Lithuania launches first life sciences club for women

Lithuania’s life sciences and biotechnology association LithuaniaBIO is launching WINB, the country’s first club for women in the sector, LRT reports. The club grew out of the association’s Women in Biotech conference, held since 2020, and will begin operating next week.

WINB will bring together women working in life sciences and biotechnology to promote leadership, help move research into business and address issues including women’s health and research funding, LithuaniaBIO said in a press release.

The club will organise business breakfasts, informal meetings, laboratory visits and training on clinical trials, medical technology development and commercialisation. It also plans women-focused hackathons and mentoring programmes, and will encourage interest in life sciences and biotechnology through visits to schools and universities.

LithuaniaBIO executive director Simona Šimulytė said the Women in Biotech conference, which took place last week for the seventh year, had brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and institutional representatives. The growing community needed more than one event a year, she said.

Šimulytė said discussions at this year’s conference highlighted that only about 5% of research findings are analysed separately by biological sex, while preclinical studies still rely on male cells and male animals. She also cited research showing that 45% of women in Lithuania rate their health as good, compared with an EU average of 66%. She said only 6% of the roughly 12.5 billion euros in EU capital goes towards protecting European women.

The idea for WINB took shape during a practical workshop at this year’s conference, Šimulytė said.