The Louisiana Tech University Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science (CBERS) will co-sponsor Industry Day 2016 along with the Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) and the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northern Louisiana (BRF) in Shreveport. The Industry Day 2016 conference will take place on October 1 at the Louisiana Tech Shreveport Center, located at 8028 Shrevepark Drive. Students, trainees, scientists and clinicians are encouraged to attend and learn more about ongoing research in the biomedical industry. Dr. Leonidas Iasemidis, director of CBERS and professor and Rhodes Eminent Chair of biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech, said that Industry Day helps foster collaboration between biomedical engineering experts in industry and academia, and aids in sparking new ideas and their translation into commercial biomedical products for the betterment of human health and services, as well as the creation of start-up biomedical companies that would contribute to the economic development of the region. “We are very pleased with the participation of our students and faculty and our collaboration with local and national leaders from the biomedical industry in the organization of this important event for Northern Louisiana,” Iasemidis said. “Following the successful completion of Industry Days 2014 and 2015, Industry Day 2016 is geared to offer a display of current translational research in nanobiotechnology and drug delivery, as well as talks by keynote speakers and feedback from prominent panelists of global healthcare companies, like Sanofi S.A., Dow Chemical and Google Life Sciences.” The event’s keynote speakers include Dr. Yuri Lvov, professor of chemistry and T. Pipes Eminent Endowed Chair of micro and nanosystems engineering at Louisiana Tech; Dr. Oswald Crasta, genomic breeding lead and research and development fellow at DOW AgroSciences in Indianapolis, Indiana; Dr. Rona Scott, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the LSUHSC-S and the Feist Weiller Cancer Center; and Dr. Mehdi Keddache, sequencing specialist for Illumina, Inc. In addition to the keynote speeches, the conference will feature a poster session where local investigators, faculty and students, will present their work, a panel session with industry experts that will entertain questions from the audience on optimization of the relation of academia with the industry, and company exhibits in parallel with the poster session. For complete information about Industry Day 2016, as well as a downloadable event schedule, please visit http://coes.latech.edu/cbers/industry-day-2016/index.php. Written by Brandy McKnight – mcknight@latech.edu