Robert Repetto is Director of Global New Technology and Innovation for Wyeth Biotech, Pearl River, NY. He is responsible for the implementation of new technology, risk management, process technology, and real time process monitoring. Robert has over 20 years of process development, manufacturing and clinical production experience. He holds a BE in Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College, MS in Bioengineering from Polytechnic University of New York, and a MBA from Iona College.

Dr. Babiss leads and manages research within Roche Pharma’s five disease biology areas: virology, inflammation, oncology, CNS and metabolism, at research sites located in Palo Alto, Calif; Nutley, NJ; Basel, Switzerland; Penzberg, Germany; and Shanghai, China.

Prior to this, Dr. Babiss was Vice President, Preclinical Research and Development in Nutley, where he was responsible for developing and directing oncology, metabolic diseases and inflammation research strategy. He also serves as a member of the international research management team, involved in developing global research strategy, and a chair of the Roche biomarker leadership team, a cross divisional effort within pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, focused on the development and implementation of the company’s biomarker strategy.

Lee is an insightful scientist who has demonstrated strong leadership for Roche. His efforts have helped the company build and maintain one of the strongest and most diverse industry pipelines. He uses his considerable talents to drive innovation within disease biology areas, enabling Roche to not only bring clinically differentiated medicines to the market, but also to maintain its leadership in key therapeutic areas well into the future.

Prior to Roche, Babiss was Vice President of Biological Sciences and Genetics at Glaxo Wellcome, where he focused on the development of antisense technology and cancer therapeutics, headed the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, and played a key role developing and implementing the cell cycle program. Babiss was also a member of the US Research senior management team, which formulated and implemented Glaxo’s US research strategy. He was also involved in creating the Glaxo Wellcome corporate genetic strategy, which led to the creation of the company’s genetics division.

Babiss attended graduate school at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, where he earned his PhD in Microbiology in 1982, studying DNA tumor viruses. He then began his postdoctoral career at the Rockefeller University in New York, where he studied the molecular regulation of hepatocyte gene expression. Later, Babiss was promoted to assistant professor in cell biology, studying adenovirus genetics.

An author of more than 60 publications, Babiss currently serves on the board of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at UMDNJ, the finance board of the American Society of Microbiology, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the scientific board of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the R&D Council of New Jersey.

Dr. David de Graff is Pfizer's first Director of Systems Biology. David de Graaf joined Pfizer in March 2005 to spearhead efforts to understand and judiciously spread systems biology (SB) throughout the world's largest pharmaceutical company. Working from Pfizer's Research Technology Center (RTC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he quickly built a small interdisciplinary team to tackle some of Pfizer's thorniest problems and biggest opportunities. One and a half years later, de Graaf reports enthusiastic support from top management, recognition from inside Pfizer that it must change, and, most importantly, promising results from showcase projects that have stirred demand beyond his expectations and his small group's capacity. Challenges remain, but de Graaf is optimistic SB methodologies will have a growing place in Pfizer's drug discovery and development arsenal.

Jerry Kinzel is currently the Director of Bioprocess Research and Development at Eli Lilly and Company. During his career with Lilly, Dr. Kinzel has held positions at several different Indiana sites. These positions included Director of Optimisation and Material Supply, Manager of Technical Services for production of bulk drugs (Clinton Labs), Head of Bioprocess Research and Development (Lilly Technology Center), Director of Global Fermented Products Technical Services (Tippecanoe Labs), Director of Development Projects Management (Lilly Corporate Center) and most recently, Director of Bioprocess Research and Development. He received his undergraduate training in chemistry at Cleveland State University, and advanced degrees in microbiology at Miami University in Ohio. He has been focused on bioproduct development for more than twenty years.

Samantha O'Connor is a molecular biologist by training. Having worked in research for several years, she joined what is now called Medicines Australia, the pharmaceutical industry association in Australia, to support a range of scientific, technical and manufacturing responsibilities. In 1999, she joined Pfizer Australia to design, initiate, implement and manage a program of research investments in Australian medical research. This was part of the Australian government's Pharmaceutical Industry Investment Program (PIIP) and Pfizer's participation in such was highly successful.

In 2003, Sam transferred to Pfizer's Global Research and Development site in Sandwich, UK, to provide business development support across a range of business units. She currently supports the Sandwich exploratory development teams and is also business development's therapeutic area lead for the genitourinary team.

Sam has also served on the board of AusBiotech, the not for profit association of the Australian biotechnology industry.

Johan Van Den Bosch is currently Senior Director of External Manufacturing for Johnson & Johnson in Belgium. He is responsible for the management of European contract manufacturing partners, including all aspects of manufacturing and supply agreements. Johan trained as an industrial pharmacist and since then, has gained extensive experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Dr. Fadel Hamed is an effective problem solver with an extensive background in process improvement, lean, and six sigma. He has more than 12 years of experience in multiple industries, including semiconductor, fiberoptics, and now, biotechnology. Prior to joining Genentech, Fadel worked at Amgen, IBM, and Lambda Optics. Fadel’s background combines skills in operations, manufacturing, quality, technical management, and strong leadership. He holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley and he is an ASQ certified six sigma black belt and quality engineer

Professor Jungbauer is Head of the Laboratory for Protein Technology and Downstream Processing and the Christian Doppler Laboratory of Receptor Biotechnology. His teaching activities at the university, as well as in numerous workshops around the world, focus on the area of protein production, isolation and the development for separation of biomolecules. He is currently working in the field of bioengineering of proteins, plasmids and viruses, with special focus on expression, downstream processing and characterisation of large biomolecules. Professor Jungbauer has extensive experience in the expression of proteins in yeast, E.coli and mammalian cells. He has developed a multi protein expression/purification system for expression of unknown gene products and subsequent purification in a high throughput mode. As a proliferate researcher, he has more than 170 publications on protein expression and bioseparation, 15 patents and 12 book contributions. He is editor in chief of Biotechnology Journal, and member of editorial boards from numerous journals in the area of biochemical engineering.