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President's Perspective

Building bioscience bonds in Germany

Omeris and Taiwan Biotech ink $5M deal

Why Ohio? Asset-based attraction strategy

BioRepository a unique addition

BioOhio 2004 recap

Board additions, changes

Briefly Bioscience

Previous Issues

September 2004 (pdf)
March 2004 (pdf)

Current Issue

January 2005

President's Perspective | Tony Dennis, PhD
The new year begins with events both global and regional: a stunning natural disaster, a re-elected president, a difficult state budget ahead for Ohio, the removal of Vioxx from the retail market, and many more. For Omeris, last year ended with the recognition that we, our affiliates, and our members achieved great things for Ohio’s bioscience economy. But the new year begins with the realization that we must aim higher. While we exceeded every state and regional goal that we set for ourselves in companies formed, dollars raised, jobs created, etc., we also recognize that we have only begun the process of facilitating Ohio’s rise to national recognition in the biosciences. Our long term goal has always been to ensure that Ohio becomes one of a small handful of destinations for the growth of bioscience companies, both domestic and global, as the means to helping transform Ohio’s economy to a technology base.

Our strategy to achieve this global goal is twofold. First, we intend to continue improving and strengthening Ohio’s bioscience infrastructure to optimize opportunity for Ohio’s emerging entrepreneurs, both academic and private-sector. That means better regional business services, better support of technology transfer from our universities, better management support, more networking, more student outreach, and so on. Omeris serves its membership directly by funding regional business service organizations—BioEnterprise in Cleveland, the Business Technology Center in Columbus, BIO/START in Cincinnati and the Edison Biotechnology Institute in Athens—and by providing networking and advocacy through our statewide office. Second we intend to expand our strategic project efforts. A targeted, asset-based company attraction project (see story below) is well under way with our excellent Chamber of Commerce partners in Athens, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus. And the Ohio BioRepository project (see story below) is now established and linking with both informatics and clinical trial initiatives across the state.

Our analysis of Ohio’s bioscience assets clearly shows significant strengths, but those strengths are less than optimal in achieving our goals unless they can be harnessed in collaborative structures. In 2005, our job at Omeris is to catalyze this cooperation among Ohio’s many bioscience leaders so necessary for our collective success.

Building bioscience bonds in Germany
Evotec OAI announces plans to locate at Genome Research Institute
Competing in a global economy demands global relationships. On behalf of Ohio’s bioscience industry, Omeris is meeting this demand in Germany as a first phase of its asset-based company attraction strategy.

In September, Omeris sponsored and coordinated a Life Science Tour to Munich and Dresden, laying groundwork for relationships between companies and institutions in Ohio and Germany. Ultimately, the goal is to either attract German company expansion or satellite facilities to Ohio or expand Ohio bioscience companies' presence in Germany. Munich and Dresden were chosen for several reasons, including their existing sister city relationships with Cincinnati and Columbus, respectively.

In both cities, Omeris President Tony Dennis, PhD, and resident consultant Catharina Maulbecker-Armstrong, PhD, presented a compendium of Ohio’s bioscience assets and advantages titled “Why Ohio.” Germans attending the presentations included economic development officials from the states of Bavaria and Saxony and representatives from BioM and Network BioMeT (the Omeris equivalents in Munich and Dresden), the Max Planck Society, and several biotech companies such as Evotec OAI.

Comments from German leaders indicate the meetings were effective. Dr. Jörn Erselius of Garching Innovation, the technology transfer unit of the Max Planck Society, said he travels frequently to the U.S., but mostly to the coasts and select bio clusters. “I was not aware that in addition to Ohio State, Battelle and the Cleveland Clinic were all in Ohio,” he said. “I will include Ohio in one of my next trips.”

“Before these productive visits,” commented Dennis, “we weren’t even on the German companies' radar screens.” Dennis added that several German companies have expressed interest in Ohio as a U.S. expansion destination, leading to subsequent discussions since the trip.

In October Evotec announced plans to locate its first North American facility at the Genome Research Institute near Cincinnati, where it could work with GRI and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals to develop new drug compounds. Founded in 1993 in Hamburg, Evotec is a growing drug discovery firm with more than 600 employees worldwide.

In addition to Omeris staff, Ohio travelers included: Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, who also presided over the opening of the first beer keg at Oktoberfest in Munich; P&G Pharmaceuticals’ Ken Morand and Fouad Ezra; David Powell and Joe Borovsky of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce; Paul Zito of the Ohio Department of Development’s European Office; Nick Vehr and Ken Fightmaster of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce; and Chad Munitz of the City of Cincinnati.

Representatives of Dresden are planning a return trip to Ohio later this year.

Omeris and Taiwan Biotech Center ink $5 million R&D,
commercialization pact
Taiwan’s TaiGen Biotech and P&G complete alliance for new form of antibiotic
Omeris and Taiwan’s Development Center of Biotechnology (DCB) signed an agreement on Oct. 1, 2004 to match the capabilities of companies, research institutions and universities in Ohio and Taiwan yielding cooperative research, technologies and product commercialization. The agreement establishes a target of $5 million in research and commercialization contracts over seven years. Each entity will focus their efforts on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, clinical trials, nutraceutical products, agricultural biotech and other suitable technologies where Ohio and Taiwan share common research and economic interests.

Omeris was a key component of Governor Bob Taft’s Ohio Business and Investment Mission to Japan and Taiwan Sept. 24 – Oct. 2, 2004, which included the largest foreign trade mission delegation in Ohio history. With Governor Taft and Ohio Department of Development International Trade Director Kirk Merritt as witnesses, Omeris Vice President John F. Lewis Jr., signed the agreement.



(l to r) Governor Taft and Omeris V.P. John F. Lewis, Jr., with Dr. Jui-Lein Juang and Show Chung Ho of Taiwan's Development Center of Biotechnology at official signing of partnership pact.

“DCB is at the cutting edge of bioscience R&D and commercialization and has a lot of synergies with Ohio,” Lewis said. “One area of particular strength at DCB is they are a premier preclinical and Phase I clinical service provider. Since Ohio is among the top states in hosting clinical studies, there is a natural partnering opportunity to reduce the cost of trials and get them done faster.”

Greg Loose, of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said, “We are pleased that Omeris and Taiwan's DCB have agreed to join hands to work both on bioscience research, and just as importantly, on commercializing the fruits of that research. According to Loose, Taiwan is building a reputation as a high-tech powerhouse, and it is also one of America's top 10 export markets. He believes the agreement will allow Ohio bioscience entities to leverage Taiwan's regional trade and investment links to expand further in markets throughout Asia.

Procter & Gamble-TaiGen Alliance
The fruits of the Omeris-DCB agreement are already being harvested, according to Lewis. In January, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals formed an alliance with a Taiwanese drug firm, TaiGen Biotechnology, to develop a new form of antibiotic. TaiGen will handle Phase I and Phase II development of a nonfluorinated quinolone antibiotic invented by P&GP. TaiGen also acquires development and commercialization rights within China, Taiwan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Last October, Show Chung Ho, chairman of both TaiGen and DCB, anticipated quick results from the Omeris-DCB collaboration. “The technology and business cooperation agreement signifies another effort by DCB in promoting Taiwan’s biotechnology industry through international cooperation,” said Ho. “According to the plan, we are expecting some concrete results that would benefit both sides from this partnership in the near future.”

An alliance between two global bioscience companies is certainly a good start.

“Besides the R&D activities in small molecular drug and biopharmaceutical development, gene-based therapeutic technology, monoclonal antibody study, Chinese herbal medicine and environmental technology, DCB also has an Industrial Promotion Division called BioFronts,” said DCB President Dr. Jui-Lien Huang. “We hope through Omeris and DCB BioFronts connection, we can make more strategic alliances between Ohio and Taiwan, and we look forward to having many more opportunities through our mutual efforts.”

While in Taiwan, Lewis, Governor Taft, and eight other mission participants involved in the biosciences—including Rich Adams of Battelle, Jack Bantle, PhD of Ohio University, and Diagnostic Hybrids founder David Scholl, PhD—met with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Founded in 1973 with assistance from Battelle, ITRI is a research entity with more than 6,000 employees and also boasts a strong commercialization engine with technology incubators and a $130 million venture capital arm. While Ohio currently has only two technology R&D relationships with Taiwan, ITRI is part of both, a light-emitting polymers project at OSU’s MicroMD Laboratory in Columbus and the newly formed statewide nanotechnology polymer consortium.

Commenting on both the DCB and ITRI meetings, Governor Taft said, “I hope that today's meetings will be the first steps toward forging partnerships between Ohio and institutions in Taiwan, and bringing the brightest minds from both regions of the world together to advance scientific discovery and create jobs.”

Why Ohio? Omeris launches targeted, asset-based attraction strategy to expand bioscience jobs in Ohio
Intuitively Omeris and its statewide Board of Trustees strongly believed that Ohio is attractive to grow and build bioscience businesses, but this was based more on feeling than fact. After months of intense research and analysis, we now have definitive, fact-based proof that Ohio is a legitimate bioscience destination and that each of Ohio’s regions possess key bioscience assets that can attract companies and increase the numbers of high-wage, high-tech jobs.

This information is critical in order to promote Ohio as a relocation or expansion site to growing bioscience firms throughout the U.S. and abroad. During 2005 we will create comprehensive asset teams in selected bioscience specialties where we have discovered Ohio has a global advantage, starting with cardiovascular, cancer and pediatrics. Initially, organizations represented on these asset teams will help develop the strategy to attract companies operating in the same space. Eventually they will serve as both attractor and potential partner for companies recruited to Ohio and imbedded in our bioscience base. Beyond attraction, team-based, asset-centric recruitment aims to facilitate a targeted company’s growth and retention, which in return will benefit Ohio and strengthen the asset teams. This differentiating strategy is unique from any other state or region of the country.

From June through November 2004, Omeris assimilated thousands of pages of information, distilling gigabytes of data into about 250 raw data charts, 408 charts profiling life science companies, and 210 charts profiling the not-for-profit and academic institutions. We compared Ohio with five other states—Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—and the U.S. average along a series of economic and life sciences-specific parameters.

Here is a sampling of some of the data.

Location and Logistics
The seventh largest state in the U.S., Ohio is centrally located to 61% of the U.S. and 50% of Canada. Ohio has the most Free Trade Zones among the comparison states, and sixth most in the U.S. Ohio’s location in the Eastern Standard Time Zone is a plus to targeted EU companies.

Bioscience Asset Landscape
Ohio has more than 500 bioscience-related companies. Among Ohio bioscience firms with health care focus, the most prevalent therapeutic areas are cardiovascular (32%), cancer (26%), neurology (19%) and respiratory diseases (13%). This list includes some of the largest corporations in the world such as Cardinal Health, P&G Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Abbott Labs’ Ross Products Division, Philips Medical, Invacare, Scotts, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Roxane and Ben Venue Laboratories, Girindus, Mettler-Toledo, Nestle, Barr Laboratories, Cole Vision, Steris, and more.

On the other end of the spectrum, 23 small biotech companies have received an aggregate of over $330 million in private equity funding between 2000 and 2004. Some of them, such as Athersys, AtriCure, and Diagnostic Hybrids, already are strong players in their sectors.

Education
Ohio’s 161 institutions of higher education are more than any other state on a per capita basis. Ohio State, Case Western Reserve, and University of Cincinnati are all ranked among the top teaching and research facilities in the nation. With 76, OSU has the largest number of fellows in the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) at any university in the U.S. Nationally, Ohio ranks fourth in integrating technology, particularly IT, into its schools according to the State New Economy Index. This is a critical element leading to a competitive, technology-based workforce.

Workforce
More than 730,000 health and education workers ranked Ohio second compared to our peer group, only Pennsylvania had more. Ohio has twice as many medical and laboratory technicians, and they cost 17% less than the national average. Bioscience employment grew by nearly 14,000 jobs between 1996 and 2002, a 60% increase compared to the U.S. average of 31%.

Hospitals
Ohio has 17 hospitals that are named in the 2004 U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Hospitals. No state has more. The Cleveland Clinic has been ranked the fourth best hospital in the nation and the top cardiac center; the latter honor extends for 10 straight years. Ohio is home to 2 of the country’s top 10 pediatric hospitals, 4 of the top 50 cancer facilities, 3 of the top 20 heart and heart surgery centers, 13 of the top 50 sites for respiratory care, and 4 of the top 20 nationally rated teaching hospitals.

Ohio’s clinical prowess in cancer is represented further by two NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers: Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital & R. J. Solove Research Institute in Columbus and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland.

In addition to high-ranking pediatric hospitals, including Rainbow Babies Cleveland, Cincinnati Children’s and Columbus Children’s, Ohio (Columbus) also is home to the sole pediatric oncology tissue repository in North America, and Cincinnati Children’s ranks among the top three pediatric medical centers receiving research grants.

R&D Funding
Ohio has a balanced portfolio of R&D funding across industry, universities, federal labs and non-profits. Ohio spends 35% more than the national average on medical and biological sciences R&D, evidence of its dedication to life sciences. Ohio ranked eighth in the U.S. with $661 million in NIH funding, with Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus all ranked in the top 40.

Third Frontier Project & State Funding
With $1.1 billion committed by the State, supported by $4.5 billion more in partnership with private and federal entities, Ohio’s government support to technology economic development is clear. Since 2002, Ohio’s Third Frontier Project has invested more than $145 million in 10 biomedical public-private commercialization partnerships, ranging from cardiovascular, cancer, and neuromodulation, to imaging, stem cells and bioinformatics.

The Third Frontier Project also is responsible for providing $12 million of “State of Ohio grants” helping 12 validation and seed funds leverage investments of more than $145 million in 53 early stage Ohio companies since 2001. With 68 current investors, the Ohio TechAngel Fund is the largest in the Midwest and fourth largest in the U.S. after peers in Boston, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Financing (early stage and VC)
According to a recent Milken Institute report, Ohio led the nation in bioscience VC growth (1,428%) from 2001-2003. In Ohio there are 125 sources of capital for emerging companies, from large VC firms like Morgenthaler, Primus, Blue Chip, River Cities and Triathlon Medical Ventures to 12 new early stage and pre-seed funds started over the past few years.

Intellectual Property
Ohio has a strong life science patent base with 2,085 filed between 1997-2001. For comparison, Michigan and North Carolina are credited with 1,214 and 1,154, respectively, during the same time period.

Bioscience Infrastructure
During 2003-04 more than $2.8 billion in bioscience capital and construction investment was either initiated or completed. In this respect, the market is validating Ohio’s strength and attractiveness to grow. For example, in the cardiovascular space, Cleveland Clinic Heart Center invested $200 million in expansion. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Ben Venue and Roxane Laboratories added nearly 500,000 square feet for pharmaceutical manufacturing ($184 million). And pediatric research space will expand at both Cincinnati Children’s and Columbus Children’s, collectively valued at $258 million.

Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus were ranked among the Top 30 Biotech Locations by Business Facilities, a widely read site selection publication.

Ohio has three nationally recognized bioscience-specialized incubators, two of which have won incubator of the year awards, including the 2003 Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year, Business Technology Center in Columbus.

Real Estate Cost
Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus all rank among the top 10 lowest cost real estate markets in the country, with Columbus offering the lowest cost for office space, leasing and equipment amortization in the U.S., according to Conway.

IT Infrastructure (including Third Frontier Fiber Optic Network)
Ohio has an outstanding IT infrastructure, with seven Ohio cities ranking high in wireless access via Cisco’s “Most Unwired” report. In addition OneCleveland, nominated by Cisco Systems for the 2004 Computer World Laureate program, is the world’s fastest free public wireless hotspot and the largest metropolitan network providing gigabit connectivity to the entire non-profit spectrum—education, culture and the arts, research, healthcare, and government—for collaboration and innovation on an unparalleled scale.

Launched on November 30, 2004, Ohio’s Third Frontier Network is the most advanced statewide research network in the nation. After two years of development, a 1,600 mile backbone connects nearly 100 of Ohio’s colleges and universities, elementary, middle and high schools, state and local governments, medical research centers and hospitals, and federal research centers such as NASA Glenn in Cleveland and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. The new network’s massive increase in capacity will provide revolutionary ways for conducting research in fuel cell technology, cancer treatment, healthcare services, bioinformatics, DNA mapping, and a host of other applications.

Clinical Studies
In 2004, as a result of a very solid healthcare infrastructure combined with highly ranked medical centers, Ohio hosted 26% of all clinical trials conducted in the U.S. The number of publicly-reported, active clinical trials in Ohio fluctuates at around 800 per month.

A quick comparison with North Carolina
North Carolina, especially its Research Triangle Park, has received considerable publicity as a preferred destination for bioscience innovation and company growth. Is this a product of real advantages and assets or just very effective marketing? Considering the following comparisons with Ohio, probably a little bit of both. For instance from 1997-2002, Ohio nearly doubled North Carolina’s number of bioscience patents (2,085 to 1,154). On average, Ohio participates in 200 more clinical trials annually. In technology education, Ohio ranks fourth, North Carolina 44th. The average salaries of medical device and pharmaceutical employees in Ohio are 22% lower than in North Carolina, translating into more productivity per dollar. And Ohio has 50% more R&D funding than North Carolina. These are only a few examples of Ohio’s well-positioned competitiveness with North Carolina.

Ohio is a growing, global life science player... Today
Ohio’s collection of world class assets proves it can compete as a bioscience destination for researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies.

We should all be proud, because we all have contributed to Ohio’s bioscience momentum. And we should all spread the word about Ohio’s global competitiveness in areas important to bioscience growth.

Omeris Vice President John F. Lewis, Jr., and resident consultant Catharina Maulbecker-Armstrong are leading this project. If you have any questions about the process, the data, or the next steps feel free to contact them at jlewis@omeris.org or cmaulbecker@omeris.org.

BioRepository a unique addition to bioscience infrastructure
Everything Omeris does is focused on enhancing Ohio’s ability to attract and support bioscience industry, research, and education. Launched in 2004, the Ohio BioRepository (OBR) is another example of this continuous mission.

In its most basic form, the OBR is a human tissue repository—literally a location to store tissue specimens and related patient disease information. The tissue repository concept is not a new one, as many hospitals and university research labs maintain their own tissue collection and storage programs. But the idea of a statewide repository meeting the needs of that state’s biomedical researchers and patient population is unique.

“We’re extremely excited about moving ahead with the OBR, which has been in planning for over a year and a half,” said Omeris’ Bill Tacon, PhD, who manages the OBR. “Long-term we intend the OBR to play an integral role in ensuring the best therapeutic outcomes for Ohioans. For example, patients enrolled in the repository who have their tissues genomically or proteomically characterized will become better candidates for clinical trials and better matches for specific therapies.”

Comprised of disease and normal tissue storage and an associated searchable database, the OBR is led by Omeris in partnership with the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC). Ohio State University’s Human Tissue Resource Network also provides valuable consulting and training support. The repository will provide researchers ready access to tissues stored under a variety of preservation techniques, including a formalin-fixed paraffin block tissue archive. The OBR will become an asset for fast turnaround on human research of disease processes at the gene and protein level, comparing what happens in diseased tissue against normal.

The OBR’s current phase is receiving funding support through a Third Frontier Action Fund grant awarded jointly to Phylogeny Inc. and the OBR. Columbus-based Phylogeny is developing a line of tissue micro-arrays—glass slides containing as many as 1,000 samples of body tissues—that allow researchers to process multiple samples simultaneously.

Immediate goals are to firmly establish the tissue repository as a known resource within Ohio, meeting the needs of Phylogeny’s growing business and industry and academic researchers. Eventually Omeris and partners will look to secure funding from the federal government and other sources to expand OBR and make greater use of its pathology block resource.

Only paraffin block tissue is currently under OBR’s watch, although freshly collected tissue soon will be provided through an agreement with a Columbus-area hospital. OSU recently donated a collection of archived pathology blocks and reports from 1940 through 1967, representing more than 50,000 surgery cases. OBR staff is in the process of digitally scanning the pathology reports to extract selective information (tissue type, disease, diagnosis, race, gender, age and year) into a searchable online database through which Ohio researchers will request pathology block samples. The pathology block repository represents a tremendous resource to researchers, a chronological record which allows researchers to examine disease profiles over time and compare to current day situations. Plans call for expanding the pathology block collection by accessing old blocks from other Ohio hospitals.

While Tacon oversees the OBR as part of his Omeris responsibilities, Mona Stefanos was hired in December as the repository’s first full-time employee. Stefanos, a physician recently relocated from Egypt, manages day-to-day tissue inventory and data management. OBR’s office and physical storage facility is located within the Business Technology Center in Columbus, also home to Phylogeny and Omeris. OBR data is securely stored in OSC’s new Springfield facility.

BioOhio 2004 focused on entrepreneurial innovation
Nearly 350 representatives of bioscience companies, research institutions, and service providers descended on the Hilton Columbus at Easton in late October. They came to network with the unique statewide audience and learn about the bioscience innovations and entrepreneurs that call Ohio home.



BioOhio Student Poster Competition

Notable sessions included plenary presentations delivered by Dr. Robert Day, president emeritus of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Dr. Carlo Croce, chair of Ohio State’s Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics. Governor Taft also paid a visit to compliment Ohio’s bioscience community for recent achievements and sustained progress and to emphasize the State’s support of bioscience growth.

Perhaps the best-received sessions were the two panel discussions—Ohio BioEntrepreneur Successes and Women BioEntrepreneurs. The diverse BioOhio audience took full advantage of each session’s question and answer portion to cull advice and opinion from some of Ohio’s most influential bioscience thought leaders.

Video clips of plenary speakers and panelists are available on the BioOhio web page.

BioOhio’s second annual Student Poster Competition built upon last year’s successful launch by doubling the number of posters. Nearly 40 students representing universities from throughout Ohio presented their bioscience research. View list of winners.

BioOhio 2005 will be held Oct. 31 - Nov. 1, once again at the Hilton Columbus.

Dr. Jane Henney and Mike Hooven elected to Omeris Board of Trustees
David Scholl elected as chairman
In October 2004, Jane Henney, MD, senior vice president and provost for health affairs at the University of Cincinnati, and Mike Hooven, chairman and CTO of AtriCure, were elected to the Omeris Board of Trustees.

Since July 2003, Dr. Henney has guided operations of the academic and research enterprise of the UC Medical Center, including the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences and Hoxworth Blood Center. Prior to arriving at UC she served after nomination by President Clinton and confirmation by the U.S. Senate as the Commissioner of Food and Drugs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She served in this capacity from 1998 to January 2001. She has also served over the past twenty years in a series of senior health policy leadership positions in the public sector, including posts with the National Cancer Institute, the University of Kansas Medical Center and the University of New Mexico.

Mike Hooven is a co-founder of Cincinnati-based AtriCure and Enable Medical Corporation. AtriCure was founded in 2000 as a spinoff of Enable Medical and is focused on the development of products and procedures to treat atrial fibrillation, the world’s most common heart irregularity. Mike has over 20 years of experience in the development of medical devices and has more than 50 issued and pending U.S. patents in the medical device field. Prior to co-founding Enable Medical Corporation, Mike spent six years at Ethicon Endo-Surgery as Director of New Product Development.

Omeris also announced the election of David Scholl, PhD, to chairman of the Board. He is president and CEO of Athens, Ohio-based Diagnostic Hybrids, which develops and manufactures diagnostic cell cultures and virus detection kit systems used in the clinical diagnosis of infectious and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Scholl has been an Omeris Board member since 2002.

For a full list of the Omeris Board of Trustees, click here.

Briefly Bioscience

Encore Editorial: Omeris is busy preparing the follow-up to the successful first issue of Accelerating Excellence, the official publication of Bioscience in Ohio. This year’s issue, due out in late Spring, will profile Ohio’s bioscience leaders. Considering how many bioscience champions and luminaries there are in Ohio, we have our work cut out for us. If your organization is interested in placing an advertisement, feel free to contact our publishing partner, The Matrix Group, at 866-999-1299 or matrixgr@mts.net.

Member Drive: Next month Omeris will begin its annual recruitment of new members. At that time, a new membership dues structure based on an organization’s number of employees will be announced. New benefits also have been added. Currently, Omeris is proud to count nearly 200 members, 150 of which are organizations. New members signing on since November include: Brighton Technologies Group, Five Star Technologies, Fort Washington Capital Partners Group, the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology, Hassan Abdullahi, Joel Danzig, Keith Lutz, and Eric Miller.

Interested in becoming a member? Contact Matt Schutte (614-675-3686, x6 or mschutte@omeris.org) with questions.

Really Big Shows: Last October, BioOhio 2004 attracted nearly 350 bioscience leaders from throughout Ohio and surrounding states. Attendee evaluations gave high marks to our Entrepreneur and Women in Bioscience panel sessions, so expect to see more of the panel format at BioOhio 2005, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, once again at the Hilton Columbus at Easton.

The BIO Annual International Convention will give much love to Philadelphia June 19-22. On behalf of Bioscience in Ohio, Omeris will go out east to coordinate 600 square feet of exhibit space promoting Ohio’s thriving bio community and numerous advantages as a business location.

Check out other upcoming Ohio bioscience events on the Omeris web site Events Page.

Members Save $: Omeris members are eligible to save large dollars in several ways. In addition to significant discounts to attend and/or exhibit at Omeris events, Omeris members also qualify for savings through the National BIO Business Solutions Program and BusinessWire. BIO Business Solutions includes special offers through United Van Lines, Office Depot, and VWR International. Our agreement with BusinessWire, the official newswire service of Omeris and BioOhio, entitles Omeris members to free services and a 20% discount on news release distribution.