Professional Development In A Workforce Program Linnea Fletcher PhD Department Chair, Biotechnology Co-PI, Bio-Link ATE Center Grant in Biotechnology

Overview of the Program  Educate Students to Work in the Workforce  Student Preparation Varies From High School All the Way to Ph.D  Framework: Skill Standards Determined by Industry Across the State (  Program is Based on a Company-Model (regulated environment)  Year One: Basic Techniques, Laboratory Validation, Ordering, Assay Development, Protein and Nucleic Acid Work (bioinformatics embedded in Intro)  Year Two: Advance Techniques in Cell Culture, Instrumentation, Molecular Biology (Gene Annotation), Online Bioinformatics Course, Biomanufacturing, Independent Research, Industry Internship

Faculty Resources  Industry  Advisory Board  State funding for workforce programs— especially in areas where there are jobs !

Opportunities For Faculty  Industry training and externships  Illumina  Bioo Scientific (NGS in medical diagnostics and fetal testing )  Genotox (cytochrome P 450 variants)  Digital World Biology  Academic Institutes  University of Texas  St Edwards University

Challenges For Training  Time for Faculty to Gain the Expertise  Cost of Software (Genius) and Licensing  Combining Authentic Lab Work with the Bioinformatics  Need to See the “Big Picture” so Training Across Bioinformatics  Keeping Up with Changes in the Industry  And Bioinformatics Tools are Not Keeping Up with the Industry  Standardization of Bioinformatics Tools and Making Sure People Understand the Concepts Behind the Tools