Acorda Therapeutics CEO Ron Cohen (left), Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology director Eric Schadt (middle), and Rockefeller University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne (right) gave the audience a snapshot of the past, present, and future of New York biotech.

Ok, New York City's now a hotbed for wide-ranging academic collaborations, but it didn't used to be that way. What's changed?

Meg Tirrell (Bloomberg) and Alex Denner (Sarissa Capital Management) engage in some lighter moments with the crowd.

Audience members kept the speakers on their toes.

Celgene's senior vice president of business development, George Golumbeski (left), gives some candid thoughts about the mindset at Celgene: "It's deep in the DNA there to take a risk and think outside the box," he says. Francois Nader, who completely overhauled NPS Pharma to keep it alive, looks on.

A packed house takes in the event festivities.

Post-event networking begins en masse.

New connections are made over drinks and discussion.

Networking fuel.

Attendees share business cards, drinks, and talk life sciences.

One attendee catches our sneaky photographer mid-shot.

The crowd stayed pretty late, but then again, there was a lot to discuss.

Where would you rather be---inside talking biotech, or out in the polar vortex of Manhattan?