Someone nudged me in the last twenty-four hours or so, stating that I had been rather silent of late, and guess what - they were right! It's been a bit of a whirlwind what with our recent KNOCK OUT™ competition event day with Lumira Capital, followed more or less directly with a packing of the bags and heading to BIO 2016 in San Francisco!
The event day went terrifically well, like last year, hosted by the incomparable Christopher Hall, who, as one local lawyer put it, "managed to deftly walk the line between serious science and hilarity". That truly is the magic of Chris (as his inside circle get to call him!) in that he effortlessly manages to take some very serious scientific information, and turn it into something that has everyone falling off their seats - scientists and laypersons alike!
I think most people would probably agree that apart from the KNOCK OUT™ competition itself, the most memorable moments of the day came from Darrell Fox, brother of legendary cancer crusader Terry Fox. No one in Canada (or elsewhere these days) needs to be told who Terry Fox was and how much attention and funding he continues to raise for cancer research, but what was most touching was Darrell sharing some details that were more personal about his older brother.
Speaking for myself (if not everyone) I found it to be inspirationally honest of Darrell to tell us that Terry was not a particularly good student, nor even a gifted athlete, but that he was simply an ultra-driven and very competitive individual who refused to ever give up when he wanted to achieve something. It wasn't so much a question of natural talent, but more one of supernatural work ethic that both drove the guy and got him to where he wanted, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this point resonated in each and every one of us.
Darrell Fox describing the Terry Fox Research Institute
Even (or especially) after some 35 years, seeing/hearing Darrell Fox tear up in public when describing his brother and discussing his heroic "Marathon of Hope" brought the room to a silence level where a pin drop would have been felt, and looking around I could see more than a few less-than-dry eyes in the audience. We owe Darrell and the Terry Fox Research Institute a big thanks for further illuminating the Terry Fox legacy, and reminding us all why we do what we do - whether that be research at the bench, funding research at the bench, running clinical trials, or treating patients bedside.
Speaking of cancer and cancer research, we were delighted to announce the winner of this year's KNOCK OUT™ bout, Dr. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson of the Research Centre of CHUM, who is a professor at the University of Montreal. She handled our heavyweights with seasoned aplomb and was able to deflect the blows that came her way, standing her ground firmly, and punching back where appropriate! Dr. Mes-Masson will use the $500,000 funds to identify small molecule inhibitors of her novel GTPase target, Ran, and develop them as first-in-class candidate therapeutics for ovarian cancer, among other possibilities.
Anne-Marie Mes-Masson in pre-KO training in her laboratory
Following the KO celebrations, it was pretty much time to pack and head to San Francisco where we partook of the "speed-dating-for-scientists" that is more commonly known as BIO Partnering! This year had some 16,000-ish delegates heading to the Moscone Center for a record-breaking 35,700 individual 25-minute partnering meetings, spread over three and a half days in two distinct (west and south) Moscone Center buildings. To say it was a wild and wonderful blur would be an understatement - it was a whirlwind of a week!
We had a full slate over there on the west coast, and it was a blast. The one thing that did cause some inconvenience and was a common negative comment between many of the delegates was the fact that you could have one meeting ending at 8:30am and the next meeting scheduled at 8:30am in an entirely different building on the corner down the street. Whether this was intended to keep us healthy (!) by forcing us to walk in fresh air a few times a day, or was simply a problem that could have been solved by keeping partnering in one building and exhibitions in the other, remains unclear.
But, it could have been worse, had it been pouring with rain! People said it rarely rains there, which is a good thing or it could have been a disastrous move, having all those business suits and dresses getting royally soaked between one meeting and the next. It's a small complaint though, and all 16,000 of us made it work, exchanging smiles and hellos as we passed various colleagues on the streets of glorious San Francisco!
In fact, the online partnering system worked much better this year and we definitely had a most productive BIO 2016. BIO never gets old, no matter how often one goes, and something about the sheer size and scale of the event inspires one to make the most of its potential and get sitting down in as many business meetings as humanly possible. Personally speaking, I can honestly say that my last one or two meetings at the very tail end of the convention on day four, alone, made the entire trip worthwhile and that is saying something!
Speaking of cancer and cancer research, we were delighted to announce the winner of this year's KNOCK OUT™ bout, Dr. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson of the Research Centre of CHUM, who is a professor at the University of Montreal. She handled our heavyweights with seasoned aplomb and was able to deflect the blows that came her way, standing her ground firmly, and punching back where appropriate! Dr. Mes-Masson will use the $500,000 funds to identify small molecule inhibitors of her novel GTPase target, Ran, and develop them as first-in-class candidate therapeutics for ovarian cancer, among other possibilities.
Anne-Marie Mes-Masson in pre-KO training in her laboratory
Following the KO celebrations, it was pretty much time to pack and head to San Francisco where we partook of the "speed-dating-for-scientists" that is more commonly known as BIO Partnering! This year had some 16,000-ish delegates heading to the Moscone Center for a record-breaking 35,700 individual 25-minute partnering meetings, spread over three and a half days in two distinct (west and south) Moscone Center buildings. To say it was a wild and wonderful blur would be an understatement - it was a whirlwind of a week!
We had a full slate over there on the west coast, and it was a blast. The one thing that did cause some inconvenience and was a common negative comment between many of the delegates was the fact that you could have one meeting ending at 8:30am and the next meeting scheduled at 8:30am in an entirely different building on the corner down the street. Whether this was intended to keep us healthy (!) by forcing us to walk in fresh air a few times a day, or was simply a problem that could have been solved by keeping partnering in one building and exhibitions in the other, remains unclear.
But, it could have been worse, had it been pouring with rain! People said it rarely rains there, which is a good thing or it could have been a disastrous move, having all those business suits and dresses getting royally soaked between one meeting and the next. It's a small complaint though, and all 16,000 of us made it work, exchanging smiles and hellos as we passed various colleagues on the streets of glorious San Francisco!
In fact, the online partnering system worked much better this year and we definitely had a most productive BIO 2016. BIO never gets old, no matter how often one goes, and something about the sheer size and scale of the event inspires one to make the most of its potential and get sitting down in as many business meetings as humanly possible. Personally speaking, I can honestly say that my last one or two meetings at the very tail end of the convention on day four, alone, made the entire trip worthwhile and that is saying something!
I wouldn't exactly say that "I left my heart in San Francisco", but it's safe to say that maybe a part of it is still there, along with my head, which remains a little foggy just like the early mornings in the city on most days. But we are Tuesday already, and I daresay that in another 24 hours or so, business-as-usual will be restored and one will begin to look forward to BIO 2017 in San Diego!
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