When: Thursday, March 29, 2012

From: 6:00PM – 9:00 PM

Where: TMEC Walter Amphitheater

             Harvard Medical School

                260 Longwood Ave

                Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Keynote Speaker: Margaret (Peg) Riley, Ph.D.

Professor-University of Massachusetts (Amherst), Founder and President-Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, Founder and Co-Director-Institute for Drug Resistance, Founder and CSO-Origin Antimicrobials, LLC

Attendance is Free but Pre-registration is Required

Science Shaping Our World (SHOW) is an ongoing seminar and networking series that highlights cutting edge translational life science research and development. Our mission is to bring together a multidisciplinary audience spanning academia and industry where they can gain exposure and insight into the life science advancements changing our world. Further, we seek to promote active inter and cross-disciplinary networking toward fostering the creation of novel partnerships and opportunities in life science.

March’s SHOW will focus on the issue of microbial drug resistance. Pathogenic bacteria resistant to many or all antibiotics already exist and are growing in number. Coupled with the rapid decline in microbiological research at pharmaceutical companies, the rapid rate at which resistance has evolved and spread has demanded a novel approach to address this critical human health issue. Dr. Riley, will highlight a new paradigm in antibiotic discovery and development, one that applies ecological and evolutionary theory to design novel antimicrobial drugs. Specifically, Dr. Riley will present defensive strategies invented and applied by bacteria for the past several billion years and the adoption of these strategies in our fight against microbial drug resistance.

Dr. Riley has received the Presidential Young Investigator’s Award for her pioneering research on antimicrobial compounds and has published over 100 articles and edited three books in her research area. In 2005 she co-founded a Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company, Origin Antimicrobials, LLC, involved in the design of novel antimicrobials. In 2008 she created the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase levels of civic science literacy. In 2009, she co-founded the Institute for Drug Resistance, whose mission is to facilitate novel, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing the challenges of drug resistance. Dr. Riley is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and was recently elected to the Board of Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences.

SHOW is also now Coloci enabled so as to bring the future of networking to our members today. By becoming a SHOW-Coloci community member you will have the capability to discover people via interests (including suggestions on who to meet), view profiles, message other members (emails not disclosed), and connect with “interesting” members in-person at upcoming events (opt-in, location based, no tracking). We invite you to join us in becoming a member of our SHOW-Coloci community and lend your thoughts, insights, and perspectives to current and upcoming events while connecting with old friends, colleagues, and valuable new network contacts. See the link below to get started. 

Please join us for an amazing evening of science, innovation, and networking. Event registration is free and required with event sign-in beginning at 5:30 PM at TMEC Walter Amphitheater. Presentation and discussion will follow from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. Further, you are encouraged to bring your business cards, and enthusiasm, for an evening of networking following the presentation from 8:00-9:00 PM with networking icebreaker led by Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers. Light food and refreshments will be provided during the networking portion of the evening.

SHOW is produced by Munevar & Associates, Inc. and hosted by the Harvard Catalyst Laboratory for Innovative Translational Technologies (HC‐LITT) and the Harvard Catalyst Central Laboratory (HCCL).

Harvard University, HC‐LITT, HCCL, and Harvard Catalyst do not endorse any company or product. The opinions expressed during this event are solely those of Munevar & Associates, Inc. and do not represent the views of Harvard Catalyst, HCLITT, HCCL, Harvard University and its affiliated academic health care centers, the National Center for Research Resources, or the National Institutes of Health (http://catalyst.harvard.edu)