Establishing Testbeds for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Workforce Development in Louisiana, North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, and Texas

This test bed project will focus on the ability of four institutions to motivate and train the future biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce. This will be pursued by establishing proven workforce development testbeds at select institutions.

Industry Need

Companies do not have access to enough workers with relevant skills and so programs that motivate and train as many individuals as possible are needed.

Approach

Establish and install physical testbeds at four institutions sufficient to enable hands-on biopharmaceutical manufacturing training
Update an existing testbed at Texas A&M’s National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing to allow it to introduce single use technology
Transfer, license, and conduct train-the-trainer on a successful biopharmaceutical manufacturing curriculum from Texas A&M to participating organizations

As part of this work, the team will:

Foster collaboration with established training providers
Share and transfer vetted and highly utilized curriculum
Develop institutional subject matter expertise to enable the institutions to grow the talent pool ready for entry-level jobs in vaccine and biologics manufacturing

Impacts

Rapidly expanded hands‑on biomanufacturing capacity at four MSIs (NCCU, UDel, UMBC, Xavier) by aligning infrastructure with the Advanced Certificate in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (ACBM)—saving institutions significant time and cost in curriculum development.

Conducted train‑the‑trainer at NCTM for 8 educators, building local subject‑matter expertise to deliver upstream/downstream/analytical operations training.

Executed curriculum licensing and adapted lab protocols to each site’s equipment, enabling consistent, quality‑assured delivery of ACBM content and accelerating program launch.

Value Statement/Outcomes

The project delivered biopharmaceutical manufacturing training testbeds across four MSIs, including procurement/installation of bioprocess equipment (e.g., AKTA, BioFlo, TFF systems, analyzers) and curriculum licensing/adaptation, plus a train‑the‑trainer session for 8 faculty. One site (NCCU) has already executed its first cohort of students, and all institutions are positioned to integrate the curriculum into academic or short‑course offerings—enabling scaled workforce production in biomanufacturing. The project demonstrated the ability of multiple educational institutions to partner cross-regionally in a pre-competitive manner to solve workforce challenges.

Outputs/Deliverables

Sites purchased, installed and received training on their ACBM-related equipment.

8 MSI faculty completed train‑the‑trainer at NCTM; curricula/licensing agreements executed and protocols adapted to site capabilities.

NCCU delivered the first ACBM iteration; all sites have installed equipment and received training for deployment.

Presentations

Ligon, J., Presenter, NIIMBL National Meeting, Establishing Testbeds for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Workforce Development in Louisiana, North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, and Texas, June 2023