Winter 2008

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Bio-Matrix

Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network

n W inter 2008 n volume 2 n issue 1

On Brains and Bugs If microbial research, outbreaks of epidemics, and brain research are your interests or disciplines, then plan to attend the second annual Health Research in the City conference on Wednesday, February 6. The one-day event – titled Brains and Bugs Conference – at Hamilton Convention Centre features keynote panel presentations, network discussions, and poster awards.The day will highlight research programs and promote interaction on clinical, knowledge transfer, health services and other levels. Go to www.ghbn.org and click on Events for more information or to register.

Inside – n Biofuels special report [pages 2, 3]

n Tiny sentinals of safety [page 4]

n Million-dollar mouse [page 6]

New clinical trial program set to go A unique clinical trials program for medical devices is underway in Hamilton – a project that may result in a permanent base in the city. The pilot program, involving a handful of companies with assistive devices ready to test, will rely on medical and related expertise within McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. If the pilot flies as well as its backers hope, the plan is that it will lead to a full program, with government and other funding. The idea is that a fully funded program would come to be known as the home of clinical testing for Class 1 technologies – many of whose backers now go to the U.S. or offshore to get their external devices vetted for market. The backers also hope to lure Class 1 manufacturers, such as makers of prostheses, wireless devices and hearing-loss systems, to locate in Hamilton area. At present, entrepreneurial companies that have medical and assistive device technologies have no real established program in Ontario to access for clinical oversight. “We recognize small and medium enterprises have difficulties getting clinical testing of products that have reached the commercialization (stage),” said Mickey Milner, of the Health Technology Exchange. HTX is a provincially funded centre that aids both research and to-market aspects of medical and assistive devices. “There isn’t any formal program for them. Basically, people are on their own to make these connections and linkages,” said Milner, president and CEO of Markham-based HTX, which is providing the lion’s share of the $200,000 budget. The pilot project involves four major partners: HTX, the Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network (also a funder), McMaster University, and Hamilton Health Sciences. It would utilize the medical and related expertise, facilities, ethical review boards and other existing infrastructure in Hamilton. The city is internationally known as a prime venue for conducting clinical trials. For example, the Population Health Research Institute, at the university and HHS, has for years done trials and provided expertise in cardiovascular, diabetes, epidemiological and other areas. A permanent trials base for medical devices would be a further example of employing such expertise. “There is an opportunity here that hasn’t really been tapped yet,” said Darlene Homonko, executive director of the Golden Horseshoe network. “We want to attract companies to come here . . . It’s all the various supports we can offer that helps build the opportunities.” Medical device makers approved for the clinical trials pilot will benefit from having their products tested on users, will have access to specialist clinician and other help, and may be able to take advantage of other assistance, such as business advice or contacts, or be connected to related technology companies. The successful Ontario applicants must provide at least half the operational costs for their particular pilot trial. n

Morris (Mickey) Milner President and CEO, The Health Technology Exchange (HTX)

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In search of tomorrow: the path to ‘green’ energy In a fifth-floor lab at McMaster University, biophysicist Duane Chung studies one of the world’s most simple yet abundant aquatic plants in search of tomorrow’s fuels. Nilesh Patel, left, and Corey Centen with the CPR glove

Grabbing new honours The CPR Glove has grabbed more honours as one of the year’s most inventive discoveries in science and technology. The custom-made glove, designed to assist in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation efforts, won in the undergraduate category at the Collegiate Inventors’ Competition in California. Three McMaster University inventors – Corey Centen, Nilesh Patel and Sarah Smith – received a $15,000 prize in the competition, an annual program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation in the U.S. The glove, outfitted with sensors and an LCD screen, was also recognized by TIME magazine in its Inventions of the Year special edition.



If he and fellow researchers at the University of Waterloo succeed, they will help turn algae lipids into a renewable fuel. Through genetic engineering and better photo bioreactor reactor design to drive algae growth, they hope to harvest alternative energy from the chlorophyll-bearing organism. “To be realistic, I would say it’s going to take a while before we’re beginning to make this happen,” says Chung, the head of Centurion Biofuels. It’s a fair statement, easily applied to much of the research going on around the world as scientistentrepreneurs seek ‘green’ solutions to the problems of rising oil and gas prices, the need for a secure energy supply, and toxic greenhouse gases (GHGs). Burlington resident Norm Rathie and his company, Met-Tech Inc. are working with a U.S.-based partner on “a 100 per cent chemical approach” that can use grass clippings or corn stover (the stalks left behind after harvest) or other biomass while husbanding its carbon content. They hope to produce ethyl levulinate, which can be an additive to diesel fuel; levulinic acid, a precursor for many chemical manufacturing processes; furfural, an industrial chemical; and formic acid, among other products. With biomass, says Rathie, it’s all about “yield, yield, yield”, as researchers seek green fuels that can compete cost-effectively with petro-fuels. There are great expectations from biofuels. But there are great obstacles too. And the high cost of feedstock – and the

research and development costs that go into converting it – is only one of the barriers as proponents strive to create an economically viable industry. “It’s still a tough area and clearly, part of the issue you’ve got is there are other alternatives out there that are more cost-effective,” says John Neate, of the non-profit OCETA (Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement). Too many people look for “the silver bullet,” he says. OCETA ran a one-day biofuels workshop at McMaster in late October. (Go to: http://www. oceta.on.ca/workshops/hamilton/biofuels.htm) The seminar zeroed in on some barriers. They included: n The need to integrate a renewable-fuels structure

within existing petro-fuel production and supply systems as much as possible n A system for environmental gains to be ‘monetized’, such as through tradeable GHG emissions-reduction credits n The necessity for diversified product revenue streams to help offset the ‘sunk costs’ of harvesting, preparation, and transport of bio-feedstocks. The young biofuel industry is years from being a viable sector. And ironically, just like petro-fuel facilities, green fuel production has lately taken flak for environmental and economic fallout, whether it’s about smell or land spoilage. The food-corn-to-ethanol strategy has reaped a bumper crop of criticism. Critics have slammed subsidies and use of nitrogen fertilizers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggests the global biofuel rush pushes up food prices. The debate has been so intense that the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association complained in November to the United Nations about a harsh UN special report.

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Biofuels: ‘some really good work’ on choices Association president Gordon Quaiattini wrote that biofuels provide “one of the most sensible and attractive solutions to date, particularly considering (their) contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions.” In the U.S., says Jay Mullin of OCETA, the industry has run into “stranded ethanol” problems as supply outruns infrastructure. Ethanol, notes Met-Tech’s Norm Rathie, is almost a way-station, an intermediate step to more efficient bioenergy. Biobutanol, points out OCETA’s Mona El Hallak, is more similar to gasoline than is ethanol, with a higher energy density. Yet the successes are undeniable. Gasoline and diesel prices that hover at $1 or more a litre help fuel the push to cleaner-burning biofuel. So, researchers are looking at microbes, biomass conversion, syngas from garbage, biodiesel made from used restaurant grease, and other feedstock options. Oakville-based Biox Corp., with its initial production plant in Hamilton, processes raw materials, including animal fats, recycled cooking oils, and palm oil. The company hopes to go public with an upcoming IPO offering. Energy giants, such as Suncor, are helping to evolve the chemical valley of Sarnia-Lambton into a bio-industrial corridor. The new Guelph pyrolysis plant of B.C.-based Dynamotive Energy Systems is turning wood waste into BioOil. OCETA is among the groups helping to bring investors, distribution-system players, end-users, and biofuel producers together. It’s “a tough go” for small- to medium-sized enterprises to secure needed capital, says Neate. But if they have a better idea, it makes sense to join a similar-interests consortium.

Governments are using both push and prod to move the country toward renewable fuels. Ottawa, for example, has set up a $500 million NextGen Biofuels Fund to jumpstart production of large-scale, first-of-kind demo-scale plants. The 2007 federal budget included a renewable-fuels producer payment offering $1.5 billion over seven years to domestic ethanol and biodiesel producers. In Ontario, the government is providing more than $500 million over 12 years to aid increased ethanol production. In Alberta, a new federal-provincial initiative will help develop micro-algae systems that would capture CO2 from industrial sources. Ottawa is also mandating that gasoline consist of 5 per cent renewable content by 2010. Diesel fuel and heating oil must be 2 per cent green by 2012. Biomass is the great green hope in Canada. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) believes there is enough grass and forest feedstock to satisfy about 6 per cent of the country’s energy needs through production of non-digestible cellolosic ethanol. One biofuels industry estimate puts the energy value at 2.2 exajoules a year – or 17 per cent of Canada’s total energy – within the next decade or so if there is increased use of waste biomass and crop dedication to biofuels. (That 2.2 exajoules works out to an energy equivalent of about 62 billion litres of gasoline.) “We have a decent critical mass of young Canadian companies that have done some really good work in this area,” Vicky Sharpe, president and chief executive officer of SDTC, administrator of the NextGen fund, said last fall. “I don’t think people have grasped what the bioenergy industry could look like.” n

New OCETA head Kevin Jones, formerly chief operating officer of OCETA, has been named president and chief executive officer of the non-profit centre. He replaces Ed Mallett, who has held the post since OCETA’s inception in 1994. Mallett retains ties with the centre as senior associate focused on new business development. Jones joined OCETA in 1997 as vice-president marketing and business development and has been instrumental in extending its reach into such areas as industrial ecoefficiency and brownfield remediation. OCETA, the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement, is a non-profit agency providing value-added business services in aid of commercialization and application of innovative environmental and energy technologies.



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Tiny sentinels of safety Biotech sensors that can detect and kill deadly unseen dangers are among the latest initiatives for McMaster University researchers. And an audience at Metro Hall in Toronto heard last fall how this nanotechnology earlywarning system could be set up on sheets of paper. Tomas Hudlicky

Pain relief has its pleasure Making pain relief medication safer and greener has earned Brock University professor Tomas Hudlicky a $30,000 cheque from healthcare-products maker Noramco Inc. in the university’s first licensing deal with a pharmaceutical company. Hudlicky, Canada Research Chair and Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Centre for Biotechnology, received the license fee for his team’s work in developing new analgesic compounds and the processes for producing them. Manufacture of analgesics and various antagonists used in addiction treatment has relied on a potentially toxic class of substances. The work of Hudlicky and his team focuses on developing shorter and more environmentally benign methods of synthesis by combining chemical and biological methods.

Dr. Robert Pelton (left), a professor of chemical engineering, told the audience that the researchers behind the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network hope to identify and repel waterborne and airborne pathogens. The idea is to develop bioactive paper products, such as a face mask, that could be impregnated with nanosensors.

The idea is to develop bioactive paper products, such as a face mask, that could be impregnated with nanosensors.

These impossibly small – a nanometre is a billionth of a metre – sensors might protect against the SARS virus or trap pathogens in water purification equipment or be used as security papers to support anti-counterfeiting, brand protection, and document authentication. A sensor-laden mask might inform the wearer of viral contamination via a change in colour or odour, Pelton told The Biotechnology Initiative (TBI) audience on October 18. Such a mask might also deactivate the pathogen. Another use of Sentinel technology might be the design of diagnostic paper with applications in the food, health and biodefence sectors. The Sentinel strategy is to target “low-hanging fruit” (e.g. biorecognition agents such as antibodies, enzymes, bacteriophage and DNA aptamers) and to determine how to make these agents work on paper. The challenges include designing these sensors with enough stability to survive on paper in dehydrated form and in the diverse conditions of daily life, and with adequate recognition and sensitivity-reporting properties. Intrigued by the initiative, the New York Times magazine included Sentinel technology in the “Year in Ideas” issue published in early December. Pelton is Canada Research Chair in Interfacial Technologies and Sentinel’s scientific director. The network encompasses 11 Canadian universities, eight founding industrial partners, and three government agencies. Created in 2005, the network brings leading-edge research to the attention of key players in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. The network has a five-year budget of about $10 million, funded primarily by NSERC. Pelton was joined in his TBI address by Dr. John Preston, director of the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and leader of the McMaster Initiative in Nano Innovation (profiled in the fall 2007 Bio-Matrix issue). He talked about nanostructured materials – in the 1 to 100 nanometre range – and outlined how nanoscale substances differ from macroscale matter. Materials at the nano level exhibit “exotic” robust properties that aid in designing new systems and devices within many industrial sectors, said Preston. The entire nanotechnology field takes in several research and academic disciplines and has “tight interplay” with biotechnology. n This article was prepared from research contributed by Nora Cutcliffe, PhD, BioPharma Consultant.



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Ontario’s networks of growth Ontario’s innovation networks – including the Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network – have got it right, says a U.S. national science and technology organization. The 12 regional innovation networks (RINs) are “a potential model for other states and provinces to consider” in improving and revitalizing economic innovation, says the Ohio-based State Science and Technology Institute. The RINs help to bust through walled-in industry and communication silos and bust out beyond cities to regioncentred economies, the non-profit institute noted in a December newsletter. Too often, said the SSTI, local economic departments and government offices have led to competing jurisdictions. These infrastructure silos tended to compete against each other and were not well suited to introducing scientific gains and technology innovations to help grow area economies. They stumbled in taking advantage of the ‘cluster’ strengths – such as health care or agriculture – in each area and in reaching out to collaborate with each other. The RIN structure has helped area economies and the province to develop “an integrated province-wide commercialization support system”, said the SSTI. The Ohio institute was commenting on a new report issued by the Ontario government, which set up the RINs three years ago. These networks, argues the Ontario report – see http://www.utoronto.ca/onris/research_review/Related/ DOCS/RIN2007_ReportMRI.pdf – help move the technology transfer of ideas and technologies to market faster.

The RINs bring together universities, hospitals and research centres, government commercialization units, business supports and other elements needed to push economic growth. Originally targeted at the life sciences clusters of research and industry, the RIN program has been expanded to include innovation strengths of each region. For example, the Guelph Partnership for Innovation has centred on developing a one-stop location for agribusiness, agrifood, and life sciences. “The RINs have become expert-driven portals to commercialization programs and services,” said the Ontario report, released in November. The report offered several examples of area inter-regional collaboration. n The Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network, it

noted, has partnered with BioDiscovery Toronto, the Western Greater Toronto Area Convergence Centre, and YORKbiotech on an annual speaker series – all of them are working with the Institute of Electrical Engineers. n GHBN, said the report, has joined with the City of Hamilton and McMaster University to develop a business plan for the bioscience incubation centre that will go into McMaster Innovation Park. n GHBN has also worked with BioDiscovery Toronto and YORKbiotech (among others) on a U.S.Canada partnering event on medical-devices technologies. n

Growing Opportunities Vineland seeks two research chair candidates Vineland Research and Innovation Centre continues its research renaissance as it seeks candidates to fill two research chairs at the complex in Niagara Region. The centre, a government and industry-led initiative, is looking for a new chair for its greenhouse and ornamentals research position as well as a scientist for its chair in tender fruit/sensory research. The positions are part of a wider vision developed by Vineland, a 220-acre site in Lincoln, as it builds new laboratories and takes on new research initiatives in horticulture, ornamentals, and greenhouse growth. The research involves both innovation in and commercialization of new high-value species and improving the sustainability of Niagara fruit. This latest round of hiring follows last summer’s appointment of research scientist and university professor Jim Brandle as CEO of the internationally renowned non-profit centre. The Ontario and federal governments also announced $28 million in investment over the next few years for the agri-food and plant centre. n

Brownfielder of the year The Canadian Urban Institute has named Mark Brickell, vice-president of smart growth and partnerships for Niagara Economic Development Corp., as its Brownfielder of the Year. Brickell was recognized for spearheading private sector brownfield projects in the region, which has offered financial incentives, in co-ordination with other public bodies, that have leveraged millions of dollars in nongovernment investment. In recent years, brownfield cleanups in North America have included innovative bioremediation, such as using naturally occurring microbes in soils and groundwater to expedite treatment and in-situ oxidation, a strategy that uses oxygen or oxidant chemicals to enhance a cleanup.



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A quest for the million-dollar mouse It has been an age-old mythical quest: longer life, a suspension of aging, with death on hold.

Firsts in innovation McMaster University health-related entries took top spots at the inaugural TECNet Smart Start Innovation Fair held at the University of Waterloo. Winovi, a wireless technology platform run by students Alena Morozova and Aizhan Tursunbayeva, delivers peer-reviewed summarized medical studies and knowledge to health-care professionals on their wireless devices. Another entry, using RFID technology to track and manage hospital inventory, was also honoured. Both enterprises, out of McMaster’s Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, were among several business pitches made to investors and venture capitalists at the October innovation fair.

For Jennifer Lemon and her colleagues, the pursuit of a fuller, extended life has led to an international competition, with a $1 million prize, involving the classic lab mouse. The Hamilton scientist is among scores of researchers in the Methuselah Foundation’s Mprize challenge. Their goal is to keep the mouse, Mus musculus, alive for at least four years. That’s double the average life span in captivity. If investigators can dodge disease in a mouse and keep it mentally and physically fit, argues the U.S.-based Methuselah foundation, this success can be a critical precursor in developing human anti-aging techniques. “Other than the very pragmatic basis of this competition, it provides opportunities for like-minded scientists to develop collaborations and push each other intellectually in pursuit of our common goal,” said Lemon. Well qualified to raise Methuselah mouse and to improve the odds in life’s lottery, she has seen the degradation in cell membrane function, mitochondrial breakdown, and impaired glucose metabolism in lab mice. Her doctorate involved a focus on the biology of free radicals, highly reactive molecules that can promote aging and lead to cellular damage, including the death of brain cells. Scientists have long known that antioxidants – examples are vitamins C and E and beta-carotene – can help combat free radical damage, a kind of “rusting from the inside out,” says Lemon. So it makes sense that a nutrient package high in antioxidants might help neutralize free radicals in the body. Working with other McMaster scientists, including Ph.D. supervisors and mentors David Rollo and Doug Boreham, she developed a diet elixir of 31 items, many of them antioxidants. Supplement-fed mice lived up to 15 per cent longer, equivalent perhaps to a decade longer in humans. The supplement not only stalled disease, it also helped keep the mice smarter as they motored through a maze. Now, the supplement has interested oncologists as they try to counter the toxic impacts of chemo and radiation therapy on healthy cells. Cancer specialists wonder about its benefits for their patients, says Lemon, the 2006 winner of the Exceptional Student Award from the International Society of Analytical Cytology. But there is a very personal reason for Lemon’s research. Thirteen years ago, she lost her paternal grandmother, Jean Lemon, who died at age 85. In Jean’s last years, she underwent “a fairly severe cognitive decline.” Warm memories of her provide a clear motivation in Lemon’s search for more quality years in later life. “If we can take that and extend our ability to be functioning and contributing members of our society . . . to me that is far more important than being able to live for a long time.” n



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An industry aging nicely The Canadian wine industry has aged well since free trade with the U.S. changed the rules in 1989. A sector then labelled as mediocre was thrust into a new game with tougher and larger competitors.

they spend, and what they research. And they have to collaborate. That’s what the tour to the chateau and to the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, at Brock University, heard in October.

Almost two decades later, the industry is still around. Armed with novel research, innovation in breeding new strains, and a hardy independent streak, it has survived and prospered.

Ontario’s new grape and wine research foundation illustrates the collaboration theme, with funds to be raised from levies on grapes tonnage and wine literage. The levy will amount to $3.50 a tonne from each of Ontario’s wineries and growers, said Bosc Jr. Money for research and development will also come from other sources, such as the Niagara Community Foundation.

Dare to dream a little If you’re a

“Pound for pound, for the size of this industry, which is a small industry internationally, Canada punches above its weight,” says Paul-André Bosc, vice-president of marketing and administration at Chateau des Charmes, in the Niagara Peninsula. He’s right. According to Agri-Food Canada, Canada has only about 10,000 hectares of vineyards. California’s Napa Valley, alone, has more than 16,000. But the Canadian industry has been vitalized in the post-free trade era. Niagara vineyards that went for $10,000 an acre at free trade now sell for four to six times that amount, said Bosc Jr. Industry tax revenue comes in at about $200 million today versus perhaps $2 million pre-free trade, he adds. Yet Canadian wineries don’t even have a lock on retail sales in their own country. Within Canada, interprovincial barriers, such as the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act, still restrict east-west wine flows. And freer trade means shelves bulge with products from the U.S., Europe, Australia and other winemaking nations. It’s also hard for Canadians to crack outside markets but very profitable when it happens. Chateau des Charmes, for example, sells its icewine to U.S. retailers, Bosc Jr. told visitors to the chateau recently. “Fewer than 20 Costco (stores) in Southern California have bought more icewine from us than the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.”

The research is broad and involves the wineries, biotech companies, government centres and universities, including CCOVI at Brock and the University of Guelph. R & D studies include the impact of Niagara’s microclimate on wine quality, how to deal with the Asian lady beetle infestation (associated with an earthy taint in wines), and how to help vines survive Canadian winters (which includes use of temperature-raising wind turbines). Chateau des Charmes research has included development of about 600 new varietals. If only five or six make the market, says Paul Bosc Sr., “it’s going to have a significant impact on our company.” His enterprise, founded in 1978, is one of several now striving for sustainable environment certification. To gain that standing, wineries must focus on their water management, energy conservation, recycling of organics and other environmentally responsible practices. The industry is even researching authentication of its majestic icewines. At CCOVI, said director Isabelle Lesschaeve, they are looking at the chemical marker signposts of quality icewine. That’s because some foreign packagers use bulk-frozen grapes to make icewines instead of harvesting ripe fruit from the vines on cool pre-winter nights. n

biosciences student with an entrepreneurial flair – perhaps you have an idea for a medical device to assist patients – then the Xerox Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has a contest for you. The McMaster Nicol Entrepreneurship Challenge is a business pitch competition for students to realize their entrepreneurial dreams – and take a crack at up to $6,000 in prizes. Deadline for registering is February 5. Go to www.mcmasternicol challenge.com for competition details and to register.

The miniscule size of Canada’s industry means winemakers must be very deliberate in where they plant, how



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VC activity still healthy Venture capital investment in life sciences and biopharma companies continued at a healthy clip in the third quarter of 2007. Just over $150 million was disbursed to 30 companies in this sector, says Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. That total was more than double the $61 million of one year ago. Investment in life sciences amounted to about 29 per cent of VC activity in all sectors, with information technology the big winner. Year to date, total VC activity in all sectors stands at $1.6 billion. Much of the growth “is being driven by an increasing focus on Canadian transactions by U.S. venture firms,” noted CVCA president Rick Nathan.

Innovation CafeTM Series

Innovation Night – Bringing Ideas to Life

Medical Diagnostics – The Future is Nano...

Date: February 6, 2008 Time: 7:00 p.m.  Location: Slainte Irish Pub, 33 Bowen St. City: Hamilton For more information: To register as a presenter or for further information contact Elaine Holding, SB Partners at [email protected] or Cindy Porter, Trivaris at [email protected]

Date: January 30, 2008 Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.  Location: Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network City: Hamilton For more information: www.ghbn.org

Events Business to Business Partnering Opportunities with South Eastern US Medical Device Mission

Science in the City – The Promise and Perils of Nanotechnology

Date: January 30-31, 2008 Location: MaRS, 101 College Street City: Toronto For more information: (416) 973-5190, or email: [email protected]

Date: February 12, 2008 Time: 7:00 p.m.  Location: The Hamilton Spectator Auditorium, 44 Frid Street City: Hamilton For more information: Visit: www.mcmaster.ca/research/ScienceintheCity.htm

Breaking Through Barriers – Advancing Ontario Biomed Technology (Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Mind to Market Breakfast Series) Date: January 31, 2008 Time: 7:30 a.m - 9:00 a.m. Location: Toronto Board of Trade City: Toronto For more information: http://m2m.oce-ontario.org/

Health Research in the City – Brain and Bugs Date: February 6, 2008 Time: 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  Location: Hamilton Convention Centre City: Hamilton For more information: www.ghbn.org

Contact

CEO Entrepreneurship Bootcamp: “Managing the Growth of your Company” Date: February 14, 2008 Time: 8:30 a.m - 4:30 p.m. Location: MaRS, 101 College Street, CR-3 City: Toronto For more information: contact Marcelle Canido at 905-248-2728 or [email protected] or visit http://www.ledc.com/newsevents/events/ savethedate/std.html

Medical Device Approvals Process – Strategies to Meet FDA Regulatory Compliance Date: March 3-4, 2008 City: Toronto For more information: contact International Pharmaceutical Academy (IPA) at 416-410-7402 or visit www.ipacanada.com 

Golden Horseshoe Biosciences Network McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery 5105-1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA L8N 3Z5

n Ana Paredes Office Administrator/Incubator Assistant – Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26602 Fax: 905-528-3999 n Darlene Homonko Executive Director – Tel: 905-525-9140 Ext. 26609 Web: www.ghbn.org 

GHBN News is a quarterly newsletter published by GHBN. Director and editor: Darlene Homonko Writer: Mike Pettapiece

Contributor: Nora Cutcliffe

Graphic Design: Nadia DiTraglia