BioScience Summit
Learn, Connect and Collaborate
October 21, 2026
Fargo is becoming the biotech hub you haven’t heard of.
Learn. Connect. Collaborate.
Join us for the fourth annual BioScience Summit — where the region’s brightest minds in bioscience, medical devices, and biotechnology come together for a day of big ideas, meaningful connections, and real opportunity.
Whether you’re an industry leader, researcher, entrepreneur, student, or simply curious about the future of bioscience in the FM region, this is the event for you.
What You’ll Experience
Trends in Biotech
Stay ahead of the curve with insights from some of the nation’s leading bioscience and medical device innovators shaping the industry today.
Workforce Solutions
Explore strategies for building and retaining the talent pipeline that keeps our regional bioscience ecosystem growing.
Access to Capital
Learn how to fund the next wave of biotech innovation — from early-stage funding to growth-stage investment opportunities.
Career Exploration
Students and emerging professionals: discover the pathways available to you right here in the FM region’s thriving bioscience community.
Stay tuned for information and tickets to participate in Day 2 of the Summit (October 22nd), which will include tours of local biotech companies and partners.
October 21, 2026 | 11:00 a.m-1:00 p.m.
The career exploration provides an opportunity for local companies within the bioscience sector to interact with area high school and college students.
Interested in having a booth? Contact Joey Ness jness@fmedc.com for more information.
2025 Speaker Presentations
DAY 1 Presentations
- Growing the Regional Bioscience Industry
- President Cook
- Shayden Akason
- Challenges and Solutions – How to Grow the Biotech Sector
- Paula Norbom
- Challenges and Solutions – How to Grow the Biotech Sector
- Kristi Jean
- Chad Ulven
- Ken Barton
- Building Bioscience: Facilities that Power Innovation
- Jeremy Houser
- Scott Hoselton
- Shawn Kessel
- Igniting Curiosity in The Growing Scientists Lab
- Jessie Rock
DAY 2 Presentations
- Leveraging Partnerships to Advance at an Early Stage
- Shayden Akason
Hotel Block
A block of rooms is held at
Radisson Blu Fargo
201 North 5th Street
You can book via the button below, or call 701.232.7363 and request the Bioscience Summit block.
2026 Event Organized and hosted by
2026 Partner Level Sponsors
2026 Supporter Level Sponsors
2026 Exhibitor Level Sponsors
Thermo Fisher Scientific
VerumGen Labs
Workforce Networking Event for High School and College Students Interested in bioscience & related fields
This is a unique opportunity to connect area students to cutting-edge companies and higher education programs for an emerging industry in need of next-generation talent and ingenuity.
Interested in being an exhibitor?
Contact Joey Ness – jness@fmedc.com
OCTOBER 15 | 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Special Thanks to our
Event Support Sponsors
Audiovisual technology provided by Livewire.
Name badges and signage provided by Fargo Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Photography by 5foot20 Design Lounge.
Videography by Scratch Media.
2024 Event Organized and Co-hosted by
Agenda
This agenda is tentative.
DAY 1: Tuesday, September 17
8:00-8:30 Breakfast Reception (Networking)
8:30-8:45 Welcome
Richard Glynn | CEO, Bioscience Association of North Dakota
Joe Raso | President & CEO, Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation
8:45-9:00 Opening Remarks
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer | Video Remarks
9:00-9:45 Growing the North Dakota Bioscience Industry
Commissioner Doug Goehring | North Dakota Department of Agriculture
Commissioner Josh Teigen | North Dakota Department of Commerce
Dr. David Cook | President, North Dakota State University
Dr. Andrew Armacost | President, University of North Dakota
9:45-10:30 Developing the Next Generation of Biotech Talent
Dr. Julie Mach | Chair/Associate Professor of Chemistry, Concordia College
Dr. Long Jiang | Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Coordinator of Biomedical Engineering Program, North Dakota State University
Dr. Ryan Striker | Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Dakota
Tanya Schmidt | Vice President of Central Operations, Thrifty White Health
Donovan McGinley-Colman | Senior Scientist, Genovac
10:30-11:00 NETWORKING BREAK
Career Exploration in Prairie Rose Ballroom 11:00-2:00
Margaret Halstead | Vice President of Health Economics and Market Access, Medline Industries
12:00-1:00 LUNCH
Richard Glynn | CEO, Bioscience Association of North Dakota
Kenneth Barton | President & CEO, SafetySpect
Dr. Zvika Shinar | CTO, MindUp
Erez Lampert | CEO, PathKeeper Surgical
Randy M. Schneider | BioND Board Member
2:30-3:00 NETWORKING BREAK
Brian Walters | President & CEO, Genovac Antibody Discovery
Joshua Magnone | Branch Chief of Food Protection and Innovative Packaging, Combat Feeding Division, Soldier Sustainment Directorate, DEVCOM Soldier Center
Patrick Walker, MD, MAJ, MC, USA | Director of Surgical Critical Care Initiative, USUHS and Trauma & Acute Care Surgery, Walter Reed National Medical Center (Virtual)
Dr. Teresa Connor | Dean of Health and Human Services, NDSU
Dr. Barney Geddes | Assistant Professor of Microbiological Sciences, NDSU
Dr. Alan Kallmeyer | Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, NDSU
Michael Burke | CEO, MMB Healthcare
Nick Ferrarese | Senior Manager of Business Development and Analytics, MMB Healthcare
DAY 2: Wednesday, September 18
7:45-8:15 Breakfast Reception (Networking)
8:15-8:20 Welcome
Jacob Shreffler | Senior Scientist, Genovac
8:20-8:30 Opening Remarks
U.S. Senator John Hoeven | Video Remarks
U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong | Video Remarks
James Brown | CEO and Co-Founder, Agathos Biologics
Sarah Tennefos | Sr. Manager, Manufacturing, Aldevron
Janet Roveda | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona
Richard Glynn | CEO, Bioscience Association of North Dakota
9:30-10:00 How AI is Transforming Drug Discovery
Tyrone Lam | COO, GATC Health
10:00-10:30 NETWORKING BREAK
Steve Hanlon | Director of Health & Bioscience Innovation Hub, University of Wyoming
Gregory Bertsch | Assistant Professor of Practice, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of South Dakota
Tyler Scherr | Licensing Specialist & Business Development Manager, UNeMed Corporation
Zane Gernhart, Ph.D. | Executive Director, NDSU Research Foundation
Steve Wedan | President & CEO, Imricor
Greg Wiita | President & CEO, Poiesis Medical
Richard Walsh | CEO, Corvent Medical
Iacob Mathiesen | CSO, Otivio
12:00-1:00 LUNCH
1:00-1:30 Cost Effective Onshoring of Biopharmeceutical Manufacturing
Mike Burke | CEO, Lincoln Therapeutics
Tanya Schmidt | Vice President of Central Operations, Thrifty White Health
Danny Tuck | Head of Quality and Manufacturing, TWL PharmaPac LLC
1:30-2:00 The Most Successful Investor of All Time: The Story of the DARPA Bet that Returned 2,100,000%
Michael Hsieh | Nonresident Affiliate, Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation
2:00-2:45 Growing Medical Science Product Development Using Government Funding
John A. Bogdan, Jr., Ph.D | President, Valaria Technical Consultants, LLC
2:45-3:00 Closing Remarks
OPTIONAL OFF-SITE FUNCTION
3:30-5:00 Tour of TWL Pharma Pac’s new pharmaceutical finishing facility (706 38th Street NW | Fargo, ND
2024 Career Exploration Workforce Networking Event
Companies had the chance to talk about their business and opportunities with students from the Greater FM area. Companies were able to share the benefits of the bioscience industry and chat with high school and college students about internships and career opportunities. If your company is interested in exhibiting in 2025, please contact Joey Ness jness@fmedc.com.
- 11:00-2:00
- October 15
- Chat with high school students and higher education students
Look back on our 2023 Summit
Bringing together talent, ideas and opportunity.
The inaugural two-day summit highlighted the recent growth and potential for the region’s biodefense and bioscience industry and included national thought leaders who discussed best practices in the emerging industry.
Check out the presentations from the 2023 Summit.
Fargo Moorhead's Bioscience Industry
The Greater Fargo-Moorhead region’s Bioscience industry may seem like an unlikely success story, far away from the venture capital and concentration of pharmaceutical and biotech powerhouses on the coasts. However, a unique blend of entrepreneurship, technical expertise and plenty of hard work has culminated in business, education and innovation that attracts bioscience and medical device innovators across the nation.
Community Profile
BEST. FINEST. TOPS.
We know some things about working hard and blowing off steam, and a few more about loyalty, safety and quality. Maybe that’s why Fargo-Moorhead keeps turning up on best-of lists for everything from livability to low stress to high satisfaction.
Fargo-Moorhead combines urban excitement with small-town friendly, reliability and safety. The metro encompasses Cass County on the North Dakota side of the Red River and Clay County on the Minnesota side. Together we’re about 252,000 strong.
And when it comes to families, Fargo-Moorhead is definitely tops. Many tangibles make this a wonderful place to raise your family – low overall and violent crime rates, clean air and water, great schools and medical facilities, short drive times and plentiful, affordable housing. Other reasons are not so measurable but just as important – friendly people, tight-knit neighborhoods, a strong sense of community, solid values and a genuine concern for others.
Check out all the amenities, community characteristics and services that make Fargo-Moorhead one of the nation’s top metro areas. We think you’ll like it here.
