and MBA students Aravind Petlu and Nilotpala Jena.

The team awarded third place and a cash prize of $2,500 was J. Strupat Technologies Ltd. for a portable pandemic ventilator life-critical system that provides mechanical assistance to individuals who are unable to breathe properly due to infection or physical damage. The team was comprised of scientist John Strupat and MBA students Darryl Baptiste and Akyljan Noupbaev.

Above: From left, Janet Lambert (contest judge), MBA students Akyljan Noupbaev and Darryl Baptiste, and scientist John Strupat

Fostering an entrepreneurial culture is integral to this competition, says Janet LeClair, chief administrative officer of , who organized the competition along with Schulich Professor Amin Mawani. “Such collaboration between scientific, business and academic communities is essential in connecting concept to commerce,” LeClair says. “The competition helps in identifying investment opportunities critical to move the economy forward.”

sanofi pasteur was the gold sponsor for the competition, MaRS and the Town of Markham were silver sponsors, while bronze sponsors were the Health Technology Exchange and 91��ɫ Region District School Board.

About YORKbiotech Inc.

YORKbiotech is a growing cluster of public- and private-sector members that promotes the convergence and commercialization of research and development in information & communications technologies and biomedical technologies.

Its members include biotechnology-related companies from Toronto through 91��ɫ Region to Simcoe County, along with service providers, industry associations, research and educational institutions, municipalities, hospitals and government.

It is one of 12 active clusters in , which supports partnerships among business, institutions and local governments to promote innovation. 91��ɫ is a founding member of YORKbiotech.

By Sana Mulji Dutt. Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

Thanks also to the .

The post YORKbiotech announces winners of Sanofi pasteur Healthcare and Biotechnology Venture Challenge appeared first on Research & Innovation.