Neerja Sethi, PhD, is the Founder-CEO of Astragen LLC , a company focused on Global Health and Tech Solutions. She has over 12 years experience in molecular biotechnology research and over 5 years experience in technology development, business development, developing global alliances, consultancy, as a faculty and clinical trials training. Neerja Sethi is also an Internet Entrepreneur, having successfully founded and managed online publication MedicineandBiotech.com, a popular, growing online portal on Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Medicine and Green tech. Neerja Sethi is also the Founder of Your Helix!  - a dynamic, innovative, Professional/Social Networking site for Global technology professionals. Neerja Sethi received her PhD at University of Virginia, Charlottesville and her scientific training as a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University Medical Center. She has worked as a scientist in both US and European Institutes. She developed successful research programs as Research Scientist in the Faculty series in the Departments of Medicine and Stomatology at University of California San Francisco Medical Center and at the Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland.  Her research has been focused on development of therapeutics in the fields of Oncology and Virology and on applying Functional Genomics in different aspects of therapeutic development. She has a number of awards, grants and peer-reviewed publications to her credit. She is an inventor with a patent application in a Gene Therapy technology targeted against specific cancers. She also held a position as an Adjunct Assistant Professor with California School of Podiatric Medicine. She was one of the initiators and organizers of the 2005 Joint Swedish-Californian Stem Cells Symposium in support of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. She is actively involved in organizations focused on Venture Funding for women-led companies. neerja.sethi@astragen.net     Kent  TM Persson, PhD, Advisory Board Member, is an experienced cell- and molecular biologist and an opinion leader with over 12 years research expertise in the field. He was a senior scientist in the Gene Expression Division for the global corporation Bio-Rad Laboratories 2001-2004 in Hercules, CA. At Bio-Rad Laboratories he was responsible for developing gene expression technologies for the domestic and international research market. He marketed Bio-Rad's Gene expression products iTaq and iScript to domestic and international customers, especially in China and South Korea. He provided technical training and problem solving expertise in Genetic Analysis for Bio-Rad's Gene Expression products. In 2004, he was instrumental in developing and arranging the 2005 Stem Cell Symposium –A Swedish-Californian Joint Venture, in April of 2005. Dr. Persson received his PhD at Umeå University, Sweden in Molecular Biology. He did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Francisco focusing on gene expression related research. Dr. Persson is well published in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to many successful product releases from Bio-Rad Laboratories.      Bruno Gagnon, MSc, BPharm,  Advisory Board Member, was Director of Clinical and Business Operations at Chiron (Novartis)  for 6 years. Bruno Gagnon is a visionary leader with strong operational accomplishments, organizational and business skills. He has over 12 years experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He managed a large division at Chiron focused on therapeutics development in oncology, cardiovascular, infectious diseases and immunology. Bruno provides management and leadership for project team operations and project execution to develop globally new drug candidates from the pre-IND stage to marketing approval and/or to develop marketed drug for new indications.  Accountable for the following global functional areas:   Outsourcing and Contracts, Clinical Supplies, Supply Chain Management, Clinical Systems, SOPs & Training. Bruno also has considerable experience in in-licensing deals and due-diligence processes for effective business development. Bruno Gagnon also serves on the Advisory Council of the MBA program in Pharmaceutical Business at USP in Philadelphia.