Imec bioconvergence forum: specialty silicon driving deeptech in life sciences & medtech
March 26, 2026 | Cambridge, USA
Join us in Cambridge, MA, in the heart of a leading life sciences and medtech ecosystem, to hear perspectives from Merck, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Lonza, Nabsys, and other industry leaders on how specialty silicon and advanced manufacturing technologies drive bioconvergent innovation. From early-stage concepts to industrial-scale production, imec is your R&D-to-manufacturing partner, supporting every stage of the journey.
Bioconvergence is reshaping life sciences and medtech by combining advanced silicon technologies with biology, chemistry, and clinical insight. This integration enables the development of diagnostic, therapeutic, and research tools that are faster, more sensitive, and manufacturable at scale.
Wafer-scale chip processing technologies, and (post-CMOS-processed) specialty features such as integrated photonics, microfluidics, and nanopores, are key to creating innovative life science tools—high-throughput, fast, sensitive, and mass-producible. Imec offers a state-of-the-art, flexible fab infrastructure and the expertise to translate ideas into reliable, manufacturable products.
The forum will feature perspectives from across the life sciences and medtech, highlighting how bioconvergent technologies—such as microphysiological systems (MPS)—are advancing from research toward translational and industrial contexts, and how insights into the human nervous system are enabling new frontiers in therapy and health monitoring.
Why attend
This full-day forum, followed by a networking reception, will showcase how imec’s capabilities in semiconductor technologies and material platforms support life sciences and medtech innovation.
You will:
- Explore how imec collaborates with life sciences companies, medtech innovators, founders and other partners to solve complex technical challenges.
- See how silicon, integrated photonics, microfluidics, and nanopores are applied in the development of high-throughput, sensitive, and mass-producible tools.
- Learn how imec’s infrastructure and expertise accelerate the path from proof-of-concept to clinically and commercially viable products.
- Understand how deeptech execution risk is reduced by combining production-scale R&D infrastructure, capital, and technical expertise - through investor perspectives on timelines, costs, and infrastructure decisions from prototype to production.
The forum brings together technology developers, life sciences and medtech organizations, pharmaceutical partners, and investors to explore the practical applications of specialty silicon.
Agenda
- 09:00 - Registration & coffee
- 09:30 - Welcome and opening remarks by Pawan Jolly, Heading Strategic Partnerships within Health in East Coast at imec
- 09:35 - Imec as the bioconvergence engine by Peter Peumans, Senior VP Life Science Technologies & Fellow at imec
- 10:10 - Interfacing with imec and how it fits with your product development by Pawan Jolly, Heading Strategic Partnerships within Health in East Coast at imec
- 10:40 - Industrial keynote by Barrett Bready, Founder & CEO, Nabsys
- 11:10 - Disrupting bio with specialty silicon by Joost Dirven, Senior Business Development Manager at imec
- 11:45 - Networking lunch
Panels & deep dives
- 12:45 - Manufacturing biology with smart silicon
Intro by imec and CSEM: Multiparametric sensing technology meets automation
Panel with:- Carrie Mason, Director, Integrated Biologics R&D Group, Lonza
- Tom Valentin, Group Leader - Automated Sample Handling, CSEM
- Ted Straub, R&D Manager, Thermo Fischer Scientific
- 13:30 - Human biology on chip: the next big thing in personalised medicine
Intro by Imec: Semiconductor-enabled, data-powered MPS platform - from isolated lab prototypes to globally adopted, scalable products- Panel members from Merck and imec (more tbc)
- Panel members from Merck and imec (more tbc)
- 14:15 - Coffee break
- 14:35 - Navigating the layers of neurotechnology: redefining our relationship with the brain
Intro by imec: Medtech capabilities & neuromodulation with focus on selective modulation
Panel with:- Stavros Zanos, Associate Professor, Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
- Paul Le Floch, CEO, Axoft
- Oybek Kholiqov, Founder & CEO, Neuralenz
- Simon Little, Associate Professor of Neurology, UCSF Medical Center
- 15:20 - Fireside chat
- Tom Ruby, Strategic Operations at Flagship Pioneering
- Rocco Stirparo, Venture Development Manager – Health at imec
- 15:30 - Venture track: from capital risk to technical conviction
- Madeleine Laitz, Principal at Engine Ventures
- Jonathan Fajardo Cortes, Principal at imec.xpand
- Others tbc.
- 16:15 - Closing & networking reception
- 18:30 - End
Speakers
Peter Peumans, Senior VP Life Science Technologies & Fellow at imec
Peter Peumans is Senior VP Life Science Technologies & Fellow at imec, where he is responsible for imec’s strategy in health. He previously served as Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from KU Leuven.
Pawan Jolly, Strategic Partnerships (Health, East Coast) at imec
Barrett Bready, Founder & CEO, Nabsys
Barrett Bready is Founder and CEO of Nabsys, serving in the role since 2005. He grew the company from a single employee to 50 and raised over $50 million in venture financing. He is Adjunct Professor at Brown University, where he teaches Biotechnology Management, and serves as a commissioner of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission. He holds an MD and ScB in Physics from Brown University.
Joost Dirven, Senior Business Development Manager at imec
Joost Dirven is Senior Business Development Manager at imec, based in Leuven, Belgium. He works within imec’s business development and strategy organization, focusing on building and growing strategic industry partnerships, particularly in health-related technology domains. He operates at the interface of advanced research, industry collaboration, and commercialization, helping translate cutting-edge R&D into sustainable, long-term partnerships across the semiconductor and high-tech ecosystem.
Carrie Mason, Director, Integrated Biologics R&D Group, Lonza
Carrie Mason is Director in the Lonza Integrated Biologics R&D Group and heads a multidisciplinary center of excellence focused on Process Analytical Technologies and automation. She has nearly 30 years of industrial experience in purification development, analytical methodologies, and clinical and commercial biomanufacturing. She has supported process technology transfer from lab scale to large-scale manufacturing and led the rollout of Raman modeling with automation offerings for CDMO clients.
Tom Valentin, Group Leader - Automated Sample Handling, CSEM
Tom Valentin leads the Automated Sample Handling group within the Tools for Life Sciences team at CSEM in Switzerland. His group integrates PAT and other sensing technologies into novel consumables (pipette tips, transwells, well plates, lids) and lab automation solutions, including microfluidic and robotic platforms. His work spans applications in bioprocessing, cell and gene therapy, NAMs (organoids and organs-on-chips), regenerative medicine, and diagnostics.
Ted Straub, R&D Manager, Thermo Fischer Scientific
Stavros Zanos, Associate Professor, Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
Stavros Zanos is Associate Professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and a physician-scientist specializing in cardiovascular medicine, neuromodulation, and neuroimmunology. His work spans preclinical and early-stage clinical research in translational medicine.
Paul Le Floch, CEO, Axoft
Simon Little, Associate Professor of Neurology, UCSF Medical Center
Simon Little, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Neurology at UCSF, specializing in movement disorders and neuromodulation. During his Wellcome Trust PhD at Oxford, he developed the first adaptive deep brain stimulation algorithm for Parkinson’s disease, now FDA-approved. His lab develops personalized closed-loop brain stimulation therapies for movement, mood, and sleep disorders.
Rocco Stirparo, Venture Development Manager – Health at imec
Tom Ruby, Strategic Operations at Flagship Pioneering
Tom Ruby, PhD, is Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering, where he contributes to venture creation and development of advanced life sciences companies. An experienced entrepreneur, he has founded and led multiple startup companies and previously served as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Genomics from Université Paris XI.
Location
The Engine,
750 Main Street Cambridge, MA 02139
Registration
To ensure a balanced representation across companies, sectors, and participants, confirmation emails will be sent after we review submissions.