Building Biomedical Bridges: Summit Gathers Leaders in Research, Industry and Entrepreneurship

The idea for the twice-per-year summit was generated by Jason Spark, a member of the Biological Sciences’ Dean’s Leadership Council, in coordination with Melissa Hoon, the school’s director of corporate relations and professional development.

“The goal of the summit is to foster connections and collaboration between academic and industry entrepreneurs to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into real-world solutions,” said School of Biological Sciences Dean Kit Pogliano, Ph.D. “We launched this series to spark powerful public-private partnerships that leverage cutting-edge advances in understanding the molecular basis of disease and drive health innovation by building the deep connections and partnerships needed to address global biomedical challenges.”

For postdoctoral scholars and students, the event provided key insights on industry trends and career pathways in translational research. Faculty presenters were given a platform to showcase their research and engage with investors and seasoned industry experts while soaking up advice on translational entrepreneurship. Venture capitalists and industry leaders were given an opportunity to hear about cutting-edge science and emerging technologies.

The themes and goals of the event were highlighted when Barbara Jung, M.D., associate vice chancellor and dean of School of Medicine, emphasized the forward-looking nature of the summit in her opening remarks.

“Our position is greatest when we all come to the table collectively — that means every single person in the room and every idea you have,” said Jung. “Today is really about taking new ideas and reaching out to others to make new connections. This is really where things come to fruition. More than ever, we need to all work together to do that.”

While each Bridging Biomedical Breakthroughs Summit will focus on a different topic, November’s event concentrated on cutting-edge research in rare diseases, as well as cell and gene therapies. Three UC San Diego faculty members gave short pitches about their research initiatives and how they are poised to make an impact. Each presenter worked with an industry expert who guided the faculty presenters on how to craft clear and compelling pitches. The presentations included Paul Grossfeld, M.D., a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, who leads the only basic-to-translational science lab studying Jacobsen syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by a loss of genetic material often resulting in developmental heart defects. Grossfeld’s lab hopes that lessons learned by studying this syndrome will lead to new strategies for treating patients with congenital heart disease, as well as potentially for patients suffering an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Assistant Professor Uri Manor, Ph.D., of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, presented a captivating pitch on his lab’s research using advanced technologies, including AI, to study the dynamics of hearing loss and neurodegeneration. Among many projects, his research uses deep learning to study Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a degenerative neurological disorder that causes muscle weakness in the legs, hands, feet and arms.

Also presenting was Matthew Shtrahman, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Neurosciences, who is investigating the role of viruses in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. His lab also studies viral vector toxicity, aiming to engineer safer vectors for human gene therapies.

During the “CEO Fireside Chat” panel, moderated by Sara Werner, Ph.D., executive director of strategic programs in the School of Biological Sciences, Niren Shah, PharmD, co-founder and CEO of Cove Therapeutics, Yael Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Mahzi Therapeutics and David Wellis, Ph.D., CEO of FreMon Scientific offered a multitude of perspectives on how academics can reshape their mindset to reach the commercial sector.

“I find that the innovation coming out of universities is amazing,” said Weiss. “We definitely leverage it but we need to also spend a lot of time educating the scientists that we work with on the translational path. The best model is constant communication.” Wellis agreed and offered perspectives from recent experiences. “We meet early academicians who have wonderful science but maybe they’re not as aware of how to take something through discovery all the way — that’s where a commercial partner really becomes important,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of great activity lately in terms of how people are thinking about bridging with biotech and pharma. Things are moving in the right direction to ensure faculty are aware of how to launch a company or partner with pharma or biotech.”

The “Venture Capitalist Confidential” panel, moderated by Spark, chief biotech officer at Inizio Evoke, featured Sergio Duran, Ph.D., managing partner at Avalon BioVentures and Niall O’Donnell, Ph.D., managing director at RiverVest Venture Partners. Duron addressed the disconnect in how academic researchers view their discoveries and the realities of those innovations. There are also misconceptions about the time necessary to take discoveries to the commercial sector, he said. O’Donnell described his approach in thinking about what the end product looks like and working backwards from there.

Throughout the day, presenters described San Diego’s life sciences and biotech cluster as a vigorous, growing sector that is increasingly recognized as a national and international hotbed. This perspective was reinforced by Paul Roben, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for innovation and technology commercialization at UC San Diego, who wrapped up the summit by highlighting the San Diego region as one of the most networked, connected innovation regions in the world.

“Looking across campus, I’ve never seen such an appetite and enthusiasm to reimagine the model with how we engage with industry and investors,” said Roben. “There is huge enthusiasm and interest to reimagine this model and get this right.” As one recent example, he pointed to the launch of UC San Diego’s Goeddel Family Technology Sandbox, a cutting-edge collaborative center created in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific and Nikon Instruments.

“We are incredibly well positioned here,” said Roben. “As a region we’ve been really good at taking divergent technologies and converging them to create something entirely new and building new entrepreneurial companies around them. Despite everything that’s going on at the moment, I am really optimistic about where we are now, which is an inflection point. The potential upside for San Diego in particular is excellent. So what I would say to you is: ‘Together, let’s do this!’”

The event’s organizers in the School of Biological Sciences are already laying the groundwork for the next Bridging Biomedical Breakthroughs Summit, scheduled from 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 24, 2026, which will focus on innovations in neurobiology and neurosciences. For more information about Bridging Biomedical Breakthroughs, contact Melissa Hoon at mhoon@ucsd.edu.