biomanufacturing

A recent Forbes article found that 25 U.S. states allow community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees---as long as they met a concrete need and did not compete with the state 4 -year colleges. This alternative avenue to a 4-year degree is helping community colleges play a key role in meeting biotechnology's labor shortage in the field of biomanufacturing. The 4-year degree meets the stated need by local employers for manufacturing workers who have a stronger theoretical understanding of biomanufacturing.

MiraCosta College started offering the first community college biomanufacturing 4-year degree in 2014. Theirs... Read more

BioMADE is the newest of several member based Manufacturing Institutes funded by the Department of Defense to increase public private partnerships. BioMADE is focused on advancing bioindustrial manufacturing to get more products across the Valley of Death to being produced at scale. Bioindustrial manufacturing is distinct from biopharmaceuticals, in that it uses cells, or even cell-free systems, to produce large amounts of chemicals used in industrial applications like fuels, paints and coatings, plastics, rubber, and even cement. BioMADE held its inaugural member meeting at the Science Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota June 13-15,... Read more

According to Stephen Emerick, (Thermo) you cannot do anything without applying Good Manufacturing Practices. And while I am pretty sure he was talking about biomanufacturing, ensuring that a product is pure, safe, and effective sounds like a good plan for pretty much anything being produced. Stephen stated that GMP is built off of 'lots of mistakes', over hundreds of years--a perspective I had not really thought about until he said it. I listened to Stephen on the STL Biotechnology podcast series, hosted by the Center for Plant and Life Sciences at St Louis Community College-Florissant Valley. There... Read more

Chemical and Engineering News is not a journal I read very often, but a recent article titled “Help wanted in biomanufacturing” definitely caught my eye. Successes within the R&D and business fronts of life sciences companies have pushed technologies to commercial-scale production facilities. But there aren’t enough technicians to operate the machines that grow the cells. It isn’t a crisis….yet.

And with some smart and timely programs, it won’t become a crisis. Programs such as companies partnering with schools to set up a local associate’s degree program in hopes of then employing “home grown” talent. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Education... Read more