Dear BioNTX Community,
As we embark on a new year, North Texas is brimming with vibrant energy and transformative momentum. This region is undergoing an Innovation Renaissance, fueled by advancements in biology, technology, and artificial intelligence. At BioNTX, we are proud to lead this convergence, fostering collaboration and inspiring progress for a brighter future.
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KM Otto-Rosenblum, CEO, BioNTX
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Recent developments exemplify the innovation reshaping our landscape. NexPoint’s planned Research Quarter in Plano will focus on Cell and Gene Therapy, highlighting our region’s growing leadership in life sciences. Advanced Therapies Week showcased transformative breakthroughs, and the upcoming iC³ Summit will spotlight the unique interplay of biology, technology, and AI that defines North Texas’ distinctive edge.
BioNTX is committed to creating an environment where cutting-edge solutions redefine the future of life sciences. By exploring the potential of AI to accelerate therapeutic development and enhance collaboration, we are laying the groundwork for transformative breakthroughs that address the most pressing challenges in healthcare and beyond.
Workforce development is another key focus, exemplified by our BHIANT partnership. The inspiring tagline, "Innovating Health, Empowering Communities," reflects the shared mission of strengthening the existing ecosystem and introducing life science opportunities to individuals who may not have previously envisioned careers in this field. Together, we are building a dynamic talent pipeline through targeted programs, mentorship initiatives, and partnerships with educational institutions, creating pathways for new talent to thrive in the life sciences sector.
As we champion this new era, we invite you to deepen your engagement with BioNTX. Aligning your brand with us connects you to a thriving ecosystem, positioning you to access cutting-edge resources, forge valuable relationships, and achieve your strategic goals. By joining forces, you will amplify your impact and contribute to North Texas’ emergence as a hub of life sciences excellence.
Thank you for being part of this journey. We look forward to your continued support and collaboration as we chart a bold path forward.
Warm regards,
Kathleen M. Otto-Rosenblum
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Recap: Advanced Therapies Week 2024 in Dallas
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Left image: Eric Moore of BioNTX, Kelly Cloud of Dallas Regional Chamber and Lauren Adegoke, MS of BioNTX
Right image: Aditi Singh, PhD of Sony Biotechnology Inc., Nathalie Belmonte, PhD., Quell Therapeutics, Daniele Malleo, PhD. Cellares, & Lisa O'Flynn PhD. Avectas
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Advanced Therapies Week in Dallas was a resounding success. The week united leading minds, groundbreaking research, and insights across the cell and gene therapy landscape, and BioNTX was thrilled to see this prestigious event hosted right here in North Texas.
From gene editing breakthroughs to scalable solutions in cell therapy manufacturing, the event highlighted innovations transforming healthcare and disease treatment. BioNTX was proud to support the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the Lyda Hill Foundation, two of our valued strategic partners, in hosting attendees at Pegasus Park for a tour showcasing North Texas’ thriving ecosystem. The presentations underscored our region’s critical role as a hub for life sciences innovation.
This event reinforced BioNTX’s commitment to fostering growth in the cell and gene therapy ecosystem. With our region’s unique convergence of talent, infrastructure, and collaboration, North Texas continues to lead in life sciences. Events like Advanced Therapies Week validate these efforts and inspire our resolve to support this dynamic sector.
Thank you to the organizers, speakers, and attendees who made this event unforgettable. Stay tuned as we continue championing innovation and advancing therapies that build a brighter future.
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TAMEST and Lyda Hill Philanthropies Announce
2025 Hill Prize Recipients
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TAMEST and Lyda Hill Philanthropies have revealed the 2025 Hill Prize winners, honoring groundbreaking Texas innovators in Medicine, Public Health, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology. This year marks the first inclusion of a Public Health category and expanded support for highly ranked applicants, reinforcing Texas’ reputation as a leader in world-class research and innovation.
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Pegasus Park Welcomes Madrid-Based
Universal DX to Bridge Labs
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Pegasus Park has secured a major win for the Dallas-Fort Worth biotech sector by welcoming Universal DX, a cutting-edge cancer diagnostics company from Madrid, Spain. Universal DX will establish its Dallas office within Bridge Labs, the 135,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility designed to foster innovation and growth among biotech companies.
Opened in September 2024, Bridge Labs at Pegasus Park represents the region’s first institutional-quality laboratory space, serving as a cornerstone for the burgeoning life sciences ecosystem. Universal DX’s decision to join this thriving biotech campus underscores Pegasus Park’s growing reputation as a premier hub for global innovation and collaboration in biotechnology.
Founded in 2012, Universal DX leverages machine learning and advanced technologies to focus on identifying DNA regions linked to various cancer types, further enhancing the collective mission of advancing life sciences in the region.
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PBMs Driving Up Drug Prices with Excessive Markups
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A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report released on January 14 reveals that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are making billions in profit by marking up drug prices, with some specialty generics seeing markups exceeding 1,000%. The three largest PBMs—Caremark Rx (CVS), Express Scripts (ESI), and OptumRx—generated $7.3 billion in revenue above the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) for specialty generics from 2017-2021.
The report highlights how PBMs increase drug costs for patients and plan sponsors, steering prescriptions to their affiliated pharmacies and engaging in spread pricing. Over 80% of U.S. prescriptions are managed by these PBMs, raising concerns about their role in making medications less accessible.
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Kicking Off 2025: BIO BREAK - Dallas
Brings the Life Science Community Together
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This month, BioNTX, Deloitte, and McDermott Will & Emery kicked off 2025 with the first BIO BREAK of the year in Dallas! The event was full of energy as the life science community came together to reconnect, share ideas, and celebrate the start of an exciting new year. It was an evening of networking and collaboration, setting the stage for all the great things to come this year.
Looking ahead to February, the BIO BREAK is heading to Fort Worth for the first time in 2025! Hosted by BioNTX, RSM, and Haynes Boone, it will take place at The Holly and promises to be another great opportunity to connect with the life sciences community.
Join us for the next Dallas BIO BREAK on February 6th!
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BIO BREAK - Fort Worth Valentine's Edition:
Toasting to Love, Life Sciences, and Innovation
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This Valentine’s season, join BioNTX, RSM, and Haynes Boone in Fort Worth as we celebrate our shared passion for innovation and the connections that drive breakthroughs in the life sciences.
Raise a glass to the spirit of collaboration at a special happy hour designed for the life science community. Whether you’re rekindling old connections or sparking new ones, this event offers the perfect setting to share ideas, foster partnerships, and celebrate the love we all have for discovery and progress.
Let’s toast to the relationships that make innovation thrive and the collective passion that propels us forward. See you there!
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Pioneering the Future: Technology and Life Sciences Converge
at the Plano Chamber Annual Meeting
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BioNTX senior leadership recently attended the Plano Chamber of Commerce 2025 Annual Meeting on January 23, presented by NexPoint, a valued BioNTX member. The event featured a compelling panel discussion where Alex Lee of Doosan Robotics Americas and Eric Danielson of NexPoint shared insights on the integration of technology and life sciences. Their insights highlight the evolving interplay between technology and life sciences, a dynamic that increasingly includes the transformative possibilities of AI—a priority focus for BioNTX in 2025, particularly at the upcoming iC³ Summit.
This meeting provided valuable insights and strengthened collaborations that will drive the sector forward in the coming year.
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Spark Biomedical Announces Women's Health Division
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Spark Biomedical CEO, Daniel Powell, has announced OhmBody, a new division of Spark dedicated to redefining the landscape of women's health.
Building on the success of their FDA-cleared Sparrow Ascent platform, Spark Biomedical has unveiled OhmBody—a groundbreaking wearable neurostimulation device designed to provide drug-free, side-effect-free relief for the millions of women facing menstrual health challenges.
The Spark team will start pre-orders early this year and will be launching the wellness device June 2025. To accomodate OhmBody, Spark will be increasing their Series A funding.
If you have an interest in investing, please contact us.
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Discover the Future of Medicine with
Dr. David Fajgenbaum at Pegasus Park
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Join this event at Pegasus Park to hear from Dr. David Fajgenbaum—physician-scientist, best-selling author, and pioneer in drug repurposing. A University of Pennsylvania professor and patient advocate, he has discovered treatments saving lives, including his own, and is advancing “therapeutic cross-purposing” with AI to unlock new uses for existing medicines.
Recognized by The New York Times, Good Morning America, and Forbes 30 Under 30, Dr. Fajgenbaum is leading transformative change in medicine.
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BioNTX Celebrating International Women's Day
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The Innovative IP Problem Solvers - Top 10 Patent Firm
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Harness IP, a leading intellectual property law firm and proud new member of BioNTX, has been a trusted partner to innovators for over 100 years. Rooted in Texas's dynamic spirit of progress, we are passionate about fostering innovation and helping life science companies navigate the complexities of intellectual property to bring life-changing advancements to market. Our team is dedicated to empowering innovators with strategic IP counsel, ensuring their groundbreaking ideas thrive and deliver value to patients and communities. At Harness IP, we are driven by the belief that protecting innovation is essential to shaping the future of healthcare.
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Alloy Therapeutics Launches New
Licensing Model for ATX-Gx™ Platform
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Alloy Therapeutics introduces a new licensing model for its ATX-Gx™ antibody platform, offering partners access with no annual fees or milestones. Since its 2019 launch, ATX-Gx has become a leading human transgenic mouse platform, supporting over 170 partners and 10 clinical leads. Partners also gain access to mAbForge™, Alloy’s high-throughput screening workflow, to accelerate antibody discovery with customizable tests, further enhancing therapeutic innovation.
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Colossal Biosciences Secures Series C Funding to Drive
De-Extinction and Preservation Efforts
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Colossal Biosciences, the world’s first de-extinction company, has announced a new round of Series C financing led by TWG Global, a diversified holding company with investments in technology, financial services, private lending, sports, and media. This latest funding will support Colossal's ongoing advancements in genetic engineering, software, wetware, and hardware—extending beyond de-extinction to include species preservation and human healthcare.
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Island Pharmaceuticals Advances Phase 2 Study of ISLA-101
for Dengue Treatment and Prevention
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Island Pharmaceuticals Ltd has advanced its phase 2 study of ISLA-101, targeting dengue virus infections. The study includes a phase 2a prophylactic cohort, where subjects were pre-treated with ISLA-101 before exposure to an attenuated dengue strain to assess its preventative potential, and a phase 2b therapeutic cohort, exploring its ability to reduce viral levels and symptoms in already infected individuals.
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Johnson & Johnson Submits NDA for TAR-200 in Bladder Cancer
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Johnson & Johnson has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for TAR-200, a treatment for BCG-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (HR-NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ (CIS). The submission is being reviewed through the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review (RTOR) program, allowing faster access to the treatment.
TAR-200 delivers gemcitabine directly into the bladder and showed an 83.5% complete response rate in Phase 2b trials. The system can be administered in under five minutes in an outpatient setting, without anesthesia.
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Morgan Stanley Funds Women Healthcare Startups
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Women face significant disparities in healthcare, including higher costs and delayed care. Women are 35% more likely than men to skip or delay care, often due to negative experiences with providers. Addressing these inequities could improve outcomes and add $1 trillion to global output by 2040, according to McKinsey.
Early-stage companies addressing gaps in the women’s health market, many of which are led by women, are introducing innovative products, services, and research. To support their efforts, the Morgan Stanley's Inclusive Ventures Lab (MSIVL)— an in-house startup accelerator focuses on promoting financial inclusion and providing access to capital for early-stage technology and tech-enabled companies.
Morgan Stanley's Inclusive Ventures Lab applications open soon!
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NemaLife Leads the Way in AI-Driven Bioactive Discovery
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NemaLife is at the forefront of bioactive discovery, utilizing nematode-based high-throughput screening to identify compounds with potential health benefits. By combining diverse data from traditional medicine, scientific studies, and clinical trials, generative AI can accelerate biomedical research and precision medicine. However, for AI to be effective, it needs high-quality, harmonized datasets enriched with scientific and medical context, which remains a key challenge in unlocking its full potential for health and disease management.
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Secretome Therapeutics and Cellipont Bioservices
Partner for cGMP Manufacturing of STM-01
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Cellipont Bioservices, a leading cell therapy CDMO, has partnered with Secretome Therapeutics to support the cGMP manufacturing of STM-01, a groundbreaking therapy derived from neonatal cardiac progenitor cells (nCPCs). As part of the collaboration, Cellipont will oversee the technology transfer, analytical method transfer, and manufacturing of the STM-01 Master Cell Bank. STM-01, along with STM-21, is protected under a recently issued composition of matter patent, highlighting Secretome Therapeutics’ innovative approach to advancing cell-based therapies.
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S&W Seed Company Explores
Strategic Alternatives to Drive Growth
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S&W Seed Company (Nasdaq: SANW) is exploring strategic options to boost shareholder value, including a potential sale, merger, or recapitalization. The company is also focused on continuing its long-term business plan to strengthen its core U.S. operations in sorghum and alfalfa.
With recent moves like divesting its Australian subsidiary and investing in high-margin sorghum traits and biofuel ventures, S&W Seed is positioning itself for future growth. The Board has not set a timeline for the process and will provide updates as needed.
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Cowtown Angels Launches Cowtown Sidecar Fund II
for Portfolio Diversification
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Cowtown Angels, Fort Worth’s leading angel investment network, is excited to announce the launch of Cowtown Sidecar Fund II (CSF-II), an SPV offering accredited investors an opportunity to diversify their portfolios with early-stage investments. The fund will target investments in six high-potential companies, with a focus on technology, life sciences, and B2B sectors.
Following the success of Cowtown Sidecar Fund I, CSF-II has secured strong commitments and offers members a streamlined process to participate with a lower minimum investment. Investment decisions will be made through member votes, empowering them to shape the future of these promising companies.
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DLR Group Shares 2025 Design Outlook:
Shaping the Future of Architecture and Space
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DLR Group has shared its 2025 trend outlook, focusing on innovative design solutions that enhance the human experience across education, healthcare, and civic spaces. The firm highlights the importance of adaptive reuse, such as transforming vacant buildings into community hubs, and the integration of sustainability and functionality.
Looking ahead, DLR Group is innovating with neuroinclusive environments and emergency operations centers designed to prioritize mental health. DLR Group continues to push boundaries with its integrated approach, combining architecture, engineering, interiors, and planning to create spaces that are not only functional but enhance lives.
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UTD Awarded Hanna H. Gray Fellowship for Pain Research
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Juliet Mwirigi, a UT Dallas graduate, has been awarded the Hanna H. Gray Fellowship by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Mwirigi, an expert in pain research, is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Her research focuses on chronic pain mechanisms and developing better treatments by studying sensory neurons and cell-membrane receptors. Guided by UT Dallas professor Dr. Ted Price, Mwirigi aspires to lead her own lab and continue advancing the field. The HHMI fellowship supports emerging scientists in their academic careers, fostering the next generation of scientific leaders.
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NRMN-Resource Center at UNTHSC Receives
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mentoring
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The National Research Mentoring Network-Resource Center (NRMN-RC) at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth has been honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
Presented by President Joe Biden, the award recognizes NRMN-RC for its dedication to mentoring individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM. NRMN-RC is one of only five organizations selected nationwide, celebrated for its impactful work in supporting students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists across the country.
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Unlock Exclusive BioNTX Member Discounts
on Biotech Primer’s On-Demand Courses
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BioNTX is excited to offer members exclusive discounts on Biotech Primer’s on-demand courses, covering essential topics in biopharmaceutical and medical device industries—from foundational science to commercialization and global regulatory processes.
Taught by industry veterans, these courses deliver practical insights and knowledge you can immediately apply. Select courses also offer NASBA-compliant CPE credits for added professional development. Learn at your own pace, on your own schedule, from anywhere.
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FUNDING & MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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TMCi BioDesign Program
Application Due January 31, 2025
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Are you an entrepreneur, innovator, clinician, engineer, or academic looking to shape the future of healthcare and create a solution for unmet healthcare needs? The TMCi BioDesign program is an intensive, full-time experience that operates similarly to a startup foundry. We provide the resources and clinical access necessary for you to build innovative companies.
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NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions
Program ends May 8, 2027
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The purpose of this Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions is to support small scale research grants at institutions that do not receive substantial funding from the NIH, with an emphasis on providing biomedical research experiences primarily for undergraduate students, and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions.
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Upcoming Events & Opportunities
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BIO BREAK: Dallas' Life Sciences Happy Hour
Join us in celebrating the thriving Life Sciences community of Dallas with McDermott, Deloitte, and BioNTX at BIO BREAK, a monthly happy hour designed for networking and collaboration. Don't miss this invaluable opportunity to engage with fellow industry professionals, exchange ideas, and foster new connections at the innovative setting of Pegasus Park.
February 6th | Dallas, TX
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BIO BREAK: Fort Worth's Life Sciences Happy Hour
Join BioNTX, RSM and Haynes Boone this Valentine’s Day to celebrate the love for innovation and the connections that make breakthroughs possible. Join us for a special happy hour dedicated to the life science community—where ideas flourish, partnerships grow, and collaboration thrives.
February 11th | Fort Worth, TX
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The DEC Network 10th Annual State of Entrepreneurship
Join The DEC for their 10th Annual State of Entrepreneurship presented by Bank of America. This event has become a tradition for celebrating the people, places, and passions that keep the North Texas startup ecosystem thriving. The entire community comes out to cheer on the launches, fundings, exits, and overall wins of the entrepreneurial community from the past year.
February 13th | Fort Worth, TX
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Dallas Aging and Cognition Conference
Join UT Dallas as they share the latest scientific findings on aging and cognition through a series of talks and poster presentations. Since the first conference in 2010, the DACC has continued to play a critical role in maintaining the CVL’s international leadership in the field of cognitive neuroscience of aging.
February 20th - 22nd | Dallas, TX
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Invest: DFW 2025 Launch Conference
Join Capital Analytics Associates to connect and hear from leaders in Dallas-Forth Worth who will be providing their insights into the key issues impacting the region at our highly anticipated conference and networking event. This 300-person event, hosted at Esports Stadium, includes ample networking opportunities, food and drink, and insightful panel discussions.
February 27th | Arlington, TX
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Pegasus Park Speaker Series
Join us at Pegasus Park to learn about Dr. David Fajgenbaum's groundbreaking work to find new uses for existing medicines, using cutting-edge AI to uncover treatments for diseases that currently lack effective options.
February 27th | Dallas, TX
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Thank you for your Membership & Support!
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