This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Science Master's Program in Biomanufacturing and Bioprocessing: From Science to Business in Biomanufacturing: the Missing Link for the US Biotechnology Industry
The University of Georgia's Science Master?s Program in Biomanufacturing and Bioprocessing will train science and technology graduates for leadership roles in the rapidly expanding and vitally important biomanufacturing field, impacting areas such as biofuel production, green chemical manufacturing and biopharmaceuticals. Biomanufacturing is the production of natural products using living organisms such as yeast and bacteria through fermentation and cell culture. The program will prepare students for immediate engagement in an industry that is short of leaders equipped with the necessary science, technology and engineering skills combined with proven business and project management training. The program will be innovative in its combination of academic and industry led training; in bringing together exceptional scientific, engineering and business educators with a combined focus; and in giving students access to state of the art equipment, practical and virtual training experiences to ensure their readiness for a challenging and rewarding workplace. Students will have access to the exceptional and unique biomanufacturing facilities at the University of Georgia where they will work with industry leading equipment and control systems. Potential employers and companies that produce biomanufacturing tools will work alongside faculty to guide, train, set challenges for, and provide internships to students. Students will emerge with an understanding of the biology, biochemistry, chemical engineering, process control and regulatory aspects that underpin fermentation, cell culture and product purification. More importantly, they will have the ability to apply that knowledge in a competitive global business community to support the growth of environmentally sustainable manufacturing in the USA with beneficial impacts on the economy, environment, healthcare and national security.
This Professional Science Master's program provides a STEM-based graduate education curriculum in Biomanufacturing and Bioprocessing (MBB) for education and training of technically savvy professionals. The curriculum incorporates rigorous scientific training with understanding of business principles, a focused research experience, case studies involving teamwork and real-world problem solving, an industrial internship, and professional communication opportunities. The difficulty in teaching biomanufacturing using traditional methods is circumvented by using new tools, such as interactive web-based classes; interdisciplinary multi-level problem solving groups; hands-on cross training between biologists and engineers; and through hands-on experience with industry standard equipment. Intensive interactions with businesses have shaped and informed a curriculum that is industry-led from the start. Nationally recognized companies are combining forces with experienced and engaged faculty to develop curricula to prepare students for a challenging but highly rewarding workplace. Industry partners include: Merial, Ltd.; Meredian Bioplastics; Novozymes, Inc.; Terrapin Beer Company; Genentech; Swissaustral; Green Biologics, Ltd.; Lallemand Biofuels and Distilled Spirits; Synageva; EndoChoice; Baxter; Thermo Fisher Scientific; New England Biolabs, and others. In addition to thorough scientific training, each student completes a graduate level, industry-relevant, hands-on research project reflecting STEM interests of potential employers, followed by an industrial internship. We are helping to create a diverse workforce reflecting our diverse population, by partnering with many different programs designed to enhance opportunities for traditionally underrepresented individuals. Our program is roughly 50:50 male:female, and is racially and ethnically diverse. The MBB is a model for introducing highly technical STEM methods to motivated science students by preparing them for immediate engagement in an industry that is desperately short of leaders equipped with a strong science/technology background and experience in business strategy, finance, and project management. The biotechnology industry is diverse, encompassing at one end the massive production scales of the liquid biofuels industry to the high quality, tightly regulated biopharmaceutical industry at the other. In between are commercial sectors such as the biochemical industry, agriculture, environmental technology, biodefense, biomaterials, household goods, and even leisure that use the products of biotechnology. Each of these market sectors has its own needs and drivers, but a common resonating aspect is that in order to get a product to market, a biological entity must be grown and products harvested from it, in a word it must be "biomanufactured". Different market sectors in the biotechnology industry are linked via biomanufacturing and historically, the US has not had a large fermentation industry and, therefore, has not developed sufficient training programs. STEM discipline faculty, the UGA administration, and a large and growing number of companies are committed to developing the MBB as a landmark model program and expect the success of this program to foster other Professional Science Master programs integrating industry needs, business training, and scientific rigor. All of the students completing the program have been hired in the field, with many of the students receiving multiple job offers prior to leaving their internship experience. Companies like Meredian Bioplastics and Merial have this to say about the program: Meredian Bioplastics benefits greatly from the education and training your students receive and we were pleased to employ one of the first graduates from your program. The wealth of knowledge that he brought to our team has been an inegral part of our success. Before the establishment of your MBB program, it was very difficult to find a business graduate with an understanding of the sciences or a science graduate with a business background that can effectively work in, manage, or lead biotechnology projects that are necessary to move an idea from the laboratory to a commercial project. These commercial projects can range from a new antibiotic that can traeat a drug resistant organism to a biochemical that can reduce our dependence on petroleum. We are excited at the prospect of continuing our relationship through paid internships and curriculum development as well as see all of the graduate develop through their careers to solve some of society's greatest challenges through biotechnology. We believe the MBB program is an asset to Merial, to UGA, and to the economic development of the region. We have had two interns at Merial, and we hired both of them upon completion of the internship. One intern was awarded a competitive ORISE Fellowship in collaboration with the DOD, USDA, Oak Ridge, and Merial. We were impressed with the scientific training provided by the MBB program and the ability of the students to hit the ground running. We look forward to continued collaborations with the MBB program and seek to provide internship opportunities for two students per year for the foreseeable future. We are proud to be a founding partner in the launching of this new program.
