UAH College of Business to discuss launching a biotech venture

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (April 1, 2013) - "Launching a Biotech Venture," will be the topic of the Spring 2013 University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) College of Business Entrepreneurs Roundtable on Thursday, April 11.

The roundtable event will begin at 5:30 p.m., in the Chan Auditorium of the Business Administration Building on the UAH campus. The event is free and open to the public. You may reserve a seat at RSVPbusiness@UAH.edu.

Dr. Caron St. John, Dean of the UAH College of Business, will moderate this year's roundtable. Guest speakers will share their experience in commercializing technologies and launching biotechnology and biomedical ventures. Contributing panelists include two serial entrepreneurs who have launched new medical device and diagnostic companies and two inventor-entrepreneurs who are building new businesses around their own inventions. Four of five panelists are affiliated with Hudson-Alpha. The roundtable panelists include Stanton J. Rowe, Peggy Sammon, Joe Ng, and Krishnan K. Chittur. Panelists are formally introduced below along with a brief summary of their experience.

Stanton J. Rowe Stanton J. Rowe - Rowe serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Corporate Vice President of Advanced Technology at Edwards Lifesciences Corp. Mr. Rowe served as a Scientific Advisor at Ascent Biomedical Ventures. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Percutaneous Valve Technologies Inc. (PVT) and, before that, Corporate Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning at Datascope Corp. Earlier in his career, he was Vice President of Business Development at Johnson & Johnson's Interventional Systems Division (JJIS), responsible for Johnson & Johnson's coronary stent development efforts.

Peggy Sammon Peggy Sammon - Sammon is the CEO and co-founder of Genecapture, President and co-founder of Magna Vista Group, and a board member of iXpressGenes, Inc. She is a serial entrepreneur with extensive operational experience in multiple technology start-ups.

Dr. Joseph D. Ng Dr. Joseph D. Ng - Ng is President of iXpressGenes Inc., at the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology. He also serves as Associate Professor and Director of the Biotech Science and Engineering Program in the Department of Biological Sciences and Structural Biology Laboratory at UAH.

Dr. Krishnan K. Chittur Dr. Krishnan K. Chittur - Chittur is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of GeneCapture, and a co-inventor with more than 25 years of experience in developing biomaterials and biological sensors. Chittur is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at UAH, and collaborates with researchers at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.

For more information
Joyce Anderson-Maples 256.824.2101
maplesj@uah.edu