The meeting was held on April 11 to 12, 2014 at the GlaxoSmithKline campus, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The main theme of the meeting was to bring overview of drug and biotech agriculture product development to the local scientific communities to enhance understanding of processes and strategies associated with drug and agriculture product development and to foster interaction among scientists in the related fields. The meeting started with Keynote presentation by Dr. Hyunsuk Shim, Professor of Medicine from Emory University with the title of “Drug-Research and development: Academia, Industry and Government Agency Interactions” and concluded with Plenary presentation by Dr. Yong-Hae Han from Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) with the title of “Importance of Candidate Selection in Drug Discovery/Development: How to find a good candidate in drug discovery-DMPK Perspective”. Dr. Han delivered historical perspectives of drug developments from major pharmaceutical companies with a layman’s language in a highly interactive manner. After the presentation, many of the attendees expressed that his presentation was very interesting and easy to understand. His presentation was one of the most effective and engaging scientific presentation and served the theme of meeting very well. Total of 127 researchers from neighboring states including Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia to Korea registered for the meeting. Actual number of registrants is close to 147 since a score of attendees registered on-site.
Another highlight of the meeting was competition for funding support for student groups. The representative of each student group was given 3 minutes to introduce their group and justify for the funding for their activities. Although these student groups encompass a much wider range of fields of discipline than biosciences, the event accomplished two major outcomes; 1) it broadcasted RTP B&B meeting to student communities including University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, DUKE, Campbell University and 2) it energized the meeting with the vibrant Youth. These groups of students also have been reliable source of excellent volunteers over the years. RTP B&B meeting will continue to support these next generation of scientists and engineers. Another notable outcome is a high number of registrants who showed interested in joining RTP B&B meeting. Of 147 registrants, 47 expressed their interest in joining RTP B&B.
Leading professionals and scientists have participated in this symposium from pharmaceutical companies and biotech research institutes from Korea and US. This symposium became a main place of professional networking and interaction for Korean scientists and professionals in the North Carolina region. The symposium focused on current trends of drug discovery and agricultural biotechnology. The symposium topics covered major issues in pharmaceutical and agricultural industry including US regulatory science, patent, chemistry, biologics, drug metabolism, genetically modified crops, and bioinformatics, among others. This symposium has provided the recent research trends for the industry researchers to apply to the development of new drugs and agricultural products. The symposium has provided opportunities for the young generation Korean-American scientists, especially studying or conducting basic research in academia to meet and network with the professionals in pharmaceutical or ag-biotech industry and government institutes.
