Mass. program puts workers in biotech labs

So instead of training students to enter the field of biotechnology from the research side, Van Dyke created a program that would teach students how to be technicians at a biotechnology company.

This means students not only take courses in biotechnology, chemistry and biochemistry, but classes in technical writing and compliance. This way they can easily step into a biotechnology plant, knowing the rules and regulations they must comply with to make a drug.

"The ideal candidate for us is someone who has been exposed to some of the hands-on laboratory work, the manipulation of the equipment, use of diagnostic tools," said Bill Ciambrone, Shire's head of technical operations at its rare disease hub in Lexington, Massachusetts. "Those are the types of people who are most in demand."

While the Labor Department reported job growth of 288,000 jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates job growth for biomanufacturing technicians will be about 10 percent from 2012 to 2022. This should translate into 8,000 new jobs over the decade.

Hundreds of those jobs will be added in Massachusetts, the state with the highest number of biotech jobs per capita, according to Northeastern University's Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy. A survey by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation forecasts 393 jobs in biomanufacturing, process development and quality will be added by 2016.

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Quincy College expects its one-of-a-kind program, designed with the help of biotechnology companies in the state, will help meet that demand.

"If you're not doing what they need you to do," Van Dyke said referring to the biotech companies. "You're just wasting your time."

Armed with a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and a $645,000 grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Van Dyke wasted no time setting up two programs at Quincy College: Both the associates degree program and the certificate program are run in conjunction with the Jewish Vocational Services (JVS).

The certificate program is aimed at adults who have been out of the workforce, or are looking to redirect their careers. They attend refresher courses run by the JVS in math, biology, chemistry and other subjects for 23 weeks before entering Quincy's certificate program where they receive training in the basics of biomanufacturing and compliance.

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Mass. program puts workers in biotech labs