Being a part of BIO means being among over 10,000 participants and sponsors sharing knowledge, networking ideas, and a packed agenda from June 17-22. Here are some things to know when heading to BIO 2017.

Is San Diego “The Capital of Genomics”?

Maybe. The genomics work anchoring the two U.S. shores—San Diego, CA and Cambridge, MA—provides the basis for much of where the genomics and genetics work currently is in its development. There is a lot of investment funding and there are a lot of genomics firms in the area. BIO 2007 in Boston, MA had the largest attendee list to-date, with over 22,000 participants. Will this year top it? Depends if more than 22,000-and-something people attend.

Who’s there?

According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) themselves, membership includes:

• 66% R&D-intensive companies (of those 89% have annual revenues under $25 million, 4% have annual revenues between $25 million and $1 billion, and 7% have annual revenues over $1 billion);
• 16% nonprofit/academic;
• 11% service providers; and
• 7% state/international affiliate organizations

The participants come from all facets of the bio/pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. There are great company corporate sponsors, tremendous exhibitor and vendor presence, and a great venue.

Get out there and get active.

From 5k runs to yoga classes to juice bars, this year’s BIO conference promises to walk-the-walk of healthy approaches to living and exemplify the theme of being actively engaged. But if you’re not up for any of those features, don’t worry because there’s very little scientific evidence of any specific health benefit to any of them, aside from the fact that physical activity in almost any form is health-improving. According to Science-Based Medicine, “There is insufficient evidence, however, to conclude that [yoga] is any superior to any other form of exercise of the same duration and intensity.” And as Brian Palmer writes, “Yoga is the new prayer: the risk-free, cost-free solution to all of your medical problems. The evidence is shaky, and the methodology questionable, but we just can’t get enough.” Just keep active and engaged; however you do it is better than not doing it.

And as far as juicing, by all means enjoy low-sugar varieties, which can be a good source of micronutrients; but enjoy them for what they are, a convenient way to ingest nutrient-dense vegetables and fruit. They aren’t going to ‘diagnose, prevent, or cure any diseases,’ nor would the FDA allow them to write any of those claims on their products. In fact, the vague references to ‘cleansing yourself of toxins’ is an incredibly massaged phrase to avoid FDA’s scrutiny while not actually meaning anything at all. There aren’t particular ‘toxins’ that juices are going to scavenge. As Dr. James H. Grendell, Chief of The Division of Gastroenterology in New York puts it, “There is no good scientific evidence that a juice cleanse, or any other food for that matter, is particularly relevant to removing toxins.”³

So please, attend all the sessions you can, check out all the vendors, have some good food, and at least set your activity tracker when you leave your hotel room because simply walking the exhibition floor will net you over 6,000 steps per day (that’s about 3 miles or 4.8 km). And don’t stress about not hitting 10,000 steps—that’s a statistic which was taken out of context years ago, and there’s no scientific basis for 10,000 steps being particularly meaningful, other than as a mental shorthand it tends to hook people. CP

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