SOBIC News

Southern Oregon Bioscience Industry Consortium (SOBIC)

SOBIC News

SOBIC attends OBA Annual Meeting in Portland, May 14, 2009

SOBIC was in attendance at the annual meeting of the Oregon Bioscience Association (OBA) held at the Portland Zoo on Thursday, May 14th, 2009. In attendance were over 150 representatives from the various sectors of the biosciences including industry, academia, and the government all of whom came together to discuss, network and move forward efforts to promote Oregon as a major player in the life sciences.

The theme of the meeting was Understanding Change and Positioning Our Industry for Growth.

With a warm welcome, Bob Lanier, Executive Director of OBA opened the meeting with a State of OBA address. Attendees heard comments from keynote speakers on issues which ranged from President Obama's new FDA policies and how these anticipated changes may affect the biosciences in the years to come, on innovative life science collaborations and the forming of consortia as models for growth, on how Oregon biosciences will benefit from the Federal Stimulus Plan, and how OBA plans to address industry financial concerns by developing workforce training opportunities and by developing an industry grant writing assistance program.

A number of industry cluster break out sessions were held during the morning hours which were designed as a structured networking opportunity for companies and research centers in similar industry clusters to make introductions and discuss expertise in their industry area, and to discuss ways to achieve new product developments through collaborations. A Research Core Facilities networking session was also held with exhibitions from some of the states key research core facilities which provided an opportunity for interactions between conference attendees, researchers and research facility directors to present their services and expertise for potential industry collaborations. Research Core Facilities represented were:

ONAMI - Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI)

ONAMI - Center for Electron Microscopy and Nanofabrication at PSU (CEMN)

ONPRC - Oregon National Primate Research Center

OSU - Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing (CGRB)

OHSU - Bioanalytics and Pharmacokinetics Core

OTRADI - Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute

SOBIC will carry these messages to it participating companies and encourage southern Oregon bioscience related institutions to benefit from collaborative activities with these core research facilities and local industry partners.

The OBA also used the meeting to officially launch its new website located at: http://www.oregonbio.org/

SOBIC's attendance at the meeting was sponsored by a grant from - Invitrogen

Photos:

SOBIC – PR – 08 – 04

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Jim Mau

Southern Oregon Bioscience Industry Consortium (SOBIC)

(541) 482-5179

SOBIC

http://www.rvscience.org/SOBIC.htm

Ashland, OR, July 18, 2008

OBA launches regional chapters to boost biosciences throughout the state of Oregon

On Friday, June 27, 2008, regional leaders of Oregon Bioscience Association (OBA) met in Eugene to coordinate the launch of three regional bioscience industry consortia in Southern Oregon, Eastern & Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley (Salem to Eugene). SOBIC, ECOBIC and WVBIC have been formed as chapters of OBA.

All chapters met to coordinate and optimize their efforts throughout the state. Each chapter has leadership and has held 2-3 meetings. WVBIC has secured a grant for a part time staff position and has already secured 15 new members. SOBIC, in southern Oregon, has approximately 20 companies and several regional institutions among its meeting participants. ECOBIC has identified a significant demand for regulatory compliance training among bio-ag and food processing companies throughout central and eastern Oregon. Each chapter is working with regional economic development and educational institutions to incorporate workforce development classes developed by OBA into their respective regional workforce development programs.

OBA, in association with Worksystems, Inc. and Worksource Oregon, has developed and implemented a number of instructional courses for workforce training in the biosciences throughout the Portland area. This program to date has been recognized a quite successful in upgrading the skills and knowledge of the industry's incumbent workforce. The regional chapters will leverage this initial program to benefit their local biomedical device, biotechnology, biofuels and bio-ag / food processing companies in their needs to enhance their employees' knowledge and skills.

About SOBIC - SOBIC was formed in late 2007 to address and represent the common concerns of southern Oregon bioscience-related companies and to help unify the interests of the consortium as a prominent industry in southern Oregon.

For additional information about this event, contact Jim Mau at (541) 482-5179 or email SOBIC .

-END-

Pictured left to right: Jim Mau, SOBIC, John Robinson, ECOBIC, Bob Lanier, Executive Director, OBA, Barbara Bessey, WVBIC, and Nick Campbell, ECOBIC.

Friday, February 29, 2008

SOBIC February Coffee

Ten participates attended the February SOBIC morning coffee hosted by Biomed Diagnostics, Inc. in White City, OR on Friday, February 29^th.

A summary of current SOBIC activities was presented. Items included discussion of the SOBIC website now online at www.rvscience.org/SOBIC.htm . Participants are encouraged to list their company on the SOBIC Participants page, post employment opportunities on the Employment Opportunities page, and to list company news, announcements and photos on the site. The site exists not only as a communications link for SOBIC participants but as a promotional tool for the organization and participating entities and as a resource for the media. The goal is to make the SOBIC web site THE portal for information regarding the biosciences in Southern Oregon.

The initial SOBIC web site is presently undergoing a redesign. SOBIC is fortunate to have Ms. Erin Martin assisting us in this effort. Erin formerly maintained the Science Department web site at Carnegie Mellon University. We are very fortunate to have her on board. You can find a link to Erin on the SOBIC Services Offered page at: http://www.rvscience.org/SOBIC_services.htm

Other topics discussed by the group included:

the lack of skilled workforce at all levels continues to be a topic of concern for many local bioscience companies. There are companies in Southern Oregon seeking skilled employees from entry level manufacturing to CEO. A change in the demands made by potential hires is also changing the face of a skilled workforce to which companies will need to adjust.

workforce development and educational programs are now being offered by Oregon Bioscience Association (OBA) in the Portland area which could be duplicated here in Southern Oregon by SOBIC. These courses are directed at the biosciences, are of short duration and focused on rapid employee development for the long-term employment. Examples of curriculum include: regulatory overview, quality system management, inspection, corrective and preventative actions, record keeping and documentation, change control and standard operating procedures, production and process control, LEAN, 5S and value stream mapping, statistics, technical writing, project management, employee and time management, team building and supervisory training.
the concept of a start up facility with general laboratory where entrepreneurs’, start ups and small or relocating bioscience companies could lease bench space and have access to laboratory equipment for product R&D and production cutting expensive start up investment and overhead costs.
how such a facility might facilitate access by local companies to a consulting network of expertise at the Ph.D. level now unaffordable by local companies as hired staff.
Other concerns, again raised, had to do with finding buildings suitable for expansion and dealing with commercial real estate companies, construction issues, banking and funding concerns for growth.

Attending the coffee where representatives from Biomed Diagnostics, White City (host), ICX/Mesosystems (Grants Pass), Grants Pass Water Laboratory, RCC, SOU, SOREDI and BID Corp. Several others indicated a desire to attend but stated scheduling conflicts.

A tour of Biomed Diagnostics was offered after the meeting.

SOBIC wishes to recognize Biomed Diagnostics, Inc. for its commitment to advancing the biosciences as an industry here in Southern Oregon and for hosting this month’s coffee. Thank you.

For further information, please contact Jim Mau, SOBIC at (email removed) or call at (541) 482-5179

SOBIC Home

Updated: May 16, 2009