​Last year BioBuzz helped launch the inaugural life sciences track for DC Startup & Tech Week (formerly DC Startup Week), an annual event designed to connect, educate, and celebrate the startup and tech community in the Washington, D.C. area.

​We’re back in 2025–and doubling down. The Life Sciences Track returns bigger, bolder, and more intentional, spotlighting the convergence of innovation, impact, and opportunity at the intersection of tech and bio in the nation’s capital.

​This invite-only portion of the program is exclusively for founders, investors, and industry leaders who are shaping the future of biotech and health innovation in the BioHealth Capital Region.

​Each session builds toward a unified vision: transforming the BioHealth Capital Region from a fragmented ecosystem navigating political and economic headwinds into America’s most adaptive and resilient life sciences hub.

​BioBuzz is covering registration costs for those on our guest list who RSVP. If you’re not on the list, you’re still welcome to attend the broader DC Startup & Tech Week programming by purchasing a ticket.

​The full agenda and schedule of events can be found here: https://www.dcstw.com/.

​Invite-Only Agenda

​9:30am Check-In

​10:00am Opening Remarks + Welcome

​10:05am TED Talk 1: Built to Breathe: Patient-Driven Innovation and the Future of Wearable Health | Shavini Fernando, Founder & CEO, OxiWear

​10:20am TED Talk 2: Biotech Re-Envisioned – A New Model for American Innovation | Murat Kalayoglu, MD, PhD, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, SOAR Bio

​10:35am TED Talk 3: The Future of Health: Government Investment and the Rise of Early-Warning Systems | Eric Van Gieson, PhD, CEO, Epoch Epigenetics

​10:50am TED Talk 4: Winning the Rest of the Decade in Healthcare and Life Sciences | Stephen M. Perry, CEO, Kymanox

​11:05am Break

​11:15am Roundtable: Building the Next-Gen Innovation Ecosystem in MD / DC / VA

​12:15pm Closing Remarks

​Public Agenda

​Our invite-only attendees are welcome to join these sessions. If you are not on our invite list, you can still register for the event and panels via the DC Startup Week website.

​1:30pm-2:45pm Panel 1: AI, TechBio and the New Biotech Playbook

​2:45pm-3:15pm Panel 2: What it Takes to Get Funded in 2026?

​TED Talks

​TED Talk 1: Built to Breathe: Patient-Driven Innovation and the Future of Wearable Health

​When doctors gave Shavini Fernando just two years to live, she refused to accept it. She collaborated with her care team at Johns Hopkins to design OxiWear, a discreet, wearable continuous oxygen monitoring device that empowers millions of people at risk of hypoxemia to live freely and confidently.

​This startup story is a proof point that the DMV is a region where patient-founders, physicians, and engineers can come together to create technologies that redefine what’s possible. OxiWear represents the future of patient-driven innovation: solutions born out of necessity, grounded in science, and scaled to impact millions.

​TED Talk 2: Biotech Re-Envisioned – A New Model for American Innovation

​The old model of biotech venture formation–well-funded startups run by big pharma veterans–no longer works in the face of fast, lean, and cost-effective global competition, particularly from China. The future of U.S. biotech lies in a different kind of innovation: training scrappy, tech-driven, entrepreneurial leaders who can do more with less, harnessing new tools and approaches to build the next generation of companies. This spirit of resilience and reinvention has always been at the heart of American innovation. Nowhere is this transformation better positioned to take root than the DMV region. With its unique mix of academic discoveries, highly skilled workforce, affordable biotech real estate, and strong political support, the DMV can set the standard for how the U.S. adapts, thrives, and leads in this new era of biotech.

​TED Talk 3: The Future of Health: Government Investment and the Rise of Early-Warning Systems

​Traditional grant funding is giving way to new government investment models, from In-Q-Tel to DoD-driven strategies. This shift is critical to solving big health challenges at scale.

​With recent breakthroughs, we now have the ability to detect diseases years before symptoms emerge. These predictive, disease-specific tools function as an “early warning” defense system for health–moving care from reactive treatment to proactive prevention.

​By combining bold government investment with scrappy, tech-driven innovators, we have the chance to extend healthy lifespans and build population-level health resilience.

​TED Talk 4: Winning the Rest of the Decade in Healthcare and Life Sciences

​The healthcare and life sciences industry is evolving faster than ever–and the winners will be those who understand where the market is going and how to move with it. From extreme outsourcing to innovations in drug delivery, the growth sectors of the next decade are already taking shape.

​This talk unpacks the lessons of strategic leadership, market dynamics, and scaling in today’s environment–showing what it really takes to thrive and how we can build an ecosystem that becomes a true powerhouse of innovation and growth.

​TED Talk Speakers

​Shavini Fernando

​Shavini Fernando, founder and CEO of OxiWear, is a video game, virtual reality (VR), web designer and developer. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Portsmouth, an M.B.A. from Edith Cowan University, and an M.A. in Communication, Culture, and Technology (CCT) from Georgetown University. She is currently completing an Executive Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship through Stanford University.

​After being diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to Eisenmenger Syndrome, Shavini invented OxiWear in 2019 as a tool for herself and the larger PH community. Ms. Fernando personally experienced multiple situations in which her heart stopped beating as a result of a sudden drop in oxygen levels, necessitating self-CPR to revive her heart.

​Her invention and new venture has received a variety of accolades, including awards from the Leonsis Foundation, CitiVentures, and Georgetown University, which presented her with the Exceptional Master’s Student Award in 2019. Ms. Fernando was also the recipient of the DC FemTech Award in 2019, recognizing her as one of the 49 influential individuals in Code, Data, and Design. In 2022, she was honored as a Washington Business Journal 40 Under 40 recipient. Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Fernando currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.

​Murat Kalayoglu, MD, PhD

​Murat Kalayoglu is co-founder and managing partner at SOAR Bio, a therapeutics-focused venture studio in Greater Washington.

​Prior to SOAR Bio, he was co-founder and CEO of Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RNAC), which he led from concept to proof-of-concept clinical trials, followed by a public listing in 2023. Dr. Kalayoglu continues to serve on Cartesian’s board of directors and chairs its Science and Technology Committee.

​Prior to Cartesian, Dr. Kalayoglu was co-founder and CEO of Topokine, which he led from concept to late-stage clinical trials, followed by a successful sale to Abbvie (NYSE:ABBV) in 2016. Prior to Topokine, he was co-founder and COO of HealthHonors Corporation, which he led from concept to commercialization, followed by a successful sale to Tivity Health in 2009.

​Dr. Kalayoglu is a board-certified ophthalmologist who completed his residency and research fellowship at Harvard, MD/PhD in immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

​Eric Van Gieson, PhD

​Dr. Eric Van Gieson is the CEO of Epoch Epigenetics, a company that measures the host epigenetic and multiomic response to disease for earlier diagnosis than any other product on the market. EPOCH’s technology is based upon a program that Dr. Van Gieson created and led while at DARPA as a program manager from 2017-2022. He also has created programs at DARPA to prevent traumatic brain injury with molecular prophylaxes, delivering drugs with living commensal organisms, and building next generation materials to protect us from biological and chemical threats. He spent a significant part of his time at DARPA working to commercialize the technology emerging from his programs, with products now operating in clinical laboratories for daily diagnostic applications and 3 products in clinical trials as a result of his DARPA investments. These commercialization efforts have led to >$400M in commercial and private investment in DARPA technologies (companies including iota BioSciences, GE Research, and SecondWave) to ensure transition to both commercial and public/military applications with companies such as Novo Nordisk, Astella, and MedTronic.

​Prior to joining DARPA, Dr. Van Gieson served as the Chief Technology Officer at the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI, a STRATCOM UARC) and before that as Director of Biosurveillance and Diagnostics at MRIGlobal. At MRIGlobal and at NSRI, Dr. Van Gieson worked together with private and interagency partners to develop a novel patient transport system, known as the Containerized BioContainment System (CBCS). This platform ultimately received an R&D 100 award and is currently in use by the Department of State. He has also served as Chief of the Diagnostics, Disease Surveillance, and Threat Detection Division within the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and as Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL). In his spare time, Dr. Van Gieson has served as the Chief Judge on the Nokia Sensing XChallenge and a Judge on the QualComm Tricorder XChallenge on behalf of the XPrize Foundation.

​Dr. Van Gieson received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biomedical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

​Stephen M. Perry

​Stephen M Perry, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Kymanox. Stephen M. Perry has over two decades of experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing with an emphasis on design engineering, scale-up, start-up, and regulatory approval. Stephen has participated in the FDA commercial approval of more than two dozen unique drugs, devices, biologics, and combination products. He has extensive cGMP experience as a Process Engineer, Technical Project Manager, Quality Manager, Regulatory Auditor, and Information Technology Strategist. His work with novel cancer drugs, including autologous cell and gene therapies, and next generation antibiotics are notable from a technology transfer perspective. Stephen has led numerous multi-million-dollar capital projects and has contributed to several major facility installations and qualifications, which began at the conceptual design phase.

​In 2004, Stephen created Kymanox as a professional services firm specializing in commercializing modern medicine. Starting with a small investment and large commitment, Stephen has strategically grown Kymanox into a nationally recognized organization serving companies in combination products, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and beyond. Prior to Kymanox, Stephen had various leadership roles supporting commercialization at M+W Group, Abbott Laboratories, FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, and Human Genome Sciences.

​Stephen is a keynote speaker at life sciences conferences and author for industry publications. He advises several companies at the C-suite level and has served on the board of directors of publicly traded companies. Stephen is an industry-recognized expert in several subject areas, including technology transfer and scale-up. Stephen is a long-time supporter of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE), Parental Drug Association (PDA), and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He graduated with high honors with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and studied at the graduate level at Purdue University.

​Roundtable

​Building the Next-Gen Innovation Ecosystem

​The next five years will separate regions that talk about innovation from those that actually produce world-changing biotech and life science companies. Startups don’t succeed because they exist inside four walls – they succeed when they’re plugged into an ecosystem that delivers.

​That means:

• ​Smart capital willing to take risks in deep tech and scale companies beyond the seed stage.

• ​Industry partnerships that point toward commercial adoption, not just research grants.

• ​Talent pipelines for advanced manufacturing, data science, and regulatory expertise at scale.

• ​Policy and infrastructure that move faster than bureaucracy – building labs, trials, and markets where innovation can thrive.

​This invite-only roundtable is designed to be a catalyst for what startups, investors, and commercial leaders need now – and what ecosystems must intentionally build to compete globally. Winning won’t come by chance; it will come from deliberate ecosystem design that gives the next generation of biotech companies the capital, talent, and partnerships they need to thrive.

​Expect candid insights, bold ideas, and collaborative problem-solving from the people shaping the future of our region’s life sciences.

​Afternoon Panels

​AI, TechBio, and the New Biotech Playbook

​Artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool—it’s the foundation of a new era of biotech innovation. From discovery to clinical delivery, AI is transforming how we design studies, engage patients, and bring therapies to market.

This shift, often called TechBio, is reshaping how we discover, develop, and deliver healthcare solutions. From computational biology and AI-native platforms to decentralized trials, real-time data integration, and operational efficiency across sponsors, CROs, and research sites, AI-driven innovation is creating a seamless bridge between scientific discovery and patient impact–rewriting the traditional biotech playbook in real time.

But success in this space requires more than algorithms. It demands thoughtful integration of technology with biology, smart strategy, and a deep understanding of how to scale in a complex, regulated industry.

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or scientist, this discussion explores how AI and TechBio are redefining the biotech landscape–and what it takes to thrive in this new era of connected, data-driven healthcare innovation.

​What it Takes To Get Funded in 2026

​Securing capital is one of the biggest hurdles for biotech and life science entrepreneurs. From government grants and SBIR programs to venture capital, corporate partnerships, and non-dilutive funding, today’s startups have more pathways than ever to fuel their growth—but navigating them can be overwhelming.

​This panel brings together investors, founders, and funding experts to share practical insights on how to identify, access, and leverage funding opportunities that best fit your stage and strategy. Whether you’re bootstrapping a new venture, preparing for your first institutional raise, or exploring partnerships to scale, you’ll leave with actionable knowledge and resources to strengthen your funding journey.