WORTHINGTON -- Eric Wieben realizes the importance of sharing ideas and networking.
Wieben, co-scientific director of the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, will be one of the presenters during the second annual Regional Bioscience Conference, scheduled for Thursday at Friday at Worthington High School. The event is being hosted by Worthington Regional Economic Development Corp.
The Minnesota Partnership, one of four sponsors for the conference, is a collaborative venture between the Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota and state. The Partnership's goal is to position Minnesota as a world leader in biotechnology and medical genomics applications that will result in important new medical discoveries, thereby improving health care for patients and supporting the development of new business and jobs in the state.
"We were first funded in the spring of 2003 with an initial $2 million appropriation from the Legislature," Wieben said of the Partnership. "At that time, we funded four research projects with the condition that each involves a researcher from Mayo and a researcher from U of M. Those four research projects have been going for about 1½ years and have made very good progress.
"As a result of these early successes, last year's legislative session appropriated $15 million in support of partnership activities," continued Wieben, the department chair for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Mayo Clinic. "We just finished a second round of research proposals, which we'll announce in the next couple of weeks."
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Bob Nellis, a Partnership spokesman, said the primary reason for participating in statewide bioscience conferences is to promote biotechnology as a means of economic development.
"We're positioning highly, highly competitive and potentially highly marketable research concepts so they can get off the ground," Nellis said.
"We're trying to let as many people around the state know what we're trying to do," Wieben added. "I think over the long term there's a lot of potential for being an economic engine for the future, not just in Rochester and the Twin Cities but throughout the state of Minnesota."
"We're going to key centers in the state that have interest in developing bioscience activities across the full spectrum of bioscience," Wieben said. "We're trying to construct a constructive dialogue so that we can work together."
Wieben will give his presentation with Mark Paller, who also serves as co-scientific director and is a professor of medicine at U of M. Paller is also vice president for research at the university's Academic Health Center.
WREDC Manager Glenn Thuringer said he's grateful for the contributions of Minnesota Partnership, which he added played an integral role in funding the event. The conference didn't have a specific theme last year, but does this time around.
"This year we're focusing on workforce development and education," Thuringer said. "What we're also finding this year is that there's more interest in the conference within the community. Even if they're not in bioscience, people want to hear what's going on in town to attract attention."
Thuringer predicted the turnout for this year's conference will be larger than in 2005.
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"We have exactly 100 people pre-registered," he said. "Last year, we had about 85 pre-registered ... and about 25 more than that attended. We're expecting to get into that 125-to-130 range, and we think that is extremely good. We strongly encourage the community to please join us."
Additional conference sponsors are the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, MGI Pharma Inc., and Swift and Co. Partners are the Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Worthington School District 518 and Worthington Regional Hospital.
For a complete schedule of events, go to www.wgtn.net and click on the WREDC link.
