BIO gathers bioscience pros in Chicago

It's billed as the world's largest biotechnology convention--18,000+ bio professionals are expected to attend April 9 through 12 at Chicago's Navy Pier. And a dozen state Governors are coming along to show their love for the biotech sector--and the improvements a strong biotech/biomed community usually brings to a state's economy.

Sending your governor to the conference is one way to gauge the level of passion for courting the bioscience industry. States that are doing so include: Illinois (Rod Blagojevich), Alabama (Bob Riley), Florida (Jeb Bush), Indiana (Mitch Daniels), Massachusetts (Mitt Romney), Michicgan (Jennifer Granholm), Minnesota (Tim Pawlenty), Missouri (Matt Blunt), Ohio (Bob Taft), the self-governing commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Anibal Acevedo-Vila), and Wisconsin (Jim Doyle).

Panel discussions will feature healthcare and regulatory issues such as:

• opportunities and challenges in plant-based pharmaceuticals
• ethics and race-based drug development
• results of a national survey on the relationship of the FDA to the life science industry
• new discoveries in cancer treatment
• business and the metabolic syndrome (how business and funding affects treatments for a cluster of common conditions like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease)

Conference attendees are looking at how scientific discoveries can lead--faster and less expensively--to better treatment options. This is what bioscience is all about. Learn more here.