DURHAM – Despite the pouring rain, it was a packed house at LaunchBio’s monthly Larger Than Life Science networking event at The Chesterfield.

With its Endless Summer theme, LaunchBio delivered a night of cool conversations.

The crowd was brimming with representatives from North Carolina’s leading life science support organizations, including The Research Triangle Park, DHIT, NC Bio, Biotechnology Center, American Underground, SBTDC, First Flight Venture Center, BioLabs and CED.

The networking was intense.

And there were plenty of smiles.

In the first program of the night, Ben Johnson shared Silicon Valley Bank’s reporting on the state of the life science industry. Following the presentation, a panel of entrepreneurs and strategic venture partners weighed in with their observations.

[Check out WRAL TechWire’s report about the latest trends.]

The”Banking on Success” panel was moderated by SVB’s Scott McCarty and featured Megann Vaughn Watters from LabCorp, John Gustofson from AbbVie Vetures, Richard Smith from StrideBio and Paul Boyer from Humacyte.

[WRAL TechWire reports about the good news for Triangle firms.]

A fireside chat between Duke professor Dr. Misha Angrist and Russ Campbell of Burroughs Wellcome Fund concluded the night’s programming. The candid conversation centered on the evolution of personal genomics, and the social, political and ethical considerations of the field.

LaunchBio welcomes everyone interested in building a strong support network for North Carolina’s life science and healthcare innovators. Mark your calendars for LaunchBio’s next Larger Than Life Science event on September 6th. For more information, visit www.launchbio.org.