Entrepreneurs and academics from all over the LA area came together on June 27th to celebrate the beginning of the summer and the end of another year full of amazing events and success for the BCLA team and our sponsors. The event was hosted at the brand new BioLabs, an 80,000 sqft state-of the-art coworking lab and office space located at the LA BioMed campus in Torrance. The event featured spotlight presentations from our coresponsors Magnify incubator and The Bridge from USC.
First up, Brian Benson, Director of Entrepreneurship & Commercialization at CNSI, recognized the role of Magnify, who’s aim is to accelerate the growth and success of biotech and lifescience startups by providing high-quality, affordable facilities, services, partnership and expertise in the vibrant community of UCLA. Magnify has now developed a rich portfolio of specialized companies in pharmaceutical, medical devices, and advanced materials with more than 20 companies already graduated.
The next speaker was then Prof Charles E. Mckenna, director of the Drug discovery center at the USC Bridge Institute. Charles gave an update on the accomplishments of the Institute, driven by a unique, convergent bioscience initiative which has lead to the success of 6 biotech startups in only 5 years. While networking over a drink the attendees had the opportunity to tour the BioLabs facility, accompanied by the site director, Gary Olsem.
We hope that the attendees had a great time at this new space and took the opporunity to learn more about the booming biotech scene in LA. If you feel that this, or any other BCLA event has helped your progress in your career, start-up or professional capacity, we would love to hear from you! Send us an e-mail at team@bc-la.org with your story!
