What’s Inside: Merck Purchases Prometheus Biosciences for $10.8 Billion; Join Biocom California at #BIO2023 in Boston; San Diego’s Annual Stormwater Maintenance Survey Now Open; Support Generation STEAM’s Summer Camp for Young Scientists; Total Rewards Survey; Upcoming Events; and more. 

We’re providing you with the latest news, trends, and information surrounding the San Diego life science industry. Continue reading for local policy news and how it affects your business, community give-back opportunities, ways to maximize your savings with our Purchasing Group, and more. If you have company news or information you’d like included, please get in touch.

Advocacy & Public Policy

City of San Diego’s Annual Stormwater Maintenance Survey 
In a continuing effort to maintain an aging storm drain system, the City of San Diego is launching its annual Stormwater Maintenance Prioritization Public Survey and seeking community input on which stormwater facilities to prioritize for future maintenance. Fill out the survey by May 12 to make sure the areas around your business are prioritized for storm channel cleaning.

San Diego Planning Department’s Land Development Code
The San Diego Planning Department is now accepting suggestions for its annual update to the City’s development regulations, also known as the Land Development Code (LDC). Planning staff makes annual changes to the LDC to keep the City up to date with its ever-changing land use needs. Although the City takes the public’s ideas on a rolling basis, San Diegans must submit their ideas by April 30 to be considered in this year’s annual code update.

Board of Supervisors Urge Nathan Fletcher to Resign Immediately
The top story in San Diego over the past few weeks has been the fallout from a lawsuit filed against Supervisor Nathan Fletcher alleging harassment by a former employee of the Metropolitan Transit System, where Fletcher was chair. He subsequently announced his resignation from the Board of Supervisors, effective May 15. His colleagues on the board unanimously voted in favor of a resolution of no confidence in Fletcher and urged his immediate resignation. Another special meeting is planned for May 2 to consider a successor to represent District 4.

Additional Highlights:

Capital Development

Introducing Venture Hub: Our New Platform For Investors
Biocom California’s Venture Hub is our new online platform dedicated to connecting innovators with investors—accelerating deal flow, fundraising, and discoveries around the world. In this new era of dealmaking, we created a place where life science leaders can make meaningful connections. Whether you are an investor or founder, Venture Hub connects the dots, saving valuable time, money, and effort so you can focus on creating successful outcomes. We encourage Biocom member companies actively seeking capital, to log in and update their profile information and materials asap. For any questions, please email [email protected] .  

Join Biocom California at BIO 2023 in Boston
Inviting all dynamic and innovative companies attending #BIO2023 to join us for our first ever Venture Hub PitchFest at BIO. We will be hosting this event on June 7 10am -12pm ET on the Biocom Pavilion.  Network amongst industry peers, hear from leading CEOs on their innovative technologies and participate in the Q&A. Contact Tyler Morris for more information.

Partnership Opportunities 
If you are interested in one of the few remaining booth partnership opportunities within the Biocom California space, please contact Angela Rivera.

Talent & Workforce

Girls Who Lead Summer Camp – Inspire the Next Generation of Female STEAM Leaders
Back by popular demand, Generation STEAM’s Girls Who Lead Summer STEAM Camp is a week-long summer camp for underrepresented high school girls to tour local science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) companies, receive leadership training, and participate in career exposure workshops. From July 31 – August 4, students will visit up to eight companies. Each company visit includes a tour of the company/campus, career exposure (panels, interviews), and hands-on activities (developed by Generation STEAM). If you are interested in learning more and getting involved, please contact Silvana DelPiccolo. 

Save the Date: Total Rewards Survey Opens May 1
Every year, the Biocom California Institute, in partnership with Mercer, gathers important information from California life science companies regarding salaries and compensation in California. This information assists companies in developing compensation plans that can attract and retain talent. But we can’t do this without you.

By participating in this survey, you’ll receive a complimentary copy of the results and gain access to:

Life Science Educational Videos Available For High Schoolers
This past spring, Biocom California Institute hosted two webinars for high school students as a part of events with Contra Costa County Office of Education and Earn & Learn. These webinars presented careers in genomics and the workforce trends of the life sciences industry, highlighted industry professionals, and discussed how computer science intersects with genomics and biotechnology. While these live events occurred in the Bay Area, many great thoughts were shared and the recordings of these two webinars, as well as many others, can be found here. 

Illumina’s Future is Bright Initiative Impacts Students Worldwide
Illumina’s Future is Bright initiative happened in April, coinciding with DNA Day on April 25. Throughout the month, the company offered free kits to educators with materials and instructions for students to conduct strawberry DNA extraction experiments. Illumina distributed 2,300 kits globally, serving over 64,000 students. In addition to providing tools and resources, 370 Illumina employees conducted career chats with schools, museums, and STEM organizations in nine countries. Overall, the campaign impacted 100,000 learners worldwide. Illumina aims to reach 5 million STEM learners by 2030 globally. Teachers and educational program leaders can find free genomics education resources at DNADay.org.

2023 ScienceBridge Teacher Training
Since 2006, ScienceBridge has brought cutting-edge research to high school students, while helping bridge the gap between the science content that is being taught in classrooms and science practices that are currently performed in the research lab. In an effort to serve both new and veteran ScienceBridge teachers, the ScienceBridge team is continuing our annual teacher training based on the highest needs indicated from our current teachers: bacterial transformation and ocean acidification. The training will take place May 13. Click here to sign up.

Interview with My-Nga Ingram at Illumina Genomics Forum
In September of 2022, Illumina graciously sponsored Biocom California Institute’s attendance at the Illumina Genomics Forum. As a part of this sponsorship, BCI brought one of our Illumina Genomic Discoveries trained educators, My-Nga Ingram. Ms. Ingram was interviewed about her experience at the conference, where she shared her career journey, as well as her experience working with the next generation of talent and her hope for the future. Watch her interview here. 

Community & Events

May 10 | Cybersecurity Webinar for Life Science Companies | Virtual
May 11 | Navigating Valuation While Raising Capital | San Diego 
May 11 | Deal Makers’ Reception | San Diego
May 16 | OUTbio Networking Mixer | San Diego
May 18 | CEO Networking Reception | San Diego
May 31 | From Laboratory to Leadership | Virtual
June 5 | Biocom California at Bio Boston Convention | Boston, MA