2023

Tri-Valley Life Sciences Summit

The Tri-Valley Life Sciences Summit Is Unchained!

Hosted by Unchained Labs and presented by Tri-Valley Ventures, Mirador Capital Partners and Metcon.

October 18, 2023 | 5:00 – 8:00pm | Unchained Labs | Pleasanton, CA

The program begins with a networking reception so attendees can mingle, meet colleagues, and make new connections. he program opens with welcoming remarks from Tim Harkness, founder and CEO of Unchained Labs, followed by a brief survey of the State of Tri-Valley Life Sciences from Yolanda Fintschenko of Startup Tri-Valley.

We will then welcome Apton Biosystems CEO John Hanna to the stage for a fireside chat discussing the key steps that prepared Tri-Valley Ventures-funded Apton Biosystems for the merger with PacBio. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Tri-Valley life sciences entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders from emerging life sciences hot spots in the Tri-Valley in synthetic biology and therapeutics.

Connect with the Tri-Valley life sciences ecosystem.

Almost 200 local life sciences entrepreneurs and professionals attended the 2022 Tri-Valley Life Sciences Summit. View the 2022 program and sponsors here.

Event Schedule

The Summit is designed to give busy professionals concrete takeaways they can incorporate into their work immediately, as well as plenty of opportunities to connect with peers. This year we have structured the program to provide high-value content for early-stage startups as well as high-growth, later-stage companies. A snapshot of the agenda is to to the right (or below).

5:00 PM

Networking

5:45 PM

Welcome – Tim Harkness, CEO, Unchained Labs

6:00 pm

Life Sciences Investment Landscape – Yolanda Fintschenko, Executive Director, i-GATE Innovation Hub

6:00 PM

Keynote – Fireside Chat with John Hanna, CEO of Apton Biosystems moderated by Tim Harkness.

6:30 PM

Panel Discussion with Life Sciences Entrepreneurs

7:00 - 8:00 pm

Closing Remarks and Networking

Speakers, Panelists and Moderators

Tim Harkness

KEYNOTE MODERATOR

John Hanna

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Landon Merrill

PANEL DISCUSSION MODERATOR

Sam Rad

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

Ted Tarasow

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

John Stattler, JD

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

FAQs

Who should attend?
Scientists, technologists, investors and business professionals working in industries that include or intersect with the life sciences who are entrepreneurs or have entrepreneurial ambitions.

Why should I attend?
This event is designed to relay information, inspiration, and create networking opportunities for the speakers and attendees.

How can I contact the organizers with any questions?
Please complete our contact form.

How do I register for the summit?
Head over to our Eventbrite.

How do I become a sponsor?
Please visit our Sponsorship Page

Photos From Our Previous Summit

2023 Sponsors & Affiliates

We are honored to partner with leading firms in the Tri-Valley who have demonstrated their commitment to growing the life sciences ecosystem in the region.

Host

Presenting Sponsors

Affiliates

Ecosystem Sponsors

Event Sponsors

Become a Sponsor

2023 TVLSS Organizers

Brandon Cardwell

Innovation & Economic Development Director, City of Livermore

Yolanda Fintschenko, Ph.D.

Executive Director, i-GATE Innovation Hub
Director, Startup Tri-Valley and Daybreak Labs

Mitch Hertz

Executive Director at Cushman & Wakefield

Janelle Muranaka

Vice President of Operations at Meissa Vaccines

Greg Hitchan

Co-Founder/Managing Partner at Tri-Valley Ventures

Mitch Levinson

Chief Strategy Officer & Board Member at Pulse Biosciences

Morgan Pegus-Thomas

Manager of Marketing & Programs at California Life Sciences (CLS)

Brian Wilson

Office/R&D Leasing and Sales Advisor at Cushman & Wakefield

Location

Unchained Labs will host the Tri-Valley Life Sciences Summit at their headquarters in Pleasanton, CA.

Unchained Labs

Connect with the Tri-Valley startup ecosystem

Let's Get Started

KEYNOTE

Tim Harkness

Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Unchained Labs

Tim is a serial entrepreneur who loves building great teams and great life sciences companies. With over 25 years of experience 3 successful exits including Molecular Devices, ProteinSimple and Unchained Labs, Tim's leadership has generated over $1.3 billion of shareholder value. Tim founded Unchained Labs to help scientists unlock next-gen biologics and gene therapies and is excited to take the business to the next level with The Carlyle Group. Tim is also an enthusiastic supporter other entrepreneurial teams and currently Chairman of the Board at both Biolog and Fluent Biosciences and a Board member at Labvoice.

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

John Hanna

Chief Executive Officer at Apton Biosystems

John Hanna has led Apton Biosystems as Chief Executive Officer since 2021. Mr. Hanna has more than 20 years of senior healthcare management experience, including ten years at genomic diagnostics company Veracyte, Inc., where his roles included chief commercial officer and vice president of marketing. Prior to that, Mr. Hanna held sales and business development roles at IBM, Humana, Inc, and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)

PANEL DISCUSSION MODERATOR

Landon Merrill

Principal at Genoa Ventures

Landon is a Principal at Genoa Ventures, where he brings world-class skills in structured, rigorous product strategy and development to deal diligence and portfolio company support. With a wide range of technical and commercial leadership experience in organizations ranging from startups to multinationals, from life science tools to pharma discovery platforms, Landon brings a diverse set of experiences and a keen ability to identify opportunities for cross-pollination. Landon also leads sales and marketing for a local product development firm servicing the life sciences, diagnostics, and medical device markets.

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

Sam Rad, PhD

Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at LifeFoundtry

Sam Rad is the Co-Founder and COO at LifeFoundry, Inc. Sam and team have started LifeFoundry based on the technology they developed during their PhD and use automation and machine learning to provide contract research services for their clients. LifeFoundry has worked with clients ranging from fortune 500 companies to small startups in areas such as industrial fermentation, agriculture, enzyme engineering and pharmaceutical ingredients.

Visit LifeFoundry.

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

Ted Tarasow

Chief Technology Officer at Insrcipta

Ted is an accomplished executive and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in therapeutics, diagnostics, and industrial synthetic biology. As Inscripta CTO Ted leads the development of new technologies combining ultra-high throughput measurement systems, high dimensional data generation and advanced computational tools. Ted joined Inscripta as CTO in 2022 as part of the Sestina Bio acquisition where he was a co-founder and served as CTO. Prior to Sestina, he served in executive management/leadership roles at iCarbonX, HealthTell, Vanquish Oncology (Founder), Tethys Biosciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Invenux Pharmaceuticals (Founder) and NeXstar Pharmaceuticals.

Ted received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute and his BS degree in Chemistry from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Summa Cum Laude).

PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANT

John Stattler, JD

Founder and CEO at AegisBio, LLC

John’s diverse career spans the fields of engineering, law, entrepreneurship, management and biology. After working as an electrical engineer in tech and attending law school, John founded and managed a Silicon Valley IP law firm dedicated to protecting complex technologies. In 2005, he became involved as an entrepreneur in the anti-aging field. This led to work in drug discovery in 2009, and the founding of AgeisBio in 2016, with the aim of developing therapeutics in the longevity space.