Since Ten Bio launched in the autumn of 2020 our attendance at conferences, symposia etc. has been the central plank to our market engagement strategy. In our early days, the schedule of these events was much constrained by the Covid-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions and limitation on gatherings.
The events we were able to attend were virtual, and while organisers clearly did their very best to recreate the atmosphere and connectivity of the traditional model – it was a forlorn hope. People, even scientists, need face-to-face interactions with their communities to ensure the ebb and flow of ideas. To have that proximity of contact and the close-up, eye to eye connections and conversations allowing shared experiences and generation of ideas as new collaborations have their genesis.
And now we are back!
The impact of the measures taken has seen the restrictions imposed on scientific events gradually fall away. As a result, our Ten Bio team has been able to pack its bags and head for the airports en route to the global and national events of the newly emerged, in-person conference calendar.
In May Ten Bio attended the first International Society for Investigative Dermatology (ISID) held in Tokyo and the world came too. Our delegates met with representatives of industry and academic centres of excellence from around the world at this event. In addition, we met with representatives of Japan’s industry prior to and during the ISID forum. It was a fantastic opportunity for Ten Bio to again showcase the unique qualities of TenSkin™ (our explant platform in which the skin tissue is presented at physiological tension) to a diverse and truly international audience.
The reactions of those we met were very positive as our team walked through the data we have been able to generate from experiments across several areas (skin rejuvenation, wound healing, drug administration, skin barrier research, etc) that can be run as semi-chronic models for up to two weeks thanks to the prolonged integrity of the TenSkin™ platform. Our current brochure that was prepared for ISID is available here.
The interest in Ten Bio’s platform and related services was high, which has prompted us to put in place a revised process and staffing for following up on the contacts made and the subsequent approaches for information.
Immediately following ISID the Ten Bio team stopped off in Seattle for the 7th International Conference on Microneedles from 15th May to 17th May. The contrast between the scope of the global ISID event and the specialised microneedles forum was striking.
Ten Bio has formed a growing database of possible applications of our TenSkin™ platform in the testing of microneedle arrays and their use in a range of applications, most notable drug and vaccine delivery. Ten Bio’s engagement with microneedling was catalysed by a collaboration with Professor Mark Prausnitz who holds the chair in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Devoting time and energy to this event has achieved a broadening of Ten Bio’s understanding of the microneedle technology and what it requires in terms of testing platforms and environment. Ten Bio is working to develop its platform to best fit with those requirements through collaborations with the parties in this new field of delivery technology.
The reaction of those who approached the Ten Bio stand was again very positive and the majority asked for follow up which we have been addressing. At this time we are advancing discussions on the scope of two new projects in this field of microneedle technology.
Additional to meetings with potential clients are those interactions with other technologies that are enabled by being present. Chance conversations identify a joint interest and the idea for a collaboration puts down roots. Just that happened in our meeting with TissueVision which provides leading edge services in whole tissue imaging and analysis.
The Ten Bio team has formed a research collaboration with TissueVision in which we will explore the potential value of bringing TissueVision’s capabilities to the augmented analysis of Ten Bio’s platforms and experiments.
Most recently, Ten Bio attended the “Barrier Function of Mammalian Skin” Gordon Conference in New Hampshire where we enjoyed presentations and discussions with a diverse range of international delegates concentrating on latest developments in this field.
So where next?
As we move through summer Ten Bio is reviewing the list of forthcoming events in the fields that we think are of most interest to our clients and therefore to our company.
The first of Autumn season was the Gordon Research Conference on ‘Barrier Function of Mammalian Skin’ held between 6th and 11th August in New Hampshire, USA.
Next up is the European Epidermal Skin Barrier meeting in Edinburgh, UK on 28th and 29th September.
Ten Bio is presenting on ‘The influence of environmental humidity and temperature on expression of key skin barrier genes’ at both of these specialised events at the European Epidermal Skin Barrier Meeting in Edinburgh, UK (28-29 September).
If those who read this have suggestions of other events that Ten Bio should prioritise, we will be pleased to hear those ideas.
Ten Bio’s team is always interested to hear from industry and academic institutes regarding areas of focus and challenges that you may face in pursuing your own research ambitions. The TenSkin™ platform is unique and is the ideal choice explant model for its reliability in testing, the longevity of its usage and the predictability of the in vivo experience and data.
Ken Fyvie Aug 2023