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Inside Our Program
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Seminars & Events
Biotech Nexus

Friday, May 3, 2024
5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Each year Northwestern’s Master of Biotechnology Program (MBP) hosts Biotech Nexus, an exciting evening event which benefits both the MBP students and the biotechnology industry alike. Whether your goal is to network, define a career trajectory, recruit, become a mentor or mentee, or simply enjoy an evening among friends from the biotechnology industry, this event will help you make the right connections.

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The 2024 Biotech Nexus Agenda

Welcome address, MBP director Danielle Tullman-Ercek
Explore your career potential as you become acquainted with the numerous and varied career options – both in and out of a laboratory setting – available to those with experience and education in biotechnology.

Panel discussion and Q&A
Engage with a panel of four of the industry’s leading professionals as they explore the future of their respective fields and what led them on their individual career paths. Moderated by Joshua Leonard, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University.

Networking and refreshments reception
End the evening with lively conversations and introductions during the networking reception with MBP students, alumni, faculty and industry guests.


Panel Participants at the 2024 Biotech Nexus Event

Moderator

Joshua Leonard, PhD

Co-Founder and Acting Chief Scientific Officer, Syenex
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University

Leonard is a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University. Leonard trained in chemical engineering (B.S. from Stanford University, Ph.D. from the University of California Berkeley) and immunology (postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute’s Experimental Immunology Branch). Leonard’s group invents and develops novel technologies enabling next-generation biological therapies. Leonard is an early pioneer in mammalian synthetic biology, and his group develops technologies including synthetic receptors and genetic control systems enabling programmable cell-based therapies for cancer and novel gene therapy platforms including bioengineered nanoscale vesicles. Leonard is a founder of Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology. He is actively engaged in the development of national science policy, testifying as an expert witness before the U.S. House of Representatives and serving as a council and board member of the Engineering Biology Research Consortium. He fosters training, entrepreneurship, and industrial impact as director of Northwestern’s NIH-funded Biotechnology Training Program (T32) and entrepreneurial activity as a founder and officer of his biotech startup, Syenex. 

Panelists

Kanika Changela, MS

Quality Systems Manager, Siemens Healthineers

Kanika Changela brings over 17 years of experience in the global medical device industry in the Quality and Regulatory Affairs field.

She has spent her career at four different sectors within GE Healthcare, and the Molecular Imaging business within Siemens Healthineers. At these two companies she has managed a wide variety of responsibilities from leading successful FDA and regulatory body inspections, implementing robust quality management systems, achieving Medical Device Regulation (MDR) certification, navigating an increased regulatory landscape, and spearheading continuous product quality and process improvement initiatives.She is currently a Manager of Quality Systems at Siemens Healthineers Molecular Imaging, located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Kanika received a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in Biotechnology from Northwestern University.

Jeff Fairman, PhD

Founder and Vice President, Vaxcyte

Jeff Fairman is an experienced scientist, entrepreneur, and founder with a proven track record of developing innovations from early pre-clinical to late-stage clinical trials. He successfully built research and development organizations, interacted with investors and board members, and assisted in raising over $1.5 billion in capital. Currently, Jeff is the Founder and Vice President of Research at Vaxcyte, an innovative vaccine company developing a best-in-class pneumococcal vaccine. Jeff has over 25 years of experience in the biotech arena and has led research at several platform companies that delivered multiple clinical candidates as well as approved vaccines and immunotherapeutics. Prior to Vaxcyte, Jeff was the founder and Vice President of Research at Juvaris BioTherapeutics, where he advanced the immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform to yield multiple animal health products, including Zelnate® and Victrio®, that were ultimately launched by Bayer Animal Health. While at Juvaris, Jeff was the recipient of major grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute to support substantial preclinical programs and multiple clinical studies. He was also responsible for research activities that resulted in a number of clinical candidates and approved animal health products. Prior to Juvaris, Jeff was the Director of Pharmacogenomics at Clingenix and Senior Scientist at Valentis. He has a PhD in Chemistry and completed his postdoctoral training in the genetics of leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Marilene Pavan, PhD

Innovation Manager, LanzaTech

Marilene Pavan is a professional with 15+ years of experience in synthetic biology, biomanufacturing, and metabolic engineering. She is currently working as a Synthetic Biology Strategy Manager at LanzaTech Inc., in Chicago, a carbon recycling technology company, focused on converting carbon-based gases, via microbial gas fermentation, into biofuels, chemicals, and materials. She focuses on developing approaches for scalability, governance, and commercialization of synthetic biology to develop novel bioproducts towards a circular economy. Marilene holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and has a Specialization in Strategic Management of Technological Innovation. She is also currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Bioenergy Program at the University of Campinas, UNICAMP - Brazil.

Twitter: @MaryPavan

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilene-pavan/

Michael Schultz, PhD

Director of Venture Operations, Portal Innovations

Michael Schultz is Director of Venture Operations at Portal Innovations, an early-stage biotech and medtech venture capital firm. Prior to Portal, Michael completed his PhD at Harvard University where he studied mechanisms of aging with a focus on metabolism and inflammation, and worked as a life sciences consultant at Health Advances.

 

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MBP wishes to thank Northwestern’s Biotechnology Training Program for their generous support and contributions to this event.