Biotech program gets big boost

Utah high school students may soon know how to produce pesticides from living cells before they even know how to drive.

A $2 million grant to Salt Lake Community College is opening the doors to the biomanufacturing field to high school students with a hands-on lab program at the Granite Technical Institute. The grant, given to 42 community colleges nationwide, will allow SLCC to get students in the field early and get them through a four-year degree.

"We can begin getting students in the pipeline when they are in high school and getting them excited about math, science and technology," said Cynthia Bioteau, president of SLCC.

The federal WIRED grant will allow the Granite Technical School and SLCC to share lab space, faculty and industry training projects. Additional distance-learning courses will also be offered online to students across the state.

"We will have outreach to rural and isolated areas. It doesn't matter where you live, you can get connected to the biotech training," Bioteau said.

From making vitamins to antibodies to fight cancer, the biomanufacturing field is booming in Utah, said Tamara Goetz, head of the biotechnology program at SLCC. In fact, she said the biggest challenge right now is fending off employers until the students have graduated from high school.

The biotechnology program at Granite has already placed 18 students at local companies directly out of high school, she said.

"The bottom line is anything we use in our biotech programs is all hands-on," Goetz said.

The biomanufacturing training program is still relatively new, Goetz added, but is in high demand from industry leaders who want employees who have been trained in proper lab practices, FDA regulations and quality control.

"It's a new set of skill the companies have defined for us," she said.

An additional $1.2 million from the grant will also be going to the College of Eastern Utah to ramp up hands-on work-force training programs. In particular, the money will help get more nurses into the area's work force.

---

E-mail: estewart@desnews.com