Leadership Transition at BioNTX
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BioNTX is entering a new phase of leadership as Kathleen Rosenblum retires after five years as Chief Executive Officer, effective Monday, March 2nd.
Since joining BioNTX in 2021, Kathleen has worked alongside leaders across academia, industry, health care, and public policy to strengthen the organization’s role as the leading voice and connector for the North Texas bioscience and biotechnology community. During her tenure, membership and engagement expanded, regional collaboration deepened, and North Texas continued its rise as a nationally recognized market for bioscience research, company formation, and corporate relocation.
Reflecting on her time with the organization, Kathleen shared, “I am proud of the role our organization plays in the incredible growth we have achieved.” She emphasized that BioNTX’s work contributes not only to regional economic strength, but also to advancing innovative treatments and improving lives globally.
Kathleen will remain engaged in an advisory capacity to support continuity during the transition.
Following a comprehensive six-month national search led by the Board, BioNTX welcomes Gina Ford, DPh, MBA, as its new Chief Executive Officer, beginning March 2.
Gina brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. She has led organizations in corporate strategy, commercialization planning, fundraising, portfolio management, business development, and patient advocacy. Most recently, she served as CEO of Women in Bio, Inc., where she strengthened industry partnerships and expanded engagement across national and local networks.
Welcome Gina!
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Novartis Announces New Radioligand Therapy
Manufacturing Site in Denton, TX
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Novartis, a leading global innovative medicines company, today announced plans to establish a 46,000-square-foot radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas. This will be the company’s fifth RLT site in the US and its first in Texas. The Denton facility is expected to create new jobs in bioengineering, advanced manufacturing, quality, and operations, supporting economic growth in Denton and surrounding communities. Construction is set to begin this year, with full operations expected by 2028.
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BioNTX Rare Disease Roundtable: “Rare Disease Is Not Rare”
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BioNTX convened leaders from healthcare, research, and industry for a Rare Disease Roundtable hosted at the newly opened Neurology & Neuromuscular Care Center, founded and directed by Diana Castro, MD. The discussion focused on strengthening coordination across the rare disease ecosystem in North Texas and accelerating pathways from diagnosis to treatment.
Opening perspectives grounded the conversation in clinical reality, precision health, and patient urgency. Dr. Diana Castro and Dennis Lal, PhD, Assistant Vice President of Precision Health and Executive Scientist at Cook Children’s Health Care System, emphasized the need for integrated data, earlier diagnosis, and coordinated care models—reinforcing a central theme that resonated throughout the day: rare disease is not rare.
During the convening, Tan Parker, Texas State Senator, recognized Dr. Castro with an official State of Texas Recognition for her leadership in rare disease care and the opening of the new center.
This roundtable reflects BioNTX’s continued commitment to convening stakeholders around complex, high-impact challenges and advancing a more connected, responsive rare disease ecosystem through ongoing collaboration and future programming, including sessions at iC³.
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BALANCE Sparks Conversation on Women’s Health Innovation
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The Dallas screening of BALANCE brought together patients, clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders committed to advancing innovation in women’s health. The evening underscored an essential truth familiar to the rare disease community: progress begins by listening to the patient voice and understanding the lived experience behind the science. The film is now available for streaming on Apple TV and Prime Video.
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Join Us This Friday to Celebrate
Women Driving Innovation in North Texas
March 6, 2026
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Presents
2026 Women Driving Innovation
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Join us this Friday, March 6 at Pegasus Park for Women Driving Innovation, BioNTX’s annual celebration of women leaders shaping the future of bioscience and healthcare in North Texas.
The event honors women who are transforming the life sciences industry through leadership, creativity, and groundbreaking discoveries. Attendees will gain insight from trailblazing women in the life science community as they share strategies for leading teams, navigating challenges, driving innovation, and fostering collaboration. The program also highlights mentorship opportunities and promotes visibility for those advancing North Texas life sciences while inspiring the next generation of innovators.
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BIO BREAK: North Texas Connections in Life Sciences
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BIO BREAK offers the life sciences community an opportunity to network, exchange insights, and foster professional connections. Attendees can engage with peers, discuss emerging trends, and build relationships that support collaboration and innovation across the ecosystem.
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PCCP: Building Our Talent Network
March 11, 2026
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Presents
Peer Career Connect Program
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The Peer Career Connect Program (PCCP) is a platform for professionals navigating career transitions and for employers seeking talent in life sciences and related industries. PCCP facilitates meaningful connections, peer learning, and knowledge sharing to help jobseekers explore opportunities and employers connect with qualified candidates.
Open to professionals at all career stages and employers across sectors including biopharma, digital health, aerospace, research, engineering, logistics, and manufacturing, PCCP provides a space to exchange insights, explore career paths, and build valuable professional relationships in a collaborative and results focused environment.
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Thank you for your support
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Earn CLE Credits While Exploring Life Sciences Legal Trends
March 24, 2026
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Presents
2026 Legal Forum
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Join BioNTX and Sheppard for a lunch and legal forum diving into the latest shifts in the life sciences industry. With FDA regulatory activity accelerating and enforcement intensifying, the landscape is changing fast.
This session will cover key developments, including medical product pricing, potential deregulation of approval pathways, and emerging enforcement trends.
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Thank you for your support
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When Every Resume Looks Impressive,
How Do You Find Real Biotech Talent?
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Hiring is getting harder, not easier. Applicant volume is up, but confidence in what those applications actually represent is down. Biotech hiring demands proof, not just polish. Sieve helps teams identify verified capability through structured peer review and statistical scoring, so real expertise stands out. We are recruiting a small group of biotech employers for our pilot
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Thank You BioNTX New & Renewing Members
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Learning From Leaders: Building a Thriving Biotech Ecosystem
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In this episode of Learning From Leaders, host Lili Clark sits down with Dr. Gabby Everett, Director of Business Operations and Strategy at BioLabs Pegasus Park, to explore what it takes to turn early-stage biotech ideas into real-world impact.
Everett explains how BioLabs provides shared lab and office space, access to high-cost equipment, and connections to advisors and investors, enabling startups to iterate quickly and fail fast. The discussion highlights ecosystem building, leadership lessons from bench science, mentorship, fostering women founders, and preparing future biotech talent through hands-on student experiences.
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Alpha Cognition Secures U.S. Patent for ZUNVEYL® Dosing
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Alpha Cognition Inc. announced that the USPTO has issued U.S. Patent No. 12,551,491, covering oral dosing regimens for benzgalantamine, the active ingredient in its FDA-approved therapy, ZUNVEYL®. The patent protects methods of treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and is expected to extend U.S. market exclusivity for ZUNVEYL® through July 2045, reinforcing the company’s intellectual property portfolio and long-term market position.
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AstraZeneca’s Calquence® Plus Venetoclax Receives
U.S. FDA Approval After AMPLIFY Phase III Trial Success
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AstraZeneca’s Calquence® (acalabrutinib) with venetoclax is now the first all-oral, fixed-duration treatment for adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). In the AMPLIFY Phase III trial, 77% of patients were progression free at three years, compared with 67% on standard chemoimmunotherapy.
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Inside Colossal Biosciences’ Dallas Headquarters
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Colossal Biosciences’ 55,000-square-foot Dallas headquarters houses its woolly mammoth, dire wolf, dodo, and moa programs, consolidating gene-editing, reproductive biology, and genomic preservation research under one roof. The facility serves as the operational hub for the company’s de-extinction and conservation efforts, supporting rapid scientific innovation.
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Johnson & Johnson Reports Long-Term
TREMFYA® Results in Ulcerative Colitis
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Johnson & Johnson announced QUASAR LTE study results showing TREMFYA® (guselkumab) maintained clinical, endoscopic, and histologic remission through Week 140 in adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. At Week 140, 80.8% of patients were in clinical remission, 78.6% achieved histo-endoscopic improvement, and 53.6% reached endoscopic remission, with efficacy consistent regardless of prior biologic or JAK inhibitor treatment. No new safety concerns were observed.
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Hamilton Storage Transitions Automated Systems
to 100% Green Refrigerants
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Hamilton Storage, a leader in automated cold storage and sample management, announced that all of its automated storage systems now use 100% natural, environmentally friendly refrigerants. The transition supports energy efficiency, reduces emissions, and helps laboratories meet sustainability and ESG goals without compromising sample integrity or performance.
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IMA Financial Group’s Towerstone Acquires Gremesco to
Expand Northeast Wholesale Insurance Platform
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Towerstone, the Dallas-based wholesale insurance division of IMA Financial Group, announced it has acquired Gremesco, a Bridgeport, Connecticut–based wholesale broker with over 40 years of experience serving diverse businesses and contractors. The acquisition strengthens Towerstone’s national specialty wholesale platform and supports its growth strategy in the Northeast.
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McMillan James Expands Partnership
with Carrier Across Central & South Texas
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McMillan James Equipment Company (MJEC) is expanding its partnership with Carrier, a global leader in HVAC solutions, to now cover Central and South Texas, including Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley. The expansion builds on MJEC’s established presence in North Texas and broadens access to Carrier’s commercial HVAC technologies, supported by MJEC’s sales, service, and parts infrastructure.
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SciSure Partners with Safety Partners to
Elevate Lab Safety and Compliance
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SciSure, the Scientific Management Platform (SMP) that unifies research operations, inventory, and EHS for life science labs, has formed a strategic partnership with Safety Partners, part of Trinity Consultants Life Sciences and a leading provider of EHS consulting.
The collaboration integrates Safety Partners’ expert consulting with SciSure’s digital platform, enabling labs to manage safety, compliance, and operations in a single system. Clients gain access to real-time dashboards, digital audit trails, training records, chemical inventories, and equipment logs, streamlining compliance while reducing administrative burden.
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Turner Construction Named One of America’s
Best Large Employers
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Turner Construction Company has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Large Employers for 2026, ranking 44th nationwide. The recognition reflects Turner’s commitment to a workplace culture that fosters growth, inclusion, and employee well-being. The company emphasizes a people-first culture through active caring, mentorship, leadership development, and opportunities to work on complex, transformative projects.
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Baylor Scott & White Health Plan Named Among
Best Texas Medicare Advantage Plans for 2026
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Baylor Scott & White Health Plan has been named one of the Best Texas insurance companies for 2026 Medicare Advantage plans by U.S. News & World Report, recognizing its commitment to accessible, coordinated, and high-quality care. The Baylor Scott & White SeniorCare Advantage™ plans — including HMO-POS and PPO options — are designed to coordinate care, simplify the member experience, and reduce unnecessary costs.
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Cook Children’s Medical Center – Prosper Opens
Epilepsy Monitoring Unit to Expand Pediatric Neurology Care
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Cook Children's Medical Center – Prosper has opened a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU), expanding access to specialized neurological care for children experiencing seizures across North Texas.
The EMU is designed to continuously monitor brain activity using electroencephalograms (EEGs), helping physicians determine whether episodes are seizures or other neurological events such as movement disorders or tics. This diagnostic capability supports more accurate diagnoses and personalized treatment planning.
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UTA and USDA Launch Smart Agriculture Research Center
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The University of Texas at Arlington and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service have launched the Smart Agriculture Research Center (SARC) to use AI and data science to tackle critical agricultural challenges, including predicting plant disease, modeling soil health, and forecasting avian influenza outbreaks.
Opened in August 2025, SARC brings together faculty, students, and USDA scientists to modernize agriculture, strengthen food system resilience, and support climate-smart practices across Texas and the nation.
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UT Dallas’ School of Behavioral and
Brain Sciences Rises to #2 in NIH Funding
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The University of Texas at Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) has risen to No. 2 nationally for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding among schools of allied health professions, according to the 2025 Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings. This marks the second consecutive year BBS is the top NIH-funded allied health school in Texas.
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UT Tyler Researcher Identifies Human Tissue Factor
Mutations That Impair Blood Clotting
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Dr. Shabbir Ansari, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine, in collaboration with researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, has conducted the first study linking naturally occurring human tissue factor mutations to impaired blood clotting.
Tissue factor, a protein in blood vessel walls, initiates clot formation, and the study demonstrates that certain mutations also hinder Factor VII activation, a key protein in the clotting cascade.
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UT Southwestern Study Reveals Genetic Roots of Food Allergies
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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have used whole exome sequencing to identify genetic causes of food allergies for the first time. The study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that nearly 40% of patients with multiple food allergies carry rare loss-of-function mutations in genes such as FLG, which protects the skin barrier and prevents allergen entry. The findings suggest that more comprehensive genetic testing could improve diagnosis and treatment of food allergies, particularly for patients with multiple sensitivities or non-European ancestry, offering a pathway toward personalized care.
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FUNDING & MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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Fueling the Next Generation of Health Innovators
Application closes March 6, 2026
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The One Health Incubator is a dynamic partnership between the Innovation Hub and the Health Sciences Center, created to support researchers and technology startups in the life sciences sector. This collaborative platform combines institutional expertise to offer an ecosystem of incubation, mentorship, and strategic connections—tailored specifically for life science innovators.
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Call for Abstracts: 2026 JPS Research & Quality Symposium
Application closes March 13, 2026
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Submit your abstract for the 2026 JPS Research & Quality Symposium, featuring live poster presentations, a rapid-fire research competition, and an online gallery of posters from May 19–June 19. Submissions are welcome on all topics.
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Morgan Stanley Supports Early-Stage Innovators Driving Impact
Application closes March 31, 2026
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Morgan Stanley provides capital and resources to early-stage startups and nonprofits that are developing solutions for a more inclusive and sustainable future. Ideal candidates are seed- to Series A–stage ventures with a market-ready product and measurable impact in areas such as the environment, health and wellbeing, economic empowerment, or education and human capital.
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The Prototype Fund: Bring Your Innovation to Life
Application closes May 1, 2026
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The Prototype Fund helps established startups transform customer insights into a working prototype or minimum viable product. This program supports innovators ready to take their technology from concept to reality within a year, helping validate ideas, advance intellectual property, and bridge the gap between innovation and commercialization.
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Startup Prize: Health
Application closes May 15, 2026
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Startup Prize: Health is now accepting registrations from early-stage health and medical startups nationwide.
Part competition, part conference, and part entrepreneurial support platform, Startup Prize: Health connects founders with experienced mentors, practical guidance, and investor and ecosystem connections. Through qualifying events, founders pressure-test their business, get clarity on regulatory and reimbursement questions, and prepare for the next stage of growth. Founders compete in two tracks for a $10,000 cash prize, and no equity is taken.
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NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)
for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions
Program ends January 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 Fort Worth
The BIO BREAK offers an opportunity to connect with peers, industry leaders, and partners across biotech, healthcare, and research in a relaxed, welcoming setting.
March 3rd | Fort Worth, TX
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BioHouston Breakfast Forum: FDA Regulatory Strategy
Join BioHouston for a discussion with a team of regulatory experts of key developments and strategies in an evolving FDA regulatory environment. Presented in collaboration with Canal Row Advisors.
March 5th | Houston, TX
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Presents
Women Driving Innovation
Join BioNTX for Women Driving Innovation to celebrate women who are transforming life sciences through leadership, creativity, and breakthrough research.
March 6th | Dallas, TX
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Q1 2026 BHIANT Meeting
Join the BHIANT for the first quarterly meeting of 2026. Meet with other industry leaders and collaborate to tackle pressing challenges, redefine shared goals, and strengthen the biotech and healthcare ecosystem across North Texas.
March 10th | Coppell, TX
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Presents
Peer Career Connect Program
The Peer Career Connect Program (PCCP) is a community-driven initiative for jobseekers navigating career transitions in life sciences and beyond. PCCP provides a space to learn, share, and grow alongside peers, exploring challenges, successes, and career journeys.
March 11th | Dallas, TX
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BIO BREAK Dallas
Join BioNTX, Deloitte, and Griffith Barbee for the first BIO BREAK Dallas of 2026. This premier networking event is your opportunity to meet professionals across the life sciences industry, build meaningful connections, and discuss trends, opportunities, and challenges shaping the sector.
March 12th | Dallas, TX
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2026 iC³ Summit: North Texas’s Premier Life Science Gathering
September 24 - 25, 2026
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The BioNTX iC³ Life Science & Healthcare Innovation Summit is North Texas’s premier convening for the region’s bioscience and healthcare community. Each year, we bring together industry leaders, pioneering researchers, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators to share insights, explore emerging trends, and collaborate on the next breakthroughs in life sciences and healthcare.
At iC³ 2026, you will have the opportunity to engage with thought leaders, connect with peers, and participate in conversations that are shaping the future of healthcare innovation in North Texas and beyond. Whether you are looking to gain knowledge, showcase your work, or build meaningful partnerships, iC³ provides the platform to make an impact.
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Thank you for your support!
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