November 5, 2007

Discovery Lecture Series offers workshop on entrepreneurship, life sciences

Ted Ashburn, senior director of corporate development at Genzyme Corp., and Michael Kurek, a partner with Biotechnology Business Consultants LLC, will talk about business development and cultivating an entrepreneurship culture in the corporate and academic worlds.

The presentations will run from 9-11 a.m. in the Ross-Ade Pavilion's Shively Club and are offered in conjunction with the Discovery Lecture Series and Purdue's Kauffman Campuses Initiative, which is based at Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

"The Kauffman Campuses Initiative is helping Purdue energize the spirit of entrepreneurship among our students and faculty, touching disciplines all across campus," said Purdue Kauffman Campuses Initiative director Joe Pekny, a chemical engineering professor and director of Discovery Park's e-Enterprise Center. "Through the Discovery Lecture Series, we are bringing some of the world's brightest entrepreneurial minds to campus to share their secrets on being successful in life sciences, which is among of the most competitive fields in the world."

The lecture series is free, but reservations are required. For more information, go to: https://www.purdue.edu/dp/dls/biocrossroads/register.php.

Life sciences industry venture capitalist G. Steven Burrill, chief executive of California-based Burrill & Co., is the keynote speaker for the series, which this fall carries the theme, "Global Business Development in Life Sciences."

At Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme, Ashburn is responsible for growing the company’s Transplant and Renal Business Units by identifying and acquiring new product opportunities. 

A graduate with honors in chemistry from Ball State University, Ashburn worked at Dynogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Oxford Bioscience Partners before joining Genzyme. While at Oxford, he co-founded Dynogen and BrainCells Inc.

Ashburn worked at Pfizer Inc.'s Global Research and Development headquarters, where he focused on acquisition and new business opportunities. He also has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals, and served as a postdoctoral associate in the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Genzyme. 

Kurek, who joined Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Biotechnology Business Consultants in 2001, has held senior management positions the past 20 years in marketing, sales and business development for life science companies — two of which completed initial public stock offerings.

He also was vice president of business development at the Michigan Center for High Technology, where he led the business incubator program that served more than 50 startup technology companies. He holds a doctorate in genetics from Florida State University and an MBA from Boston University.

During the conference's afternoon session, David Johnson, president and chief executive of BioCrossroads, will moderate a panel discussion on the translation of Indiana ideas into the global economy. Ashburn will speak on the importance of intellectual property, and Roger Newton, co-founder of Esperion Therapeutics, a Pfizer division, will speak on global competition when developing intellectual property companies in a start-up environment.

The Burton D. Morgan Center is leading Purdue's Kauffman Campuses Initiative to foster entrepreneurship across non-business disciplines at the university's statewide campuses through a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

A private, nonpartisan organization, the Kauffman Foundation works with partners to advance entrepreneurship and improve the education of the nation's youth. The late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman established the foundation in the mid-1960s.

The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment provided a $1 million gift to Purdue's Discovery Park in 2005 to sponsor the ongoing Discovery Lecture Series.

Writers:  Phillip Fiorini, (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Dave Kitchell, (765) 496-9711, dkitchell@purdue.edu

Sources: Joe Pekny, (765) 494-7901, pekny@purdue.edu

Candiss B. Vibbert (765) 494-9404, vibbert@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Journalists who want to talk to speakers in advance of Discovery Lecture Series at Purdue can arrange interviews by contacting Phillip Fiorini, Purdue News Service, (765) 496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu, or David Kitchell, (765) 496-9711, dkitchell@purdue.edu. Journalists also can cover the planned tours of Discovery Park and the Purdue Research Park, which are scheduled at 4 p.m. Nov. 8.

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