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Dr. Louis A. Peña appointed Director, Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship & Associate Professor of Practice

The Center for Biotechnology has announced the appointment of Dr. Louis A. Peña as Director of the new Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Additionally, Dr. Peña has been appointed as Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the College of Business at Stony Brook University.

The Professor of Practice will steward the University’s Advanced Graduate Certificate in Life Science Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was established under Empire State Development’s Life Science Entrepreneur Development award, and further develop educational and experiential learning initiatives. The Director of the Program in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship will build upon the Center’s efforts to synergize technology and business accelerator activities with opportunities for students to gain real-world technology commercialization experience.

Prior to joining the Center for Biotechnology and Stony Brook University, Dr. Peña held leadership positions in both industry and academia. He is experienced with startup and early stage companies. Commercializing scientific discoveries he made at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Dr. Peña co-developed a biotech startup that took a biomaterial from idea to clinical trials and acquisition. He later served as Chief Scientific Officer of a biopharma Contract Research Organization. Dr. Peña has also consulted for technology startups in bioagriculture, medical devices, medical imaging, and energy, supporting technology assessment, market assessment, and business strategy.

“We are excited to have Louis join the Center for Biotechnology and Stony Brook University to further our efforts of expanding entrepreneurial education in the life sciences” Diane Fabel, Director of Operations at the Center for Biotechnology said. She continued “His industry involvement, coupled with his academic experiences allow him to bring a unique perspective to the role and for students in our programs to benefit from his real-world experience.”

“I am very happy to join the team at the Center for Biotechnology and my colleagues at Stony Brook University. The Center has a great, established foundation of commercialization and education in this sector and I’m eager to further develop these unique and critical programs” Dr. Peña said. “Our goal is to bolster the life science commercialization knowledge of students graduating from New York universities. At one level, this will help entrepreneurs gain the mix of skills and expertise needed to successfully guide innovative life science startups along the path to commercial viability. At a broader level, this will help with the biotech workforce development of our region and state for those who may not want to start companies but want to understand the sector in great depth so they can secure well-paying and/or leadership positions in this sector.”

Download a PDF of the announcement here.

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Join Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners on Thursday, October 12, from 4:30 pm to 6 pm at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University for the panel discussion titled “Bring Your New Technology Innovations to Life Through Prototyping and Manufacturing.”

The event will be hosted by Intellectual Property Partners (IPP), the SBU Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and the Manufacturing and Technology Resource Consortium (MTRC) and will be followed by a networking cocktail reception from 6 pm to 7 pm.

Moderated by Dr. James Hayward, President, CEO and Chairman of Applied DNA Sciences, panelists include:
– Adrian Howansky, PhD, Clinical Medical Physicist, Department of Radiology, Stony Brook University Hospital
– Doreen Swift, Senior Director, Embedded Software Engineering, IPS
– Michael R. Bielski, President, DevTech Partners
– Nariman Boyle, MD, Director, Ophthalmic Plastic Orbit and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Ophthalmology, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University
– Paul Schwartz, Director, Advanced Propulsion Technologies

This event is free and open to Stony Brook University attendees. Space is limited and registration is required. Register here to secure your spot.

For more information visit: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/ipp/Events/Manufacturing.php

[post_title] => "Bring Your New Technology Innovations to Life Through Prototyping and Manufacturing" 10/12/23 [post_excerpt] => Join Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners on October 12th for the panel discussion titled “Bring Your New Technology Innovations to Life Through Prototyping and Manufacturing.” [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => bring-your-new-technology-innovations-to-life-through-prototyping-and-manufacturing-10-12-23 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-11-15 11:24:35 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-11-15 16:24:35 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=4285 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 3862 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2021-12-07 14:43:08 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-12-07 14:43:08 [post_content] =>

Stony Brook University students: Do you have a cool business idea? Then sign up for the Stony Brook Entrepreneurs Challenge (SBEC) and compete to win funding toward making your idea into a company.

The Challenge will help you prepare to pitch your idea to a campus panel of experienced venture investors, entrepreneurs, and business services professionals - and you may be selected for NSF I-Corps Site and/or the regional competition for funding. You will have access to a New York State Small Business Development Center business advisor to help you develop your business model and practice your pitch. Open to any student/any level/any program. Learn more and apply here: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/sbdc/student-entrepreneurs/2022Challenge

How the Funding Works: Prizes awarded are in the form of funds that will apply towards I-Corp support related to customer discovery, technology development, infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, and training. The I-Corps program nurtures and supports students to transition their ideas, devices, processes or other intellectual activities into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants.

Application due March 1st, 2022 ** Submission dates are subject to change
Competition Thursday, March 10th, 2022**
Competition dates are subject to change

[post_title] => Stony Brook Entrepreneur Challenge 2022 [post_excerpt] => Stony Brook University's 2022 Entrepreneur Challenge allows Stony Brook students to compete to win funding toward making their ideas into a company. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => stony-brook-entrepreneur-challenge-2022 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-08-22 13:08:40 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-08-22 13:08:40 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=3862 [menu_order] => 28 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2417 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2016-10-07 13:15:28 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-10-07 13:15:28 [post_content] => Vitatex, a Stony Brook-based biotechnology company located in the Long Island High Technology Incubator, has announced that it was awarded an SBIR Phase I/II Fast Track contract in September 2015 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for its Vita-Cap™ CTC Capture and Preservation tubes. A modification to exercise the option for a two-year SBIR Phase II of the contract was executed on June 8, 2016. Vitatex Inc. provides proprietary invasive circulating tumor cell (iCTC) enrichment technology and products to develop revolutionary cancer genetic and cell tests. These "liquid biopsies" focus on next generation sequencing (NGS) detection, gene expression profiling and flow cytometry and have recently been adopted by the clinical laboratory community to characterize cancer cells and/or their RNA/DNA in blood samples non-invasively and serially, and to acquire genetic alternations and drug resistance information, which have the potential to replace tests run on surgical biopsies. Clinical metastasis of solid tumors is linked to blood-borne dissemination of viable tumor cells in the circulation and clinical instrumentation is now available to isolate, enumerate, culture, generate metastatic mouse models and perform molecular analyses on these circulating tumor cells (CTCs). However, CTCs are fragile and tend to degrade within a few days when collected in standard blood collection tubes. "The functional CTC preparation tube is designed to collect, enrich and preserve the viability/functionality of cancer cells in blood all within a closed system" said Wen-Tien Chen, PhD., Chief Scientific Officer of Vitatex. "The goal is to define conditions of Vitatex CTC preparation tubes for capturing and preserving cancer cells in the blood of patients with breast, ovarian and other types for up to 96 hours of transit." Specific terms of the contract were not disclosed. [post_title] => Vitatex Awarded NCI Contract [post_excerpt] => Stony Brook biotech company, Vitatex, has announced it was awarded an NCI Contract for Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Capture and Preservation Tubes. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => vitatex-awarded-nci-contract [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-12-06 15:12:47 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-12-06 15:12:47 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=2417 [menu_order] => 164 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2253 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2016-06-16 16:15:26 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-06-16 16:15:26 [post_content] => regenix_web1Rgenix, a cancer therapeutics company developing first-in-class drugs targeting novel cancer pathways, announced a $33 million Series B financing led by Novo A/S and Sofinnova Partners, with participation from existing investors including Partnership Fund for New York City, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Conegliano Ventures LP. The financing will support clinical development of Rgenix’s lead drug candidates, RGX-104 and RGX-202, as well as further development of its therapeutics pipeline. In connection with the financing, Nilesh Kumar of Novo Ventures and Antoine Papiernik of Sofinnova Partners will join the Rgenix Board of Directors together with existing members, including Executive Chairman Eric Rowinsky, M.D., Masoud Tavazoie, M.D. Ph.D., Nancy Chang, Ph.D., and Saeed Tavazoie, Ph.D. Read the full press release about Rgenix’s financing here. [post_title] => Rgenix Announces $33M Series B Financing [post_excerpt] => Rgenix, a cancer therapeutics company developing first-in-class drugs targeting novel cancer pathways, announced a $33 million Series B financing led by Novo A/S and Sofinnova Partners, with participation from existing investors including Partnership Fund for New York City, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Conegliano Ventures LP. The financing will support clinical development of Rgenix’s lead drug candidates, RGX-104 and RGX-202, as well as further development of its therapeutics pipeline. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => rgenix-announces-33m-series-b-financing [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2016-06-16 16:17:16 [post_modified_gmt] => 2016-06-16 16:17:16 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://centerforbiotechnology.org/?p=2253 [menu_order] => 176 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 4 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 4285 [post_author] => 4 [post_date] => 2023-09-11 12:13:16 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-09-11 16:13:16 [post_content] =>

Join Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners on Thursday, October 12, from 4:30 pm to 6 pm at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University for the panel discussion titled “Bring Your New Technology Innovations to Life Through Prototyping and Manufacturing.”

The event will be hosted by Intellectual Property Partners (IPP), the SBU Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and the Manufacturing and Technology Resource Consortium (MTRC) and will be followed by a networking cocktail reception from 6 pm to 7 pm.

Moderated by Dr. James Hayward, President, CEO and Chairman of Applied DNA Sciences, panelists include:
– Adrian Howansky, PhD, Clinical Medical Physicist, Department of Radiology, Stony Brook University Hospital
– Doreen Swift, Senior Director, Embedded Software Engineering, IPS
– Michael R. Bielski, President, DevTech Partners
– Nariman Boyle, MD, Director, Ophthalmic Plastic Orbit and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Ophthalmology, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University
– Paul Schwartz, Director, Advanced Propulsion Technologies

This event is free and open to Stony Brook University attendees. Space is limited and registration is required. Register here to secure your spot.

For more information visit: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/ipp/Events/Manufacturing.php

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“Bring Your New Technology Innovations to Life Through Prototyping and Manufacturing” 10/12/23

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