Professional Development In A Workforce ProgramLinnea Fletcher PhDDepartment 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 (www.tssb.org) 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