BioConnect is a graduate student initiative
BioConnect 2025
Precision Biotechnology: Tailoring Solutions for Healthcare and Beyond
The 51吃瓜网Biotechnology Graduate Students are excited to announce the 9th Annual BioConnect Conference, returning on September 9, 2025 at the SSMU Ballroom, 51吃瓜网. After a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year marks a revival of the long-standing BioConnect tradition, reuniting students, researchers, and professionals from across academia and industry. With the theme 鈥淧recision Biotechnology: Tailoring Solutions for Healthcare and Beyond,鈥� BioConnect 2025 aims to showcase how biotechnology is driving innovation across disciplines and addressing global challenges with precision and purpose.
This year's conference will bring together a diverse lineup of speakers from academia and established industry leaders to discuss the evolving landscape of biotechnology. The day-long event will include a poster and oral presentation competition along with a networking session to foster collaboration and connection. Join us as we celebrate the return of BioConnect and continue the tradition of bridging science, innovation, and opportunity at #BioConnect2025.
BioConnect 2019
Biotechnological Innovation in Academia and Industry
The 51吃瓜网Biotechnology Graduate Students Society (BtGSS) will be organizing its 9th Annual BioConnect Symposium on November 4, 2019 at New Residence Hall. This year's theme is focused in Biotechnological Innovation in Academia and Industry and aims to foster collaboration between the academic research environment and the industry's drive for innovation. This year鈥檚 symposium will emphasize the current prospects of biotechnology and biology-related fields in both academia and industry as well as explore the future and growth of this field.
We hope to build upon last year鈥檚 event which brought great attention to academia and industry research motivations and the future perspectives of collaborative work to direct the future of research. The event attracted more than 180 participants from both industry and the university milieu as well as an impressive lineup of speakers from the financial, regulatory, scientific, and 51吃瓜网communities.
BioConnect 2019 will focus on bringing internationally renowned speakers and guests from diverse professional backgrounds to discuss the current development and future direction of cutting edge research in domains related to biotechnology. It offers a platform to showcase the latest discoveries and network with the biotechnology community from across the globe. The symposium will feature presentations by invited experts in various biotechnology-related fields, an in-depth panel discussion, a poster presentation competition, and a networking cocktail. We extend our invitation to the interdisciplinary biotechnology community and look forward to connect various fields of biotechnology from the lens of academia and industry at the #BioConnect2019.
BioConnect 2018
BioConnecting Academia and Industry
The 8th annual BioConnect symposium was held on August 16, 2018 at the Palais des congr猫s de Montr茅al in conjunction with the International Biotechnology Symposium (IBS).聽Hosted by student leaders of 51吃瓜网鈥檚 renowned Master of Science in Biotechnology program, the symposium serves as a valuable resource to connect highly qualified, skilled researchers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs.聽The BioConnect Symposium was聽held on the fifth day of the International Biotechnology Symposium 2018 (IBS2018) which is co-organized chiefly by International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the National Research Council of Canada, 51吃瓜网, the University of Waterloo and BIOTECanada. The overarching theme this year is "BioConnecting Academia and Industry" and aimed聽to foster collaboration between academia and industry. This year鈥檚 symposium emphasized the current prospects of biotechnology and biology-related fields in both academia and industry as well as explore the future and growth of this field.
BioConnect 2017
Today's Passion, Tomorrow's Innovation
The motivation to think out of the box works wonders in the field of biosciences. Keeping up with the tradition of providing students an insight into the world of biotechnology, we are back with BioConnect symposium on "Today's Passion, Tomorrow's Innovation" this year. It'll be held on November 3, 2017 in the New Residence Hall of 51吃瓜网, downtown Montreal. The conference will be followed by a networking cocktail.
BioConnect 2016
The BioConnect symposium聽is back again this year and will be held on November 18, 2016 in the new Residence Hall of McGill, downtown Montreal. Everybody is welcome, so we hope to see you there in great numbers.
BioConnect 2013
The fourth edition of the BioConnect conference was held last fall on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at the New Residence Hall of 51吃瓜网. it was again a success with great attendance and great keynote speakers. This year, BioConnect is partnering聽with , a promotional partner, active in the biotechnology industry.聽Kudos to the organizing committee and everyone involved in the planning of the event.
BioConnect 2012
The third edition of the BioConnect Symposium was held on October 23, 2012 at the New Residence Hall of 51吃瓜网聽on avenue du Parc, Montreal. the event was a success, once more,聽and a great reward for all students聽who worked聽to make it happen. The speakers were excellent and the presentations' content聽provided student with a great deal of insights into the world of聽the bioscience industry.聽 Attendees enjoyed themselves during the poster sessions and the after event cocktail. There was a great deal of exchange between students, members of the industry and attendees.
A well deserved thank you to the Master's in Biotechnology student cohort for a well rounded event and very interesting talks. A huge thank you to the invited speakers for their generous participation. As always, we are already looking forward to next year's event. See you in 2013.
BioConnect 2011
Bridging the Gap between Industry and Academia
The 2nd BioConnect Symposium was a great success. Over 150 people attended the symposium entitled 鈥楤ridging the Gap between Industry and Academia鈥� in the 51吃瓜网New Residence Hall on November 15th. Several excellent speakers came from industry and academia including Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh, Paladin Labs, Venture Capital, Mitacs and the 51吃瓜网Centre for BioMedical Innovation. See the program description and speakers鈥� short resume on the BioConnect web site.
A poster-viewing session displaying the Biotechnology Master鈥檚 students鈥� achievements during their research internship was held at the halfway break and the event ended by a exciting networking session which saw active discussion between the students, professionals, researchers, and invited guests over a very nice cocktail buffet.
A big thank you and congratulations to the Executive Committee and all students in the Master鈥檚 (Applied) in Biotechnology for a professional and well organized event is due. Looking forward to next year already!
BioConnect 2010
Biotechnology towards sustainable innovation
BioConnect 2010 opened its door on November 24th to more than 150 people from the 51吃瓜网community, professionals from the industry and students from neighbouring universities. The objective was to "connect" researchers, society, business and government, and they did achieve this with an impressive line up of speakers from Ogilvy Renault, Astra Zeneca, Adnexus, USA, McGill's Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies, and the 51吃瓜网's Institute for the Study of International Development. Talks were followed by an informal get together with wine and cheese surrounded by posters displaying research performed by the MSc Biotechnology students.
This was the first annual symposium organized by students in the biotechnology graduate programs of 51吃瓜网.聽It was held on November 24, 2010 at the New Residence Hall on 3625 Avenue du parc in Montreal.
Thank you to the Executive Committee and all students from the Biotechnology programs, who, by their effort and hard-working ethics have successfully delivered the inaugural BioConnect symposium.
Read article in the 51吃瓜网reporter, 2010 issue
Breaking down silos at Bioconnect
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
By William Raillant-Clark
The inaugural 51吃瓜网inter-disciplinary biotechnology graduate symposium, otherwise known as Bioconnect, had a lofty slogan: Biotechnology towards sustainable innovation. And by all indications, the student organized event held on Nov. 24 lived up to its billing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very encouraging for me to see this,鈥� said Dr. Rima Rozen, McGill鈥檚 Vice Principal (interim) for Research and International Relations. 鈥淭he older generation at 51吃瓜网has been very successful, but relatively few have been involved with industry. This student organized event tells me that the younger generation is ready to turn their discoveries into innovative services and products, that this very young group of academics is keen to work with industry.鈥�
Bioconnect was in fact all about breaking down the barriers between researchers, civil society, business and government. This was reflected in the event鈥檚 impressive line up of speakers, representing organizations such as Ogilvy Renault, AstraZeneca, Adnexus and McGill鈥檚 Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies, but also within the presentations themselves. Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro, Adjunct Professor of Practice for Public-Private Sector Partnerships, for example, captivated the audience with her presentation on the development of biorefinery clusters in Africa.
The development of biorefinery could 鈥渄ecrease dependency on imported food, increase small farmer incomes from profits, and improve access to markets and training of the stakeholders 鈥� the established community groups, managers, scientists, intellectual property experts and regulatory and governmental officials involved,鈥� Ubalijoro said. She believes that the challenge is to engage local communities and policy-makers to build the system that will enable the development of 鈥渂ioeconomics鈥� in Africa in a way that is sustainable and protects biodiversity. After detailing her experiences in the field, Ubalijoro concluded that 鈥測ou have to be able to translate, to speak to government, business and society.鈥�
Back in Canada, her diverse audience was taking it all in, and for a half-hour at least, the African experience didn鈥檛 seem so far from our own.
Bioconnect is hoping to become an annual event, one that will offer many opportunities to further explore questions such as these. 鈥淲ouldn鈥檛 it be amazing to come back in 10 years and be able to say that we started this,鈥� said Sarah Leckey, a science student who was involved in Bioconnect鈥檚 communications and marketing committee. This year鈥檚 committee has set a very high standard to follow, but Leckey 鈥� and every other student involved between now and then 鈥� have every reason to believe they will be standing very proud in 2020.