Montgomery County Community College
Blue Bell, PA
- Communication hub links students, graduates, faculty, teachers, and industry.
- Suite of biomanufacturing curricula uses the latest pedagogical technologies.
- BIOMAN conferences and Protein Is Cash workshops inform faculty and teachers.
- Web site www.biomanonline.org – provides support for biomanufacturing curricular products.
- Curricula prepare technicians to meet the needs of the maturing biotechnology industry.
NBC² Adds Fuel to Growth of Biomanufacturing Programs
Services from NBC2 are fueling the growth of biomanufacturing education programs nationally.
More than 2,700 students were enrolled in 47 biotechnology degree programs in 17 states in fall 2009. Thirty-four of these biotechnology programs had at least 1 NBC² biomanufacturing course within their degree program.
More than 100 high school teachers participated in professional development opportunities at 6 Protein Is Cash workshops that were held in 6 states during 2010. Approximately 10,800 high school students benefited from the instruction their teachers received.
Five community colleges, 5 high schools, and 1 university in 8 states used NBC2’s expertise and biomanufacturing curricular materials during 2010 to develop and grow their new programs to support local and regional biomanufacturers.
Graduates of NBC² Programs Break Barrier
NBC2’s outreach to industry has helped the graduates of 2-year technical programs attain technician positions at biomanufacturing companies that were previously limited to bachelor’s degree holders. The graduates of NBC² community college programs are employed at many small biomanufacturers as well as at these global companies: Pfizer Inc., Genentech, Inc., Roche, Life Technologies Corporation, Shire plc, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Rohm and Haas Company, Celltech Group plc, EMD Serano, Inc., Repligen Corporation, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Millipore, Human Genome Sciences, Inc., MedImmune, LLC, Merck & Co., Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Genencor, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genzyme Corporation, Amgen Inc., Biogen Idec, Lonza Biologics, Inc., GlycoFi, Novartis, Baxter International Inc., and Cook Pharmica.
Biomanufacturers Plan to Hire More Technicians
In a 2009 survey of 23 biomanufacturers, 70% of the 19 responding companies projected that in the near future they would be hiring cell culture technicians, purification technicians, and quality control microbiology technicians. A smaller percentage of companies indicated they would be looking for quality control chemistry technicians, instrumentation or calibration technicians, facilities technicians, validation specialists, and documentation coordinators.
The survey results indicate that more than 200 biomanufacturing technicians will be needed in 2011 and approximately 840 in 2013. As the industry grows and matures, it is expected to produce not only biopharmaceuticals, but also biofuels, industrial enzymes, bioplastics, and replacement tissues and organs through the use of regenerative medicine techniques.
