We are pleased to announce the detailed preliminary program for the 2015 PIUG Biotechnology Conference to be held on Monday February 16 to Wednesday February 18, 2015 at Genentech in South San Francisco, CA.

Standard Registration ends today for the 2015 PIUG Biotech Conference (at Genentech in South San Francisco - main session on February 17th). See the full program here: http://www.piug.org/biotech15meeting/

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We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the PIUG 2015 Biotechnology Conference, to be held February 16-20, 2015 at Genentech, South San Francisco, CA. There will be plenary session on Tuesday, February 17, vendor workshops on Monday and Wednesday, February 16 and 18, and the PIUG "Patent Information Fundamentals" Course on Thursday and Friday, February 19 and 20.

The deadline for abstract submissions is September 26, 2014.

The PIUG Biotechnology Conference focuses on best practices for patent information professionals who specialize in biotechnology search and analysis. This year's theme is: "Maximizing Value in Biotechnology Searching with New Technologies and Trends." Facing new challenges, patent searchers continue to provide value to companies and clients by maximizing their value and keeping up with the technologies and trends.

We are interested in:
• Presentations on scientific topics that will help biotech patent searchers maintain their scientific knowledge. Some topics include manufacturing processes, technology platforms (e.g. CRISPR-Cas genome editing), vaccines, companion diagnostics, biobetters.
• Presentations on legal topics that will help biotech patent searchers improve their search results. A sample topic would be understanding wording of claims and how it affects searching.
• Presentations by biotech patent searchers or managers on success stories of the search/library function in relation to demonstrating value to companies, institutions or patent offices.
• A panel discussion by biotech patent searchers, vendors, and attorneys to share what you'd like for new tools, techniques and trends to support business decisions.

Also, as always, we would be interested in presentations about a specific search scenario with strategy, databases used, results identified, etc.

The theme is meant to inspire but not limit topic selection. All topics related to biotechnology patent information research will be considered.

General Guidelines for Submitting Proposal/Topic/Ideas

Note: presentations are typically 30 minutes but this may vary.

Interested speakers should submit the following to Ruben Diaz (ruben at gene dot com) or Alison Tayler (alison.taylor at abbott dot com) by September 26, 2014:
1. Proposed speaker name
2. Brief biography
3. Full contact information
4. Presentation title
5. Abstract (100 – 200 words)

If you are interested in submitting a paper but need extra time to obtain your management approval, please let us know by the September 26, 2014 deadline and if possible provide the topic title and/or a few sentences that we can consider in the interim.
• The organizers reserve the right to accept abstracts at their discretion in order to assemble the best possible program. Invited speakers may take precedence over other speakers. Please be advised that your abstract submission may be published on the PIUG web site and related media, shortly after receipt or at any time thereafter. Therefore, do not include confidential or business-sensitive information in your abstract.
• If you would like to recommend a speaker on a particular topic or suggest another topic of interest, we would appreciate hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact the PIUG 2015 Biotechnology Conference organizers, listed below, with your views.

Further news about the program and updates regarding the conference will be posted on the PIUG Discussion Forum (PIUG-DF) and on the upcoming PIUG 2015 Biotechnology Conference web page.

Alison Taylor, (Abbott) and Ruben Diaz (Genentech), Co-Chairs