The pace of science is accelerating, but it can still take years to deploy lab and manufacturing space. This requires large upfront capital expenditures, long-term financial commitments, and often results in rigid facilities that are designed for a single purpose. SmartLabs enables life sciences companies to outsource their infrastructure and accelerate their timelines. Its new CleanSuites provides a solution to clinical manufacturing that delivers rapid access to FDA-compliant cGMP manufacturing space where companies can develop and own their own processes and move faster from the lab to the clinic. We spoke to Brian Taylor, executive vice president of biopharma solutions for SmartLabs, about the infrastructure challenges life sciences companies face today, SmartLabs CleanSuites, and how they bring speed and flexibility to therapeutic developers.

Biotech investors and executives are expected to flock to San Francisco for a set of annual conferences in January. The Biotech Showcase has grown into a critical meeting to start the new year. With concerns about the pandemic receding, it is already attracting a large number of registrations. This year’s event offers a rich agenda and will include the Digital Medicine & Medtech Showcase the Asia Showcase, and the Seed Showcase. We spoke to Sara Demy, founder and CEO of Demy-Colton, which co-produces the Biotech Showcase with the EBD Group, about what’s in store at this year’s event, the large number of partnering meetings that are already scheduled, and what participants can do to get the most out of the conference.

Award-winning life sciences journalist and mountaineer Luke Timmerman is once again leading The Timmerman Traverse, a three-day, 23-mile hike across New Hampshire’s Presidential Traverse to raise money for the non-profit Life Science Cares. Timmerman has assembled a team of venture capitalists and life sciences executives to make the hike to raise money to support the organization’s efforts to combat poverty in the top Big4Bio biotech cluster, Boston. We spoke to Timmerman about Life Science Cares, his past fundraising efforts, and why his team members walk away with more than just the satisfaction that comes from supporting a good cause. To donate to this year’s benefit, go to https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/TimmermanTraverse2022

Cellarity is transforming drug discovery by seeking to understand health and disease at a cellular level rather than looking for molecular targets for medicines. The company is harnessing a confluence of technologies to understand cellular changes that underlie disease and develop medicines that can restore them to healthy function. It now has programs in metabolic disease, hematology, immune-oncology and respiratory disease, a reflection of the broad applicability of its approach. We spoke to Fabrice Chouraqui, CEO of Cellarity, about the company’s to drug discovery, the technology it is harnessing, and why focusing on cells rather than molecular targets are a better way to discover drugs.

The Biotech Showcase has grown into a central part of the start to the new year in biotech as investors and industry executives gather in San Francisco to meet each January. This year’s event, which will be a hybrid live and virtual conference, offers a rich agenda and once again includes the China Showcase, the Seed Showcase, and the Digital Medicine & Medtech Showcase. We spoke to Sara Demy, founder and CEO of Demy-Colton, which co-produces the Biotech Showcase with the EBD Group, about what’s in store for this year’s event, what’s been learned from last year’s virtual event, and what participants can do to get the most out of the conference.

Many life sciences companies lack the internal expertise to ensure employees are safe, labs are compliant, and operations run smoothly. Safety Partners leverages the science backgrounds of its team to deliver environmental health and safety programs customized to meet the needs of its life sciences partners across Massachusetts and New York. We spoke to Jennifer Reilly, president and COO of Safety Partners, about how it works with life sciences companies to craft environmental health and safety programs, how the work has evolved over the firm’s 30-year history, and her own career trajectory from consultant to president of the women-owned firm.

As the ability to harness DNA extends well beyond medicine to agriculture and industry, the demand for synthetic DNA to drive the new bioeconomy is growing rapidly. The problem is that the traditional method of chemical synthesis of DNA hasn’t changed much since it was first developed about 30 years ago and presents limits on the length of oligonucleotides that can be created. Molecular Assemblies is developing an enzymatic DNA synthesis technology designed to power the next generation of DNA-based products. It says it approach can be used to write longer oligonucleotides that expand potential applications, provides higher quality output, and offers greater efficiency without toxic chemical byproducts. We spoke to Molecular Assemblies’ President and CEO Mike Kamdar and Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Bill Efcavitch, about the company’s enzymatic synthesis of DNA, how it improves on current methods, and it plans for commercialization.

Respiratory syncytial virus is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults. The virus causes more than 118,000 deaths per year and more than 3 million hospitalizations in children under the age of five. While many pharmaceutical companies have sought to develop a vaccine against RSV, it’s been an elusive target. Meissa Vaccines is developing a live attenuated RSV vaccine using its platform technology to replace viral genes that inhibit the immune response. The company is also advancing a vaccine for COVID-19 capitalizing on the same approach. We spoke to Marty Moore, founder and CEO of Meissa Vaccines, about its platform technology, how it works, and why its approach could provide significant benefits over existing COVID-19 vaccines.

Efforts to respond to the growing need for innovative medicines to combat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections have often centered on the search for novel antibiotics. Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, though, has taken a different tack. The company is developing combination therapies that marry a long-approved, broad-spectrum antibiotic with a second compound designed to inhibit the mechanism resistant bacteria use to counter it. We spoke to Christopher Burns, founder, president, and CEO of Venatorx, about the need for new means of combating multi-drug resistant microbes, the company’s combination therapies in development, and its success at advancing its pipeline with non-dilutive funding.

When the biotech industry gathers in San Francisco for the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference week in January, people will be closely watching dealmaking activity, who potential acquirers may be, and what targets they may hope to pick off in the year ahead. We spoke to Krist Werling, partner with the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, about the environment for life sciences dealmaking, who has the upper hand at the negotiating table these days, and what smaller companies should do to give themselves leverage.