John Z. Pietrzyk, M.A., M.B.A., is founder and president of Biomimetic Connections, LLC. Mr. Pietrzyk, with degrees in physics, molecular biology, and business, has over 25 years of involvement in the life sciences. He began his career as a medical researcher at UCSF and Stanford, before entering the biotech industry. This latter period includes sixteen years in life science business development, providing strategic business plans, establishing alliances, negotiating licensing agreements, and providing market research and product positioning plans. Prior to founding Biomimetic Connections he was Vice President for Business Development at Silicon Genetics, a firm developing software to analyze gene expression data.