Capitalizing on Burlington’s position as the top small metropolitan area in the nation for health diagnostics and testing, Alamance Community College has broken ground on its Biotechnology Center of Excellence.
Construction has begun on the 30,000-square-foot, $17.6 million facility that will be a a mix of labs and classroom space serving the Biotechnology, Medical Laboratory Technology, Histotechnology and Agricultural-Biotechnology programs.
ACC’s Biotechnology program is the longest-running two-year program of its kind in the nation and boasts the most complete biomanufacturing suite of any North Carolina community college. The center’s mission is to serve as a regional hub for innovative, industry-supported and technology-based workforce development and jobs in the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology in Alamance County.
The curriculum will serve biotechnology, medical laboratory technology, histotechnology and agricultural-biotechnology programs. The center is also designed to include space for start-up and early stage biopharma companies. The building’s highly visible location along I-85/I-40 will also provide indoor/outdoor learning spaces that align with the needs of students, faculty and industry partners.
Biotechnology is a wide-ranging field that can embrace stem cell and regenerative medicine, pharmacology, histotechnology, cytotechnology, nanotechnology, microbiology, herbology, biomanufacturing and food crop science. At its core, Biotechnology leverages living organisms to perform specific industrial and manufacturing processes. Much of the activities involve the area of research and development that is aimed at deriving new knowledge and new skills to help alleviate human suffering.
Nearby university and industry partners include the N.C. Biotechnology Center, LabCorp, GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen, Syngenta, Monsanto, Novartis, Quintiles, Merck, Bayer Crop Services, Cook Medical Devices, The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
