2024 AGENDA

Ann Tanabe, Chief Executive Officer, BioHouston 

Brad Burke, Associate Vice President, Rice Innovation + Ion, Executive Director, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship

Marcus Nelson, Vice President, Strategy and New Ventures, Texas Medical Center

Introduction: R. Patrick Clayton, PhD, Vice President, Startup Banking, J.P. Morgan

Moderator: Annie Kadota, Vice President, J.P. Morgan

Barbara Alcaraz Silva, PhD, Executive Director, Startup Banking Life Sciences and Healthcare, J.P. Morgan

Christopher Gartin, Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking, J.P. Morgan

James Gallo, VP and Chief Development Officer

Vineet Gupta, PhD, VP for Innovation, Technology Development and Transfer

Sanja Sever, PhD, VP Drug Discovery, Director of the Sealy Institute of Drug Discovery

Giulio Taglialatela, PhD, Vice President, Brain Health; Director, The Moody Brain Health Institute

Omid Veiseh, PhD, Faculty Director, Rice Biotech Launch Pad; Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Rice University

Moderator: Zach Hightower, Director of Business Development, Portal Innovations

Bhuvanesh Dave PhD, CEO and Co-Founder, Spanios

Sarah Hein PhD, CEO and Co-Founder, March Biosciences

Derrell Porter, MD, MBA, CEO, cTRL Therapeutics

Meet the Founders: Portal Houston Now Open for Innovation will feature Zach Hightower, Director of Business Development, in conversation with three CEOs from Portal Innovations member companies. The panel will explore why these companies chose Portal, the unique value they’ve experienced, and the benefits such as investor support, access to cutting-edge lab space, and national network. Spotlighting Spanios, MarchBio, and CTRL Therapeutics, the discussion will highlight Portal’s role in accelerating life science innovation both locally and nationwide. Portal Houston officially opened a few weeks ago at the Texas Medical Center's new Helix Park campus with more than 30,000 SF of state-of-the-art lab and office space and a rapidly growing member community of growing startups.

Harpreet Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Immatics (Nasdaq: IMTX)

Eva F. Yin, PhD, MPH, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

This session provides an overview of key FDA and healthcare regulatory considerations for startups in the life sciences space as well as recent developments impacting the biotech and medtech industries. 

Snehal Patel, Chief Executive Officer, Greenwich LifeSciences (Nasdaq: GLSI)

Robert Schrock, PhD, Senior Director, Global Head of Development Services, CGT, Lonza

• QV Bioelectronics 
• Trueinvivo
• Taurus Vascular
• Flat Medical
• Somnair
• INIA Biosciences
• Eisana Health

Michelle Stansbury, Associate Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President, IT Applications, Houston Methodist

Rebecca Berdeaux, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, CellChorus

Mimi Healey, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Stimulus Bio

Elaine Lea-Chou, PhD, Scientific Advisor, Gulf Coast Consortia

Susan Marriott, PhD, Professor of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine; President, BioScience Writers

• NKILT Therapeutics
• OmniNano Pharmaceuticals
• Avesta76 Therapeutics
• Opsin Biotherapeutics
• Velvet Therapeutics
• Barricade Therapeutics
• PHIOGEN
• Autoimmunity BioSolutions
• Reglagene
• 4M Therapeutics

• Rua Diagnostics
• Parnassus Medical Systems
• Anvil Diagnostics
• Informuta
• Cx Precision Medicine
• Innotive Diagnostics
• Case45
• Cytecom
• Exopert Cooperation

Ashok Gowda, Founder, President, and CEO, Biotex/Medtex Ventures

A panel that discusses trends in life science company funding and considerations in raising money and in exits.

Moderator: Emily Reiser, PhD, Strategy and New Ventures, Texas Medical Center

Frederick Shane, Managing Partner, Axil Capital Partners

Mike Torosian, JD, Partner, Baker Botts

Drew Yashar, Associate, Capital Factory

Enhancing Life Sciences Product Development in Houston

A Fireside Chat with Atul Varadhachary, Managing Partner, Fannin Innovation 
Moderator: Brad Burke

• ImmunoGenesis
• Diakonos Oncology
• Luminary Therapeutics
• March Biosciences
• SolasCure
• Direct Biologics
• Mongoose Bio
• AyuVis Research
• YAP Therapeutics

• Aikynetix
• Voythos
• Foxo Technology

• LunOSA
• Oxford Medical Products
• CorInnova
• Ictero Medical
• Neurovalens
• Heartfelt Technologies
• Loop Robots
• Somavac

• Michael E. DeBakey Award - Presented by BioHouston
• 10 Most Promising Life Science Companies - Presented by Verena Kallhoff, PhD, MBA, Sr. Director, Global Life Sciences, Greater Houston Partnership
• People’s Choice Award