The Genetics Institute Impact: Join Mark Ptashne, Tom Maniatis & Gabe Schmergel on Dec. 14

Quite a few people study genetics in Boston. But there was—and can only be—one true “Genetics Institute.” Even though 15 years have gone by since the company was swallowed up in a corporate merger, the people who made “GI” one of the biotech industry’s pioneers in the ’80s are still making waves throughout the Boston biotech scene.

So I’m super excited to announce today we are bringing together a dream team of GI alumni for Xconomy’s next big public life sciences event in Boston, “The Genetics Institute Impact,” which will be held on Dec. 14.

Here are the confirmed speakers who will be there at the Koch Institute at MIT on Dec. 14:

—Mark Ptashne, Genetics Institute co-founder; Ludwig Chair of Molecular Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

—Tom Maniatis, Genetics Institute co-founder; Professor and Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University

—Gabriel Schmergel, former Genetics Institute CEO

—Tony Evnin, early venture investor in Genetics Institute; partner, Venrock Associates

—Tuan Ha-Ngoc, former executive vice president of Genetics Institute; CEO, Aveo Pharmaceuticals

—Adelene Perkins, former president of GI business unit DiscoverEase; CEO, Infinity Pharmaceuticals

—John Knopf, former scientist at Genetics Institute; co-founder and CEO, Acceleron Pharma

—Abbie Celniker, former director of antibody technologies at Genetics Institute; CEO, Eleven Biotherapeutics

I plan to make sure the speeches are short and sweet, so that everybody here has time to mingle and catch up with old friends. I’ll moderate a keynote chat with the two scientific founders, Ptashne and Maniatis, along with the former CEO, Gabe Schmergel. The other speakers—Tony Evnin, Tuan Ha-Ngoc, Adelene Perkins, John Knopf, and Abbie Celniker—will offer up one of their favorite memories from their time at GI in a couple of minutes.

Now, for the key details. This special event will go from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm on Dec. 14 at the shiny new Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. You can get your tickets by clicking here. I’m really looking forward to seeing a great crowd of GI alumni, friends of GI alumni, and stakeholders in the Boston biotech community. See you there Dec. 14.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.