BRC Symposium 2025

The 19th Annual Botulinum Research Center Symposium will be held August 13-15, 2025, in New Bedford, MA.

Theme: Non-Canonical Aspects of Botulinum Neurotoxin Sciences

Anticipated Presenters/Participants: 

• John Bogdan, Jr., Cygnos Biotech/Valaria Technical Consultants, USA
• Dirk Dressler, Hanover Medical School, Germany
• Eric Johnson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
• Yukio Fujinaga, Kanazawa University, Germany
• Michael Adler, US Army Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
• John Barr, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA
• Gary Borodic, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
• Valeri Barsegov, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA, USA
• Shuowei Cai, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA, USA
• Min Dong, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
• Klaus Fink, Merz, Germany
• Suzanne Kalb, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA
• Raj Kumar, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA
• Andy Pickett, Toxin Sciences, UK
• Shashi Sharma, USFDA, College Park, MD, USA
• Bal Ram Singh, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA
• Lei Wang, Prime Bio, Inc., Dartmouth, MA, USA
• Patrick McNutt, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
• Thomas Binz, Hanover Medical School, Germany

*Additional participants/presenters will be added once confirmed.

Tentative Program:

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

     7:00 pm  (EST)

• Pre-symposium get-together and dinner

Thursday & Friday, August 14-15, 2025

     8:00 am - 2:00 pm (EST)

• DasGupta Memorial Lecture - Kim Janda, Scripps Research
• Symposium Speech - Jane Talkington, Bradley University
• Distinguished Speech - Michael Adler, US Army Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
• Neurology and Neurodegenerative Diseases Session
• Presentations - John Bogdan, Jr., Patrick McNutt, Min Dong, Lei Wang, Ghuncha Ambrin, Raj Kumar, Gary Borodic, Andy Ress, Shuowei Cai [others TBA]
• Posters
• Inaugural Speech - TBA
• Panel - "Unexplored Aspects of Botulinum" [Potential Panelists include Klaus Fink, Gary Borodic, Patrick McNutt, Lance Steward, & Karen Bunting]

Location:

Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford, MA, USA & Zoom 

Registration:

Please use the link above to register for the event.

Hotel Information:

Fairfield Inn & Suites - 185 Macarthur Drive, New Bedford, MA 02740

[within walking distance from the venue]     

Phone: +1 (774) 634-2000

     INADS Room Block - Discounted Rate Fairfield

Best Western - 737 State Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747

[transportation will be provided, upon request]

Phone: +1 (508) 717-0424

     INADS Room Block - Discounted Rate BW

Check the BRC Website for symposium announcements and additional information.

BRC Board of Advisors

• Michael Adler, US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense
• Terry Bowlin, Microbiotix, Inc., USA
• Karen Bunting, Ipsen, UK
• Klaus Fink, Merz Pharma, Germany
• David Hodge, US Department of Homeland Security, USA
• Patrick McNutt, Wake Forest University, USA
• Shashi Sharma, US Food and Drug Administration, USA
• Lance Steward, Abbvie/Allergan, Irvine, CA, USA
• Kodumudi Venkateswaran, Omni Array Biotech, Inc., USA

Symposium Coordinators:

• Shuowei Cai, University of Massachuetts, Dartmouth, MA, USA - scai@umassd.edu
• Raj Kumar, Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA - rkumar@inads.org