From right: GO-Biz’s Director Panorea Avdis, Deputy Director Jesse Torres and ABPDU’s Program Head Todd Pray.

Panorea Avdis, Director of Governor Brown’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), visited the Biosciences Area’s Emery Station Operations Center on September 6 to learn more about the biosciences and bioeconomy related initiatives. GO-Biz was created to serve as California’s single point of contact for economic development and job creation efforts and is an important one-stop shop for companies that want to take advantage of California incentives.

During the visit Director Avdis, who was accompanied by Deputy Director and CA Small Business Advocate, Jesse Torres, met with Mary Maxon, Biosciences Associate Lab Director, Blake Simmons, Division Director, Biological Systems and Engineering, Chief Science & Technology Officer and Vice President for Deconstruction, Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), and Todd Pray, Program Head, Advanced Biofuels Process Development Unit (ABPDU). Avdis also toured the laboratories at JBEI and visited the ABPDU to learn more about how it can be a resource for young biosciences companies seeking to scale up operations.