We’re getting very excited about our upcoming Healthcare Gets Personal event, which will take place this Thursday afternoon at Google’s offices in Kendall Square.
And the event keeps getting better (see agenda here): Third Rock Ventures’ Alexis Borisy is joining the event to moderate the keynote chat with pioneering Harvard genomics scientist and entrepreneur George Church. Borisy knows Church well and promises to pump him to draw out some great insights: the two have already worked together to help found two companies, Warp Drive Bio and Editas.
Just to give you a flavor for the big issues Church and Borisy might discuss, Warp Drive, among other things, is developing a genomic search engine to unearth naturally occurring microbes that might be key to creating better drugs. It launched with a whopping $125 million in venture capital funding in early 2012. Editas, which just last month announced a $43 million Series A round, seeks to pioneer what is called “gene editing,” a potentially disruptive new approach to curing genetic disorders by editing out genetic abnormalities to produce a normal functioning gene—perhaps even in just one treatment.
That chat, while it promises to be uniquely insightful and hope-inspiring, is just a part of a great lineup that features solo talks, startup stories, and panels on some of the key trends in health technology that seem poised to spark a revolution in individual healthcare—spanning such issues as games to improve mental health, wearable devices to monitor vital functions, and even healthier hair: Jon Flint of Polaris Partners, one of the founders of Living Proof, whose spokesperson is Jennifer Aniston, will be on hand for that. (Sorry, Jennifer couldn’t make it.)
The event runs from 4pm-6pm this Thursday, followed by a networking reception. Again, you can get your tickets here.
