BioSynergy

BioSynergy Magazine is a biannually published biotechnology magazine and self-titled non-profit corporation targeted at executives and scientists at the BIO International Convention. It is the only student-run biotechnology magazine in the world. Created by students at the University of Toronto, BioSynergy has since expanded to incorporate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the University of British Columbia. The student magazine has a number of major supporters, including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents 1300 biotechnology companies worldwide, and Nature Biotechnology.

History

BioSynergy Magazine was created under the auspices of the Delta Biotech Society at the University of Toronto. The founders originally intended the organization to inform and inspire undergraduate students in business and the biomedical sciences, but later discovered a much broader audience receptive to their IDeaS outside of the university and across North America.

The magazine was initially one platform within a broader initiative in Toronto founded at the same time known as the Delta Biotech Society. A seminars series was the other platform at the beginning. The final platform, mock case-study sessions focusing on biotech companies emerged from the unique training regiment the founders developed for BioSynergy’s editorial team.

Issue #1 of BioSynergy (The Biotech Odyssey) was launched in September 2007, focusing on the linkages between entrepreneurial scientists, investors and clinicians in the biotech industry. One thousand print copies were distributed at the University of Toronto. The first meeting at MaRS brought together almost 100 students. Subsequent recruiting expanded the staff from fourteen undergraduate students to forty six students ranging from MBA to medical to doctoral students. These students began work on Issue #2 (Our Biological Renaissance) through the 2007-2008 academic year, which focused on biology’s transition into a quantitative, engineering-based discipline.

The original vision was fulfilled in less than a year from BioSynergy’s beginning when in April 2008, the founders persuaded the Biotechnology industry Organization to allow them to distribute BioSynergy to 22,000 scientists and executives at BIO2008 in San Diego – the world’s largest biotechnology conference.

Content

The magazine welcomes guest contributions and story pitches from biotech professionals who have perspectives to share from their own entrepreneurial journey. Notable contributors include:

• James Watson (1962 Nobel Prize Winner and co-discoverer of the double helix)
• Phillip Sharp (1992 Nobel Prize Winner)
• William Brody (President of Johns Hopkins University).
• Daniel Vasella (CEO of Novartis)
• Andrew Marshall (Editor in Chief of Nature Biotechnology)
• Hugh Grant (CEO of Monsanto)