As promised, we’re continuing to bring you short interviews from the floor at the 2009 Bio International Convention.

One of the key issues at Bio09 was how start-ups can survive (and grow!) in the current economic environment. It was the topic of the Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, and it’s something that Gary Pekoe, CEO of Arkios BioDevelopment lives and breathes every day. From their website:

Arkios guides emerging biopharmaceutical companies through all stages of product development. Whether your company is still in the university or incubator stage, or well into your clinical development program, Arkios can assist you.

We specialize in working with early-stage companies, laying out their critical path, and accelerating their progress. Many of our clients are virtual companies that are in need of assistance at every step along the path, including identification and management of pharm/tox vendors. Others bring us a clinical trial, knowing they will receive focused, individualized service and not be lost in the queue behind larger clients.

We spoke with Gary about why he founded Arkios.

Today we bring you another perspective from Bio09. Topaz Conway works for an organization called the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia. The institute carries out research on a number of disease areas including Cancer, Hepatitis C, HIV, and Type 1 Diabetes. They also carry out clinical trials focused on immunotherapy, biotherapy and other cell-based therapy.

We asked Topaz about the focus of the institute and how the challenges facing biotech today are impacting their objective to use “medical research to innovate and enhance health care for the benefit of the community”.

As you may know, there’s a BIG international contingent at Convention every year. This year – despite the economic downturn – was no different. We spoke with people from around the world about why biotech is important to them and to the economies of their home countries.

Here’s part of our discussion with Pompeyo Layus, the Consul General of Argentina in Atlanta, about the importance of biotech for his country.

A lot of remarkable people attend the Bio International Convention every year, and we wanted to give them a place to tell their stories and share their passion for biotech. So, we set up a camera at our booth and we carried around flip video cameras everywhere else we went.

We’re still tallying up all the interviews we conducted, but it’s somewhere in the 100+ range. (It was a VERY busy week!) The interviewees discuss everything from advice for biotech newbies to perspectives on the challenges facing the industry to personal stories about what their work means to them. They demonstrate the wide range of viewpoints across the industry, but they all have one thing in common: they show the incredible drive, energy, creativity and compassion that make the biotech community so unique.

We’ll be bringing you these short videos over the next month or two. To kick it off – Meet Michael Douglas.

For more info on his work at the University of Arkansas, check out the UAMS BioVentures site HERE.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the BiotechNOW podcasts during Bio09 this week, make sure you check them out. (They make for great listening on your way to Memorial Day festivities.)

First, there was a great overview of the Scientific American WorldVIEW Project, which generated a ton of buzz at Convention. Click HERE to download and listen. Then check out the full Worldview Scorecard, which identifies “the global leaders in biotechnology and…provide[s] a framework that…measure[s] the progress and potential of countries—especially ones that are not currently regarded as world leaders.”

You can also download a podcast of BIO CEO Jim Greenwood’s State of the Industry Address. He explained why he remains optimistic for the industry despite a year of economic and policy challenges.

Finally, if you missed all the chatter around the groundbreaking Battelle Report on the state of science and technology education, make sure you check out this podcast with Mitch Horowitz. You can also read the report HERE.

The 2009 Bio International Convention wraps up today. We’ve had a great trip and I have to say (although I’m half asleep on my feet) I am sad to go. If you’re here in Atlanta, make sure you stop by our booth in the BIO Pavilion before you go. We’ll be giving out IAmBiotech t-shirts, and we’ll have our last nightly raffle for a Flip Video Camera. Hope to see you!

One of the great things about being down here at the booth is how many engaging conversations we’ve had with people across the industry about how to start using social media to communicate with others in the field and share their work with the public. I’ll be writing a more in-depth post about this later, but in the meantime I wanted to share the insights of a fellow blogger I’ve gotten to meet here at Convention, Mary Canady. Here’s a highlight from her recent post about a new media breakout session here at Bio09 this week:

While most of the conversation centered around implementing social media at the corporate level, I was curious about the panel members’ thoughts on engaging scientists with social media, and how to encourage participation. This was definitely a topic they had considered, and indicated that as with corporate SM implementations, the value needs to be demonstrated up front. In other words, clearly answer the scientists’ innate questions ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘how will my career suffer if I don’t participate.’ From my own experience with the San Diego Biotechnology Network and with social media, I agree with this generality, and plan to motivate scientists during a ‘Social Media for Scientists‘ presentation I am giving with colleague William Gunn on May 28th. I plan to encourage scientists to ‘Just Do It’ and get involved with SM sooner rather than later, because it is highly experiential and the benefits are highly specific to the user…

Another busy day at the 2009 BIO International Convention. During the Keynote Luncheon Dr. Jay Keasling was honored with the first annual Biotech Humanitarian Award. BIO created the Award to recognize an everyday hero within the biotechnology community who has helped heal, fuel and feed the planet through their work in biotech.

Dr. Keasling was nominated for the Award by a colleague from the University of California at Berkley, who wanted to honor his commitment to providing affordable access to life saving therapies for the millions of people infected with malaria.

“The result of this extraordinary innovation is a therapy that may save the lives of millions of children and adults, increasing economic productivity in developing economies and breaking the cycle of poverty for thousands of families. I believe Professor Keasling has demonstrated the skill, determination, and character to advance the health of nations.”

The Biotech Humanitarian Award Judging Panel selected Dr. Keasling because of the promise and potential that his research holds to creating both an affordable treatment for malaria and the next breakthrough in biofuels.

Currently, artemisinin, the recommended first-line treatment for malaria, is extracted solely from plants and manufactured entirely through an expensive and timely process. Dr. Keasling applies a synthetic biology technique to dramatically reduce the production time and cost of artemisinin, making the therapy more affordable.

During the presentation of the Award Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO, said, “Dr. Keasling’s work has the potential to save the lives of millions of people in the developing world who suffer from malaria, and also to address the global need for clean, renewable energy. We are thrilled to honor his work and present him as our inaugural Biotech Humanitarian honoree.”

In December 2008 Newsweek Magazine profiled Keasling:

Keasling’s success proves three things: scientists can share; pharmaceutical companies can put patients before profits; and synthetic biology can be a force for change. That’s accomplishment enough to fill an entire career, but at 44, Keasling is just getting started. The self-described idealist has spent the bulk of his career at Berkeley, pushing relentlessly toward his own vision of the world—one where even microbes can be heroes. “I see no reason why we can’t completely reimagine the chemical industry,” he says. “We don’t have to just accept what nature gives us.”

BIO established the Biotech Humanitarian Award to recognize an everyday heroe within the biotechnology community who has helped heal, fuel and feed the planet through their work in biotech. To stay informed about the Biotech Humanitarian Award visit: www.IAmBiotech.org/award