In its ongoing bid to prepare more Marylanders for careers in life sciences, the Maryland Tech Council has teamed with a Dublin-based workforce training organization to develop a life sciences curriculum both for people looking to enter the field and those already in the industry who want to improve their skills.
The partnership with the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) was unveiled Thursday at AstraZeneca’s Gaithersburg campus. It’s part of the Tech Council’s workforce training initiative, dubbed BioHub Maryland, aimed at helping the state’s roughly 2,700 life sciences and biotech firms fill positions for which workers do not necessarily need college degrees.
Under the partnership, BioHub Maryland will use NIBRT’s globally recognized curriculum to offer hands-on training in such areas as biomanufacturing concepts, cell and gene therapy, vaccine manufacturing, quality control, and data analysis. Classes will initially be held at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, but sometime next year will be relocated to a new, state-of-the-art BioHub Maryland facility that has yet to be announced, a Maryland Tech Council spokesperson told me Friday.
While there maybe initial costs to students, the spokesperson said BioHub Maryland is working with the state’s life sciences industry on potential funding that would result in students paying minimal or no fees. BioHub Maryland, which was launched in 2021, has secured more than $5 million in state and federal funding to support its workforce development efforts.
“Building a strong and diverse pipeline of skilled workers is critical to expanding Maryland’s global leadership in life sciences innovation,” Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said in statement. “BioHub Maryland’s new training partnership will help ensure that more Marylanders can gain the skills they need to pursue rewarding biopharma manufacturing careers.”
The Maryland Tech Council has already teamed with NIBRT to develop an online curriculum geared toward military veterans transitioning to civilian life. In a news release it said the expanded partnership will equip veterans and adults from underserved communities with the skills they need to pursue life sciences careers.
“BioHub Maryland’s global partnership with NIBRT enables us to meet the industry’s needs for a highly-skilled biopharma manufacturing workforce while creating career pathways for Marylanders of all educational backgrounds into the high-paying life sciences sector,” said Kelly Schulz, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council.
