Summer by Design participants (Canadian and international PhD students and post-doctoral fellows) are joined by Medicine by Design and CCRM staff members at the 2019 program.
Next week, 30 international, Canadian and Toronto-based PhD students and post-doctoral fellows will join Summer by Design, an intensive 8-day program on the commercialization of regenerative medicine.
The program, which began in 2016, is run by Medicine by Design and its lead partner CCRM. Other partners include Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto (U of T) and the Stem Cell Network.
“Summer by Design aims to give participants a thorough foundation in core concepts of commercialization in the field of regenerative medicine, including technology assessment, pivotal experiments, scale up, intellectual property, marketing and much more,” says Allison Brown, executive director of Medicine by Design. “It also provides an overview of Canada’s growing regenerative medicine ecosystem, resulting in knowledge sharing and new global connections.”
Brown adds that the program, which will take place at U of T from June 19 to 28, is also designed to expose participants to the many career opportunities within the cell and gene therapy industry, the fastest-growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry globally.
“Summer by Design is an incredible opportunity to for participants to explore many career paths and plays a role in talent development to support Canada’s growth in biomanufacturing and life sciences. We know that our participants are qualified, passionate scientists. Summer by Design is about taking a wide view of the entire regenerative medicine industry and what’s beyond the research and discovery phase.”
Participants are from a broad range of research areas including stem cell biology, tissue engineering, genomics, RNA therapy and computational biology. The institutions participants are coming from are as follows:
- Cornell University, New York
- Hannover Medical School, Germany
- The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
- Lund University, Sweden
- Monash University, Australia
- National University of Singapore
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto
- The Rockefeller University, New York
- Technical University of Munich, Germany
- University of Alberta
- University of British Columbia
- University of Loughborough, U.K.
- University of Saskatchewan
- University of Toronto
- University of York, U.K.
- Western University, Ontario
Medicine by Design, a regenerative medicine strategic initiative at U of T and its affiliated hospitals that is funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, is the primary host of Summer by Design and designs and coordinates a comprehensive program that includes facilitators from industry, law, regulatory affairs, strategic communications, the investment community and academia.
CCRM, a public-private partnership that provides resources, expertise, and infrastructure to help researchers and entrepreneurs advance their regenerative medicine discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace, will share their expertise throughout the event.
Michael May is the president and CEO of CCRM. He says Summer by Design is a unique educational opportunity for the next generation of researchers.
“This is a program that bridges the gap between academic education and the fundamental business of making innovative research a reality for patients,” explains May. “At CCRM, we know how important it is to give these emerging scientists the tools to impact society with their discoveries.”
Follow Medicine by Design on Twitter @MbD_UofT to see updates from the #SummerbyDesign program.
