Current Events

The XIXth Slovak-Czech Spectroscopic Conference (XIXth SCSC) is proceeding with a long term scientific cooperation between both spectroscopic societies. The meetings organized by the Czechoslovak Spectroscopic Society in the past and the continuation in the tradition of the Slovak Spectroscopic Conferences (SSC) will continue as joint events to the future. The last SSC took place in Spišská Nová Ves (Slovakia) in 2006. The aim of the XIXth SCSC is to bring together experts from universities, academia, official centers, various laboratories, and industry on a world-wide scale, to summarize the current progress in different areas of spectroscopy and to stimulate contacts and mutual exchange of experiences and ideas.

symposium of Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry organised by ChromSA and SAAMS, divisions of the South African Chemical Institute. This is the 6th symposium in the four yearly series which attracts a number of well known international and local scientists.

This heterocyclic chemistry conference is aimed at industrial chemists in discovery chemistry, process R&D and production. The programme will contain a mix of industrial and academic presentations, focusing on ‘de novo’ synthesis and partial synthesis of heterocyclic compounds along with new synthetic methods and case studies of their application in industrial R&D or manufacture.

International experts in nutrition, genomics, bioinformatics and milk research will gather in Sydney, Australia October 14-16th for the 5th International Symposium on Milk Genomics and Human Health. Organized by the California Dairy Research Foundation (CDRF), the three-day event will be held at the Amora Hotel Jamison in Sydney. Sessions will focus on the bovine genome, evolution across genomes, lipids as the next beneficiary of genomics, milk research from down under as well as updates from researchers throughout the world and the International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC). A complete speaker program will be announced in June.

Bench2Boardroom is the UK’s largest Life Science networking event, and is specifically designed for those individuals wishing to learn about the skills, services and products available to Biotech and Medtech companies. Come along in 2008 and experience our extremely effective networking concept. Bench2Boardroom is suitable for anyone working in the life sciences, including everyone working in research, IT, HR, PR, regulatory affairs, IP, finance, business development, operations, purchasing, facilities, administrators, executives etc. Supported by EBD Group’s partneringONE online software, visitors and exhibitors can pre-arrange one to one meetings with any other attendee as well as plan a personal agenda of exhibitor visits and conferencing activities. B2B 2007 summary: •81 exhibiting companies •10 presentations •30 round table workshop topics •503 registrants •277 companies •10 countries represented •310 pre-arranged one to one meetings •350 ice cream cones, 180 bacon rolls and 150 danishes eaten! Entrance to B2B is FREE for employees of Biotech and Medtech companies. Sponsorship and Exhibitor packages are available with options to suit all budgets.

Learn the steps needed to select, develop, optimize and validate biological assays to meet regulatory requirements in preclinical and clinical stages of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Please visit www.IBCLifeSciences.com/courses for complete course agendas and the dates and locations for the more than 80 separate courses to be presented in the fall 2008 and spring 2009 terms.

The “Topics and Tactics in Current Drug Design” conference will be chaired by Dr. Nicholas A. Meanwell, Executive Director of Discovery Chemistry at Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, and Dr. Milind S. Deshpande, Executive Vice President of Research & Chief Scientific Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The expeditious and successful development of drug candidates requires a detailed understanding of drug-target interactions and an appreciation for the many off-target sources of drug failure. This ACS Prospectives conference will look broadly at contemporary topics in drug design and discovery by exploring many of the problems commonly faced by medicinal chemists. Each session will emphasize fundamental aspects of drug design, providing comprehensive synopses of the kinds of tactics and strategies that have led to the optimization of drug-target interactions against the backdrop of enhancing drug safety and compound delivery in vivo.

The “Topics and Tactics in Current Drug Design” conference will be chaired by Dr. Nicholas A. Meanwell, Executive Director of Discovery Chemistry at Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, and Dr. Milind S. Deshpande, Executive Vice President of Research & Chief Scientific Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The expeditious and successful development of drug candidates requires a detailed understanding of drug-target interactions and an appreciation for the many off-target sources of drug failure. This ACS Prospectives conference will look broadly at contemporary topics in drug design and discovery by exploring many of the problems commonly faced by medicinal chemists. Each session will emphasize fundamental aspects of drug design, providing comprehensive synopses of the kinds of tactics and strategies that have led to the optimization of drug-target interactions against the backdrop of enhancing drug safety and compound delivery in vivo.

• RNAI For Screening • Kinase Inhibitors • HDAC Inhibitors: Targeting Oncology & Beyond • Oncology Drug Targets-Managing The Portfolio RNAI For Therapeutics • RNAI For Therapeutics www.DiscoveryOnTarget.com

Great strides have been made in the expression of proteins for structure and characterization studies, as well as for therapeutics and diagnostics. However, with these strides have come new obstacles. Higher throughput expression and purification, as well as more flexible expression systems and techniques are in even greater demand now to support the needs of the research pipeline. It has become even more important to prevent problems in protein expression by wise choices in data analysis well before the task goes into the laboratory. This conference will explore the newest data and innovations relating to the expression and characterization of proteins for biological understanding and therapeutics, as well as strategies to make the eventual expression of these proteins more effective, efficient and trouble-free. www.healthtech.com

Five sessions of 90-minutes each on October 20, 27, November 3, 10 and 17. Improve your professional writing skills in this interactive workshop. This class is specifically designed for researchers, technical professionals, and managers who want to enhance their professional success by writing effectively and persuasively. Class size is limited to 20 participants to ensure individual attention. You are encouraged to bring samples of your own writing along with technical writing samples (such as scientific papers, reports, reviews, etc.) that you aspire to write. In addition, the instructor will confer with students about the writing assignments they complete during the course. Each student will be able to print a comprehensive course workbook.

Although therapeutic antibodies have come a long way in the past several years, many problems still exist in the production and use of these complex molecules. The negative qualities of these proteins, including immunogenicity, delivery difficulties, and the high cost of production, among others, have made the outcomes of their production and use less than satisfactory. In order to improve or eliminate these negatives, it is critical to find new ways to engineer antibodies, new antibody alternatives (such as mimetics, fragments, etc.) and novel ways to scale up production to provide large amounts of these proteins in a cost-effective way. This conference will present the latest data on how to achieve these improved results and the research data necessary to apply the solutions to your laboratory’s efforts. www.healthtech.com

Seven sessions of 75-minutes each on October 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19, 26, and December 3. This course will help you to gain a sound working knowledge of basic mass spectroscopic analysis principles and procedures and enable you to develop a greater understanding of theoretical and practical relationships. Throughout the seven sessions, you will build the expertise needed to choose optimum ionization and mass analysis parameters and techniques useful in the interpretation of mass spectra from organic compounds. In the end, these tools will increase your on-the-job efficiency.

Scope of conference – 2007 was a big year for both the implementation and recognition of the value of adaptive trial designs in drug development. This was evidenced by: • Large pharmaceutical organizations implementing and reporting time and cost savings associated with the use of adaptive trial designs • EMEA’s finalization and publication of their “Reflection Paper on Methodological Issues in Confirmatory Clinical Trials Planned with Adaptive Design” (CHMP/EWP/2459/02) last October • EMEA/EFPIA workshop on adaptive designs in confirmatory clinical trials conducted in Dec. 2007 www.healthtech.com

Learn about methods of investigating the root and probable cause of deviations that occur in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and hear case studies of actual investigations. Please visit www.IBCLifeSciences.com/courses for complete course agendas and the dates and locations for the more than 80 separate courses to be presented in the fall 2008 and spring 2009 terms.

Due to popular demand for a conference dedicated solely to “hardcore” organic synthesis, conference chairs Nick Magnus, Research Advisor in process research at Eli Lilly, and Mo Movassaghi, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT, have invited both academic and industrial speakers to present chemistry in the areas of catalysis, heterocyclic chemistry, asymmetric synthesis, methodology, and total synthesis. The conference will explore strategies that enable the preparation of new pharmaceutical agents, molecular probes, complex natural products, and organic materials. Speakers from major pharmaceutical companies will present case studies that detail the techniques they employed to solve synthesis problems to enable the clinical evaluation of new medicines.

Delegates attending this course will benefit from an introductory overview of the terminology and classification of cancer and the principle issues in its treatment. Commonly available anti-cancer drugs will be reviewed with emphasis on mode of action, dose intensity and chemotherapy regimes. The range of side effects of chemotherapy treatment – both common and uncommon – will be studied in detail. Quality of life issues in terms of overall assessment and result interpretation will also be discussed.

Drawing on the reputation and expertise of Bio-IT World and Cambridge Healthtech Institute, Bridging Pharma and IT is one of the most influential meetings in North America. It is the only meeting to feature case studies of IT/Science paired discussions that provide insights into cross-domain partnering with an organization's end users and IT. The 2008 agenda will focus on tactics and processes that organizations can effectively and efficiently use to minimize communication gaps between scientists, researchers, and information technology professionals in building solutions and capabilities, utilizing data models and their validation, and integrating drug targets and compounds. A number of joint presentations from pairs of end users and IT and informatics partners will provide indispensable guidance for surmounting challenges and delivering results. www.healthtech.com

The Oncology Leaders’ Forum provides an annual high-level meeting place for senior level figures driving the development, approval and launch of novel cancer therapies of all classes. The ’08 program will feature over 40 high profile speakers and a selection of highly interactive discussion and workshop sessions. Please visit the event website for the latest agenda information. The event is running in parallel with the R&D Leaders’ Forum Autumn 2008.

The event is the 7h annual Autumn R&D Leaders’ Forum and will once again provide a key meeting place for top-level pharma and biotech R&D executives. The highly interactive conference agenda will focus on the discussion of solutions to core strategic challenges along the length of the pipeline and will be complemented by superb networking opportunities. The event is running in parallel with the Oncology Leaders’ Forum 2008