I'll be moderating a roundtable discussion next month on the topic of R&D I.T. Best Practices for Growing Small/Mid-Sized Biopharmas. The event is being coordinated by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and it will be held at Microsoft's New England Research & Development Center from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.
If you are interested in being a panelist, or if there is someone whom you'd like to see as a panelist, please send me a note via email or via twitter direct message.
You can register to attend the event at http://bit.ly/9gUR4p.
Panelists include:
- David Osterman, Director of Research Informatics, Biorelix, Inc.
- Tom Plasterer, Adjunct Professor, Northeastern University
- Keith Robison, Lead Senior Scientist, Infinity Pharmaceuticals
- Jeff Warhaft, Associate Director, R&D IT Solutions Delivery, Biogen Idec
- Barry Wythoff, Scientist & IT Project Manager, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- David Yee, Head of Knowledge & Information Systems, Archemix Corporation
Here is the preliminary abstract:
R&D IT Best Practices for Growing Small/Mid-Sized Biopharmas
As smaller biopharma companies grow and mature into larger organizations, they need to transition from relatively ad hoc, spreadsheet heavy, lightly supported R&D IT environments to more comprehensive, scalable platforms and support models. This presents substantial challenges to scientists, managers, and IT professionals, ranging from prioritization of new features and functions, creation of new workflows, budget and staffing issues, in-house platforms versus COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) platforms, and getting organizational support for necessary changes. Our expert panel will discuss these issues and more in this Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council Life Science Cluster roundtable discussion.