Thank you to everyone who attended the 2011 event in Long Beach! The event was enjoyed by all who participated and interest is already mounting for next year's event.

Over 1200 attendees joined us in sunny and warm Long Beach, CA to learn, interact and exchange ideas with the industry's best scientists, engineers, and executives during the intensive 4 1/2 day agenda that featured more than 150 presentations that extensively covered the full spectrum of bioprocessing topics. (View a sample of who attended the 2011 conference)

New partnerships and collaborations were developed in our largest-ever exhibit hall, which was constantly buzzing with activity as our attendees met with 135 product and service providers and discussed results from the latest research with 80 poster presenters. (View 2011 Exhibitors).

Day one included 5 pre-conference symposia that allowed attendees to engage with technical experts in a small group setting followed by a special speed networking event that helped attendees break the ice and meet their peers. The speed networking was a big hit with the attendees and one of several special interactive activities that were added to the 2011 event.

Day two was highlighted with conference tracks focusing on enhancing manufacturing and development efficiency and product lifecycle management. In addition to the two strategic level tracks, attendees also had the opportunity to attend the value-added track on analytical technologies for biopharmaceutical development to hear about the novel analytical tools and approaches that are impacting process development and participate in a strategic discussion on the hottest new technologies and the challenges faced when implementing them into your processes. After a great luncheon presentation by EMD Millipore, attendees gathered for a lively discussion on the global advances in the development and regulation of biosimilars. The grand opening of the exhibit hall during the mid-afternoon break was topped off with champagne provided by GE Healthcare. Following the break, everyone made their way to the plenary session to hear great keynotes on biosimilars and biologics innovation from Steven Kozlowski, US FDA; Esa Heinonen, Finnish Medicines Agency and EMA; and Jay Stout, Merck. Day two concluded with a festive cocktail reception in the exhibit hall, sponsored by Pall Life Sciences.

Day three continued with the two strategic level tracks on enhancing manufacturing and development efficiency and product lifecycle management to help attendees learn about the proven approaches to achieve rapid process development, novel technology implementation and continuous process improvements. Attendees also had the opportunity to engage in a strategic discussion on the future of single-use technology and attend a value-added track on the novel approaches and applications for viral clearance. The conference sessions merged after the mid-afternoon break for two great keynote presentation delivered by Tim Charlebois, Pfizer and Tim Moore, Roche, who discussed the evolving strategies for bioprocess technology, innovation and integrating manufacturing networks that are imperative in these challenging times. After a great day of presentations, strategic discussions and keynotes, the attendees once again ended the day with a reception in the exhibit hall.

Day four's themes shifted towards more technical and data-driven scientific presentations and gave attendees the opportunity to go up- or downstream, as well as a value-added track on vaccine development and production and a strategic discussion on flexibility and agility as strategic purpose, time and cost savers as a tactical means to get there. The afternoon brought everyone together to discuss the innovative principles and integration in upstream and downstream processing. The conference day concluded with a great keynote presentation from Morris Rosenberg of Seattle Genetics, who described the difficult path from development to approval for the drug conjugate ADCETRIS™.

Day five continued with tracks focusing on the latest achievements in upstream and downstream processing with emphasis on the development and production of next generation and novel molecules. Attendees also gathered to discuss the industrialization of single-use manufacturing technologies. The conference concluded with in-depth case studies on improving predictability in early development, product quality, process validation and characterization.

Best Poster Award Winners

BPI announced the 2011 Best Poster Award winners on November 3, 2011.