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 minority-serving 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

Minority-serving institutions would benefit from an enhanced ability to motivate and train the future biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce.

Solution

Establish and install physical testbeds at four (4) MSIs 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 MSIs

As part of this work, the team will:

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

Impacts

The participating MSIs will have increased faculty expertise in biopharmaceutical manufacturing which will directly impact students at their home institutions.

Once these testbeds are implemented at MSIs and courses are offered routinely, individuals from diverse backgrounds will be trained via these testbeds and will be ready for careers in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.