Babcock's Ram Baliga and Tom Clarkson to speak at Wake Forest University Law School's regenerative medicine symposium

Ram Baliga, a management professor at the Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management, and Tom Clarkson, director of Babcock’s business incubator, are among the speakers for the Wake Forest University School of Law Intellectual Property Law Journal’s symposium on regenerative medicine.

The Feb. 6 symposium, “Regenerative Medicine – The Crossroads: Examining the Research from Every Angle,” will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Worrell Professional Center, Room 1312. It is free and open to the public.

The symposium will feature experts covering a variety of areas relating to regenerative medicine, including the ethical debate, patentability issues and their implications and the commercialization of the research.

Baliga will address the strategic decisions facing entrepreneurs trying to commercialize the research and technology being developed in regenerative medicine on a panel entitled “Utilization and Commercialization of the Research in Regenerative Medicine.” The panel is scheduled from 2:45 to 4:45 p.m.

Clarkson will address the “Patentability of Research and Discoveries in Regenerative Medicine” from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Clarkson will discuss the implications of regulations and patent restrictions on entrepreneurial ventures in regenerative medicine.

Scientists in the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine use the body’s power to replicate body parts, including muscle tissue, blood vessels and whole organs. The field holds much promise in developing ways to combat numerous diseases and conditions. There are, however, a variety of debates that surround it, such as the ethics of stem cell research, the patentability of the technology being utilized and the tissues and organs being regenerated, and how the research and technology will be commercialized and utilized in medicine.

Dr. Anthony Atala, the head of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine, is the keynote speaker. Dr. Atala represents the pinnacle of this field and has captured national media attention including being named by Esquire magazine as one of the “Best and Brightest,” a celebration of Americans committed to positive change. In 2006, he was named by Fast Company magazine as one of 50 people who “will change how we work and live over the next 10 years.” His lab was the first to successfully use regenerative medicine technology to develop and implant a human organ – a bladder. Dr. Atala will discuss what regenerative medicine is, his lab’s accomplishments and what lies ahead in the field. His talk is scheduled from 9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Other speakers include Tim Bertram, D.V.M. Ph. D., the Senior Vice President of Science and Technology at Tengion, a company commercializing research and technology in regenerative medicine; and Charles Calkins, who practices intellectual property law with a focus on patent law, largely in the life sciences area, at Kilpatrick Stockton LLP in Winston Salem.

Symposium – Schedule of Events
Friday, February 6, 2008
Wake Forest School of Law, Room 1312
Winston Salem, NC

8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Registration and breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Introductory Remarks
9:15 – 10:15 a.m. Regenerative Medicine – the Past, Present, and Future
Anthony Atala, M.D., Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 – 12:00 p.m. Ethical Issues in the Field of Regenerative Medicine
Nancy King, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Division of Public Health Sciences
Lance Stell, Davidson College
Wilson Parker, Wake Forest University School of Law
Steve Nickles, Wake Forest University School of Law, Babcock Graduate School of Management, and Divinity School
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Patentability of Research and Discoveries in Regenerative Medicine
Charles Calkins, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
Tom Clarkson, Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management
2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Break
2:45 – 4:45 p.m. Utilization and Commercialization of the Research in Regenerative Medicine
Tim Bertram, Tengion
Alan Farney, M.D. Ph. D., Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Jason Conner, Life Sciences Law
Ram Baliga, Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management