Biotech Training is a Challenge

Even where the programs exist, they aren’t necessarily full. The average citizen is familiar with the roles of an electrician, policeman, plumber, or nurse, but few have any real understanding how medicines are made, and most would be shocked to realize they could work in the field of biomanufacturing without a college degree. Jobs in the field typically pay above the median for the corresponding degree in their area and are generically cleaner and safer than the jobs listed above. When working in a cleanroom, one would never encounter a closet containing dirt and spiders, never need to argue with a drunk person, and never encounter human feces.

Despite the attractive possibilities, the general lack of awareness keeps enrollment relatively low. This is a particular challenge because, while most hands-on courses are expensive, biotechnology training is particularly expensive. Not only must the student have access to expensive equipment, but the reagents, such as media and resins, for each lesson are also much more expensive than an average chemistry or biology class. Often, the labs must be set up in specialized areas to keep the procedures sterile, which adds additional cost of building and maintaining the facility. In one example, Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) had to suspend their hands-on two-year biotechnology program in 2017 due to low enrollment, even though nearly every graduate was hired at one of the local biomanufacturing firms. An average of six students per semester was not enough to maintain the cost of the program.

Nevertheless, biotechnology training programs are an interesting source of innovation in their own right, both in terms of curriculum and funding (Table 1). Two examples highlight diversity in how these programs are designed and implemented.

Table 1. Selected Nontraditional Biotechnology Training Programs

Shoreline Community College in Seattle, Washington, has an internship program in which students apply to the local Big Pharma companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and Seagen (now Pfizer.) The industrial firms choose candidates, and those accepted go through a 10-week training program for which the tuition (about $1,400) is paid by the firm. Graduates are then hired for a paid internship for 10–12 weeks, where they earn about 25% above the minimum wage for the area. The program consists of four courses, which cover regulatory affairs, aseptic technique, QA/QC (Quality Assurance and Quality Control) concepts, understanding of cleanrooms, and the basics of operating a bioreactor. The eight credit hour curriculum was designed by the industrial collaborators based on their specific needs. Students who do not wish to do the internship can pay their own tuition and take the certificate to further their career wherever they wish.

Students are typically adults who wish to retrain for a new skill, such as parents re-entering the workforce, international students who have a work visa but have had trouble obtaining a job, veterans, or people recently laid off from one of the large local employers. Shoreline also has a program in which high school students can earn dual credit that will either count toward a four-year degree or fast-track them to an entry-level job upon graduation.

The Shoreline program was founded in 2021 and has seen enough success that they are already expanding. In May 2024, they announced the grand opening of a new STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) building that houses biomanufacturing labs, complete with airlocks for students to practice gowning in.

Another innovative example can be found in the Biomanufacturing Training Center (BioTC) program located in Oklahoma City’s Innovation District. Founded in 2021 after a $35 million award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), the program intends to partner with local high schools, local career technical schools, community colleges and universities to provide stackable, practical training for all levels of biotech roles. The entry-level programs are concurrent with high school and demonstrate basic lab skills, such as pipetting and bench-scale equipment. The next level up is an intensive, bootcamp-style program consisting of less than 120 hours of classroom work in which students spend nearly all their time learning the basics of operating production equipment, cleanroom function, and GMP batch record concepts. They perform hands-on, skills-based operations, such as cell thaw, shake flask culturing of cells, inoculation of bioreactors, bioreactor harvest, running ion-exchange chromatography, and filtration steps. While many of the training activities are performed at bench-scale, the funding that BioTC received affords them the ability to also deliver training activities utilizing many of the same production-scale pieces of equipment found in biologics GMP production facilities throughout the United States. Additional instruction is stackable and intended for students who wish to continue focusing on their training or can be paid for by firms who send employees to the short programs (Industry Certifications) for intensive training on skills they need most in their facilities.

No matter the curriculum, location, school, or firm, the underlying issue is a lack of awareness that these jobs in biotech and pharma exist and that many of the most critical entry-level positions do not require four-year degrees. Popular conception of scientists is often in a hospital setting or a Ph.D. that feels out of reach for the young people entering the workforce or older workers who have borne the brunt downsizing in a different industry.

1. “About NIIMBL.” National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). Accessed 22 May 2024. 
2. Balchunas, John et al. “Innovation of the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Talent Pipeline.” National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). n.d.
3. Balchunas, John et al. “Innovation of the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Talent Pipeline: Part II.” National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). n.d.
4. The Partnership Imperative: Community Colleges, Employers, and America’s Chronic Skills Gap. Harvard Business School. 12 Dec. 2022.