Bridging The Gap 2023

A GLOBAL LIFE SCIENCE EVENT

Bridging the Gap is an annual life science event organized together by the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, New England and Minnesota- the top four life science clusters in the U.S. Since Life Science Bridge's mission is to promote trade between our clusters and Sweden. Bridging the Gap is a joint initiative to promote trade between the top four life science clusters in the U.S. and Sweden. In addition, with the purpose to inspire, educate and connect people in the life science scene. With Sweden and the U.S. being at the top of the life science industry, we aimed to build bridges between these nations to promote a healthy and innovative world.

Bridging the Gap 2023 will be a one-day webinar on April 27th, with speakers within the various areas followed by a panel discussion. The topics will be focused on The impact of Life Science innovation on healthcare. Speakers will attend from both Sweden and the U.S. Please join us to promote this global collaboration. For more information or questions, please check our social media or email development@sacc-sandiego.

Sign up up here to make sure you don't miss the exclusive opportunity to listen to world-class experts discuss the challenges, opportunities, and future of Life Science Innovation in healthcare!

SPEAKERS 2023

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

The first speaker to be announced for Bridging the Gap 2023 is Michael Osterholm!

We are thrilled to announce that Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, will be joining us as speaker on April 27th! Dr. Osterholm is is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 transition advisory board. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State. He is also on the Luther College Board of Regents.

He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, In 2000, he authored Living Terrors: What American Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe, laying why the biological attacks (like the 2001 anthrax attack) are a new reality and what we must do to prepare, and his 2017 book, Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, details the most pressing infectious disease threats of our day (including coronaviruses and pandemics) but lays out a strategy to address them.

Please read more about Michael Osterholm here.

HELENA LINGE

We are thrilled to introduce our second speaker attending Bridging the Gap 2023, please welcome Helena Linge!

Helena Linge was awarded a PhD in 2006 at Lund University, Sweden and completed post-doctoral research in New York, covering cell- and molecular biology of infection and immunology. She later moved her research into e-health applications for follow-up after childhood cancer, where she co-founded a medtech startup and served as its CEO. Helena Linge continues at Lund university and as a senior researcher at Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and since August 2023 she is employed by AI Sweden as Strategic Initiative Developer for AI in Health care.

MATTHEW KOKKONEN

Please welcome our third speaker to attend Bridging the Gap 2023, Matthew Kokkonen!

Matthew Kokkonen is a seasoned professional skilled in performing portfolio and program management. Having worked for large, medium, and small pharmaceutical and biotech companies, Matthew developed a deep appreciation for the challenges these organizations face, and with that granular understanding, he brings innovative ways of working to plan and deliver value to patients and the organizations serving them. Matthew has extensive experience working in senior roles in both the industry and as a consultant, and enjoys collaborating with stakeholders to build high performing teams, strategies for growth and maturation.
Another passion of his is developing efficient and effective use of process and business solutions. Matthew started his career as an officer in the United States Air Force and holds an MBA in International Management from the University of London. He earned a project management certification from Stanford University, and a Clinical Trial Design and Management certification form UC San Diego. He has a wife and twin daughters, and enjoys forests, mountains, skiing, and traveling in his spare time.

CLAES GUSTAFSSON

Let us present our fourth speaker, Claes Gustafsson!

As ATUM's Co-Founder and CCO, Dr. Gustafsson oversees most of the company's external communications. Prior to co-founding ATUM, Dr. Gustafsson led, managed and collaborated with key strategic teams at Maxygen Inc. Before Maxygen, Dr. Gustafsson worked as a scientist at Kosan Biosciences, a number of research, teaching, and post-doctoral positions at UCs Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and at University of Umeå. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from the University of Umeå, Sweden.

SPEAKERS FROM DIAMYD MEDICAL

Please let us introduce our fifth and last speaker company attending Bridging the Gap 2023! We are thrilled to announce that Diamyd Medical will have several speakers attending this years event. It's an honor to have Diamyd Medical as part of our esteemed lineup of speakers and look forward to hearing more about their exciting work.

ULF HANNELIUS

JOHNNY LUDVIGSSON

KARIN ROSEN

Born in 1975, Ulf Hannelius earned his Master degree in Biochemistry from the University of Helsinki, Finland and his PhD in Molecular Biology from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.

n parallel to his postdoctoral research in cancer genomics at the Karolinska Institutet, he completed an Executive MBA at the Stockholm School of Economics and went on to establish his own consultancy company within strategy, market research and innovation management. Ulf joined Diamyd Medical in 2015 and has served as its CEO since 2016. He is also the board member of Sweden and Silicon Valley based deep tech company MainlyAI. He has coauthored 16 peer reviewed scientific articles during his time in academia and at Diamyd Medical.

Professor Johnny Ludvigsson has been researching diabetes for over 50 years since his first experiments in 1967, and he continues his research today. He is Honorary Member of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and The International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD). He has received several awards (eg the Inaugural ISPAD Prize). In the 1990s he initiated the ABIS birth cohort study, which follows 17,000 individuals to investigate the impact of environmental and genetic factors on the development of Type 1 diabetes.

To create resources for diabetes research, Professor Johnny Ludvigsson founded the Swedish Child Diabetes Foundation in 1989. To date, he has published more than 500 articles and participated in a large number of immune interventions with antiCD3, TNF-alfa inhibition and GAD65, one of the major autoantigens in type 1 diabetes and the active ingredient in the antigen-specific immunotherapy Diamyd®. Professor Johnny Ludvigsson is the principal investigator of the precision medicine Phase III clinical trial Diagnode-3, evaluating the effectiveness of preserving insulin production in adolescents and adults recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, carrying the genetic HLA DR3-DQ2 haplotype. The trial involves the administration of Diamyd® (GAD-alum) directly into lymph nodes.

Dr. Karin Rosén is an accomplished life sciences executive and physician with over two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry. She has held senior leadership positions at several global companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Aimmune Therapeutics, Genentech, and Horizon Therapeutics.

Dr. Rosén has an impressive track record in developing and launching novel therapeutics, with expertise in clinical research and development, as well as regulatory filing strategies. She holds experience in developing Phase 2-3 clinical programs for multiple biologics including in the areas of immunology.

As an adjunct member of the Diamyd Medical Board of Director, she brings her extensive experience in global clinical development and U.S. and global medical affairs, making her a valuable addition to the Board and Company.

Diamyd Medical - Precision Medicine for Autoimmune Diabetes "Life Science Bridge has the honor to be partnering with Diamyd Medical as they are developing a potential game changing antigen-specific immunotherapy Diamyd®, that currently is being confirmed in the first ever precision medicine Phase III clinical DIAGNODE-3. We will be joined by Diamyd’s CEO, Ulf Hannelius CEO, PhD, Johnny Ludvigsson, professor, who will discuss Diamyd's phase-III study and the importance of disease modifying therapeutics; and Karin Rosen, PhD., who will join us from the US to discuss the importance of US-Swedish cooperations within the Life Science Space.

Read more about Diamyd Medical here.

SPONSORS 2023

The Life Science Bridge initiative would like to extend our gratitude to our sponsors, whose support is evital for creating a strong, successful and innovative event that brings people together while promoting trade across boarders.