By Brenda Trainor
MADIA: BioTECH 2020 is a series of meetings and lectures in March that provide a focus on the biotech industry in the San Gabriel Valley. Biotech is a burgeoning part of our local economy and MADIA Tech Launch believes it warrants a close examination.
The Oak Crest institute of Science hosted the first event on March 4; and Lab Launch is hosting a lecture about TCRCure on March 11. Events are free and open to students, future and current founders, and anyone interested in tech startups. Registration is requested through links on the MADIA Tech web site: MADIATech.org.
MADIA Tech Launch is a nonprofit educational organization that serves as a network of technology entrepreneurs and practitioners in the cities just east of Pasadena. So why focus exclusively on biotech? Bruce Lathrop, MADIA’s board president, explained: “With great biological and medical research coming out of Caltech, UCLA, USC and City of Hope, the San Gabriel Valley has long been home to great innovators and entrepreneurs in biotech … We want to spotlight this amazing ecosystem.”
The focus on this tech industry sector is important, Lathrop continued, as it can “let biotech entrepreneurs know they’re in good company here and can collaborate with others and recruit scientists from the amazing university’s in our area, including Caltech, UCLA, USC, and Keck Graduate Institute.”
The Oak Crest program offered several presentations from industry experts about building a successful science- or technology-based business. The first presentation was about intellectual property, because ideas and methods are worthy of protection. A second lecture was about corporate structure and fundraising, and a third event that afternoon offered a discussion of how to access services from the Small Business Administration. And throughout the day, there were live demonstrations of scientific instrumentation being used at the Institute.
Oak Crest Institute hosted this event under the auspices of its MOST-IP initiative: a program developed in collaboration with the City of Monrovia and Newton World Enterprises to help turn scientific discoveries into thriving business enterprises.
The second event, sponsored by LabLaunch on March 11 puts Paul Bryson in the spotlight to discuss TCRCure Biopharma Corp, a company that is using knowledge of T-cells and immunotherapies to control the progression of cancer tumors. Bryson directs the operations Los Angeles facility using his scientific and business acumen to deploy their technology to a wider audience of practitioners. His presentation will take place at LabLaunch, 605 E. Huntington Drive, Suite 103, on Wednesday, March 11 from noon to 1 p.m.
LabLaunch is an 11,000-square-foot office and laboratory facility designed to provide affordable space for the development of startup businesses and technology development. Its collaborative atmosphere provides a place and the resources to enable scientists and entrepreneurs to develop their ideas. TCRCure Biopharma Corp got its start at the Monrovia location, and Dr. Bryson will discuss how his company has matured from its start in 2017 at LabLaunch.
MADIA Tech Launch is a career, company, and industry incubator for the area’s technical, scientific, and industrial workforce providing networking and educational events. The name MADIA is derived from a group of a core of five San Gabriel Valley cities (Monrovia, Arcadia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa) that support and host a wide-range of exciting technology-based companies: MADIATech.org.
