Partner Project News

New Paper Co-authored by AdapTree PI

AdapTree lead, Dr. Sally Aitken, and Jill Hamilton have published a new paper, “Genetic and morphological structure of a spruce hybrid (Picea sitchensis x P. glauca) zone along a climatic gradient,” in the American Journal of Botany. This research aims to understand how historic colonization and evolution interact to influence the genetic variation within the white and Sitka spruce hybrids to help better manage our forests in changing climates.

For more news from the Adaptree project, be sure to visit the Aitken Lab blog, The Modern Forest. Recent posts include team member Kim Gilbert’s account of her summer field season (including some beautiful photos), and Sally Aitken and Jack Woods thoughtful tips on Conference Organizing. Congratulations on your success with the Forest Genetics 2013 conference!

Innovation in Wine

Dr. Hennie van Vuuren, Director of UBC’s Wine Research Centre and lead researcher of our Grape and Wine Genomics partner project, has been featured in Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) “In wine there is innovation” video with master winemaker Howard Soon of Sandhill Wines. In this video, both experts explain how the combination of science and art in winemaking is important to the Canadian wine industry. You can watch the video below or on YouTube.

Do you have any news on your research project that you’d like to share?

Please let us know so we can feature it in our upcoming newsletters.

 Other News

Can science startups go lean? Steve Blank is betting on it

A recent article in VentureBeat from Steve Blank has created a lot of buzz in our world.

Steve Blank, entrepreneur and author of Startup Owner’s Manual, will be teaching a Lean Launch Pad course in October at the University of California, San Francisco specifically targeted for the life-sciences and health-care sectors. The goal for this course is “to teach researchers how to move their technology from an academic lab into the commercial world.”

One of the highlights of the VentureBeat article described the findings of a study that traced the success rate of teams who took the United States National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Lean Launch Pad training and those who did not. Both of these groups applied for government peer-reviewed funding through the SBIR program. The teams that took the Lean Launch Pad class had a 60% success rate, while those that skipped the class and pursued traditional methods of starting a company had an 18% success rate in receiving funding. A significant difference, as Blank’s concludes: “And yes, while funding does not equal a successful company, it does mean these teams knew something about building a business the other teams did not.”

There are some very exciting things happening with science and entrepreneurship. We’ll be watching the developments closely, as we look to continually improve our own delivery of the Lean Launch Pad for Genomics program.

 Internship

Intern Feature: Julia Patey

In our Intern Feature series, we will profile genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC interns and their work with our partner projects.

In our fourth interview of the series, meet our video intern Julia Patey. Julia recently graduated from the UBC Film program and joined our creative team in the beginning of summer 2013. She has collaborated with our animation interns, Katia Truong and Julia Suen, on a project for the Applied Metagenomics of the Watershed Microbiome team, as well as shooting videos for our Lean Launch Pad program. Read more about Julia’s internship experience at her profile page.

For more information on our Internship Program, please visit the Internships page or contact us.

 Upcoming Events

Tools for Scientific Storytelling: Infographics

October 2013

Information graphics, or infographics, are visual representations to communicate data or information to the public in a quick and clear way. genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC will be hosting a workshop with UBC Faculty of Medicine Communication Manager, Daniel Presnell, on how to use infographics for your scientific research.

Tools for Scientific Storytelling: Social Media II

TBA

Back in July, genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC presented a Social Media workshop with science communicator Ben Paylor (@BenPaylor) to explore the benefits of Twitter and other platforms to communicate scientific research. Due to overwhelming feedback from our participants for more hands-on session, we are planning to offer a longer follow-up workshop this fall. This upcoming event will focus on case studies examples and specific how-tos to garner support for your initiative. Please stay tuned for more information.

More Events

In addition to the workshops hosted by genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC, here are other events of interest on the genomics/entrepreneurship front offered by UBC, Mitacs and other organizations.

Branding: More than Just a Logo

September 6th, 2013; Small Business BC, #82 – 601 West Cordova Street

Why build a brand? Brand is a promise made by a business that is consistently delivered to its customer. This promise is what builds trust and increases customer loyalty. The rate at which a business succeeds is directly related to how CLEAR the vision is. Branding your business is your way to ensure your clients understand your corporate message. More details of this event at Small Business BC.

Public Speaking Skills for Entrepreneurs

September 16th, 2013; Small Business BC, #82 – 601 West Cordova Street

Does public speaking make you nervous? Does it cause you to miss out on potential business opportunities? Fear not, you are not alone. Public speaking skills are critical for every business owner. Being able to speak about your business with confidence will help you gain exposure, generate leads and make sales. In this interactive seminar, Lucas Mattiello, VP of Level Up Living, will show you how to lose your fear of public speaking and share his secrets of how to connect with your audience and gain their trust. Visit Small Business BC for more information.

Intellectual Property: Protecting Your Business

September 17th, 2013; Small Business BC, #82 – 601 West Cordova Street

Do you know if the work you create belongs to you? Or how to prevent others from copying your ideas? Attend this seminar and hear from an intellectual property lawyer on the various forms of intellectual property protection and how they can safeguard your business. You can register at Small Business BC.

Science Literacy

September 26th, 2013

Our friends at TerreWEB are hosting a presentation on the Perspectives of Science Literacy and Why It Matters for Good Science Communication by Dr. David Ng of Michael Smith Laboratories. More details coming soon, but mark this date in your calendar! David is always an engaging presenter, and the genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC program has enjoyed collaborating with him on the Genomics 101 workshops.

Update: More details of the seminar are now available on the TerreWEB calendar.

Details of these events will be updated in our Events calendar when time/place are confirmed.

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genomics.entrepreneurship@UBC is in partnership with Genome BC and Genome Canada.