Scientists help state's biotech pitch

By Jim Stafford

Published: June 18, 2008

SAN DIEGO — Organizers of the Oklahoma exhibit at the giant BIO 2008 International Convention have determined the key to pitching the state to the biotech world: Oklahoma scientists.

So a strategy has been implemented on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center to ensure that at least two scientists are working the Oklahoma pavilion whenever the BIO 2008 exhibit floor is open.

An incident that occurred at last year's BIO show in Boston emphasized how key the strategy is, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist Tim Mather said.

Mather was working the Oklahoma exhibition booth at the annual BIO Convention in Boston last year when a man wandered through and had questions about the state of research in Oklahoma.

As the lone scientist staffing the Oklahoma pavilion at the moment, Mather was asked to provide some details for the curious visitor.

Turned out the visitor was actually an official with the National Institutes of Health and he was seeking potential candidates for a special NIH drug development initiative the national research funding agency was launching.

"I understood immediately that what he was doing was exactly what several of our (researchers) need in terms of taking advantage of the open access that he was offering of NIH's toxicity, pharmacology, even synthetic chemistry capabilities,” Mather said. "We, in fact, invited him then to come to the state.”

As a result of the random meeting between the NIH program director and an Oklahoma scientist on the floor of the BIO show, Oklahoma researchers were offered the opportunity to hear about the program firsthand a couple months later when he came to the state.

The coincidental meeting emphasizes the importance to the Oklahoma effort that scientists as well as economic development officers and technology entrepreneurs spend time on the exhibition floor at the Oklahoma pavilion, Mather said.

"It was just a meeting at the show, and he was one of the people who came up to the booth and said, ‘Tell me about science in Oklahoma,'” Mather said. "That's the benefit of having a scientist there.”

In fact, the Oklahoma BioScience Association unveiled a new BIO Convention strategy this year that requires at least two scientists in the pavilion at all times.

"These scientists are very important,” said Jennifer Seaton, one of the exhibit's organizers from the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. "We're trying to make sure we get as many leads as possible.”

When the show opened late Tuesday afternoon and the San Diego Convention center was flooded by people wanting to see the exhibits, the state delegation was waiting with about six scientists staffing various posts to greet guests and answer any complex scientific questions.

"Nowadays, a lot of the manager-business types come with scientific backgrounds,” said Joseph Waner, vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. "Biotechnology in particular is one of those business disciplines, if you will, where you need a scientific background, for one thing to understand the vocabulary and then to understand a bit more about the technology.”

Which means that the Oklahoma scientist chatting up the visitor can more easily determine how his plans may fit research ongoing in the state.

"Only somebody with a scientific background can get to the basis of it, get to the meat of it, and after two or three questions say, ‘Ah, there's nothing new about that' or, ‘Ah, this is pretty unique,'” Waner said.

Comments