European BioCamp 2009

Students from leading European universities attend the third Novartis European Biotechnology Leadership Camp

Experts from the pharmaceutical industry and the biotechnology sector met with 45 selected students from leading European universities at the third Novartis European Biotechnology Leadership Camp, or BioCamp for short, from 24 to 26 August 2009, for an exchange of information and a discussion of global trends. The innovative three-day seminar offers students the opportunity to gather professional experience on the dynamic and rapidly developing field of biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry.

The speakers on the opening day included Dr. Daniel Vasella, CEO and Chairman of Novartis, Professor Paul Herrling, Head of Corporate Research, and Dr. Jan de Vries, Head of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Basel. They were joined by Professor Patrick Aebischer, President of the Federal Institute of Technology (EPF) Lausanne as outside speaker.

First-hand experience in the establishment of a biotech company was provided by Mark Heffernan, PhD, CEO of OPSONA Therapeutics Ltd. In the course of the program, the students also had a chance to learn about industrial and academic job opportunities in the biotechnology sector. And Dr. Jürgen Brokatzky-Geiger, Head of Human Resources at Novartis, discussed career opportunities with Novartis. Every year in Switzerland, the company provides training for around 300 students seeking work experience, postgraduates working towards a doctorate and also post-docs, as well as a similarly high number of apprentices.

A further high spot in the program was the tour of Novartis research facilities, including the Lab of the Future model. This visionary lab environment supports the unique Novartis R&D model by further dissolving the typical divide among the scientific disciplines involved in drug discovery.

The program also gave students the chance to visit the Novartis Center of Biotechnology in Huningue (France) and gain a first-hand insight into the development of biotechnologically manufactured products.

During the three-day event, the students also worked on a case study, for which they developed a business plan. A jury of experts selected two especially outstanding students from among the participants (one person each from the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich and the ENS Paris) to take part in the international BioCamp at the end of October 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.