Dear dupa,

Picking the Endpoints 11 this year was harder than it has ever been.

Our selection of the year’s most interesting biotech startups is always a process filled with long hours of debate and research by our reporters and editors. It begins in late spring and lasts throughout the summer. We talk to dozens of executives, scientists and investors. Most companies don’t make the cut.

What made this year hard was the secrecy that now prevails in biotech. Fearful of rivals at home and abroad, more companies are saying less. But that’s also what makes our list unique. Many of the companies we’ll reveal in Boston later this month are talking about their science for the first time. For us, this is a night to talk about the risk-takers at the edge of innovation, and to show our audience some of what they're working on.

Can't make Boston? Register for the free virtual experience on Sept. 28.

If you want to meet the companies we think will define the next few years, join us. You’ll hear from our winners, who are pulled from the worlds of cell therapy, AI, gene therapy and other areas. And Endpoints' Science Correspondent Ryan Cross will host an intimate conversation with Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber about the importance of supporting fundamental science and far-fetched ideas to keep the bedrock of America's biotech industry competitive.

I hope to see you there.

Can't make Boston? Register for the free virtual experience on Sept. 28.