Show Preview: Basel Life/EMBO

Annual congress bridges worlds of science and business, focusing on European life sciences

By Mel J. Yeates

Basel, located at the Swiss-German-French border, is a well-known hub for life sciences and a fitting location for an event such as the Basel Life Science conference. Backed by the European Association for Life Sciences (EALS) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the conference is intended to “establish a bridge between science and business ... connect basic and translational scientific research and promote the exchange,” according to the organizers. Following the successful premiere last year of EMBO at Basel Life, the concept was developed and based on the four pillars of science, technology, exhibition and networking. Those four pillars will be represented with EMBO at Basel Life, Basel Life Innovation Forums, Basel Life MipTec Exhibition and the European Fair Job.

EMBO at Basel Life is an international scientific conference on current and emerging topics in the life sciences. The conference will bring the best in fundamental research to a wide audience, ranging from leading experts in their fields to students and young researchers at the beginning of their careers. It aims to foster a fruitful exchange between researchers from academia, clinics, pharmaceutical and biotech industry, and will promote excellence in life sciences to a wide audience.

This year’s theme, says Basel Life, will be “molecules in biology and medicine. This involves the aging process, cancer, infections, metabolic disorders, infection biology, microbiota, neurodegenerative diseases, sensitive deficit and model organism in diseases.” Current organizers are René Bernards of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam; Michael N. Hall of the University of Basel, Switzerland; and Karen Avraham of Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Notable for this part of the conference is a keynote presentation by Dr. Stefan Platz, head of drug safety and metabolism at AstraZeneca, which will take place Friday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

“The 2018 program brings 11 exciting forum programs,” explains Basel Life. “Three forums explore topics in policy and health: advances in aging and drug discovery, applications of artificial intelligence and holistic behavior change models ... We highlight specific therapeutics in the forums on peptide therapeutics (small peptides), bio-therapeutics (antibodies) and antibiotics.

“As chemistry is an integral part of health, the medicinal chemistry forum covers special topics in the field. The microfluidics forum and the gene editing forum highlight these very important technologies empowering the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics in biology. Advances in genomics has been a strong program highlighting the exciting advances bringing personalized medicine to patients’ doorstep. This year, the team is looking at the next hurdle in genomics which is data sharing using blockchain technologies. Finally a new forum, the Women in Science program, will bring together stellar speakers and activities to discuss issues for women in our industry.”

The full list of forum topics includes aging and drug discovery, antibiotics, artificial intelligence and blockchain in healthcare, biotherapeutics, genomics, blockchain smart contracts and the healthcare data sharing economy, genome editing, medicinal chemistry, microfluidics and microenvironments, peptide therapeutics and women in science

The MipTec exhibition is designed to be an efficient platform to become informed about the latest life-sciences technologies and services for those active in the field of industrially relevant, translational, basic and applied research and development. The exhibition brings over 100 vendors together to showcase cutting-edge technologies and European excellence in research, science and innovation.

“In 2017, 3,000 visitors took the chance to network with vendors and get a glimpse of the newest developments in technologies, products and services. This year, the Product Innovation Award will return again to recognize outstanding achievements in the development of novel technologies,” notes Basel Life. “The Innovation Village, a platform for start-ups in the life sciences, will be expanded to allow more participation by start-ups.”

The exhibition offers both end-users and companies the opportunity to network for new market opportunities, to increase visibility for technologies and innovation, to build brand awareness, to market their latest products and to be first to learn about the latest innovations in linking scientific and technology updates. Pharmaceutical and technology firms involved in life sciences are invited to actively participate in this exhibition.

The MipTec exhibition hours for Basel Life Science 2018 are:

This one-day job fair on Sept. 12 offers life-sciences companies and academic institutions the possibility to be seen as attractive employers and to connect with highly qualified young scientists. Contacts will be made with talented scientists with Ph.D. or other post-doctoral levels, as well as with young researchers with work experience. The event will be a modeled on a marketplace, showing the diversity of job opportunities and positions in small, mid-size and large life-sciences companies and academic institutions. The central point of this innovative exhibition will be a meeting and networking area for personal meetings and communication between industry and young scientists. At the same time, young scientists will have the opportunity to present their research projects at the EMBO at Basel Life poster exhibition and introduce their work to a scientific audience.

Michael N. Hall

University of Basel, Switzerland

Jacques Herzog

Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland

Jeffrey Engelman

Novartis, Boston, United States

May-Britt Moser

NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

Christer Betsholtz

Uppsala University, Sweden

Antonio Lanzavecchia

ETH Zurich, Switzerland