News and Events

Popular BioBasics course returns

March 4, 2010   |  

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd) is once again teaming up with BioTech Primer, Inc. to host a popular course on the basics of the biotech industry that sold out in record time last fall.

 

 

Dr. Collins Jones instructing last fall's sold out program. Dr. Jones will be returning to teach this Spring.
 

 

After rave reviews from participants, MassBioEd has lined up a repeat of the two-day program titled “BioBasics: Industry Knowledge for the Non-Scientist” on Thursday, April 29 and Friday, April 30 at the MassBio offices in Cambridge.

 

Juliet McDevitt, who serves as corporate counsel at Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., said anyone curious about how the biotech industry applies to daily life should take the course.

 

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would highly recommend it to anyone working in Drug Development or Biotech,” she said.

 

The course is designed to educate non-scientific employees of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries on the scientific and technological aspects of their industries so that they can be more strategic in their relationship-building skills within their companies.

 

Topics are divided into categories such as biology basics, DNA, and genetic engineering, with specific segments covering cell structure and function, pharmacogenomics and disease models, among other areas.

 

“We seem to have identified a real need that biotechnology professionals have—to better understand the science behind the work they do every day,” said Hannah Yun, manager of education and training programs at MassBioEd.

 

Collins Jones, Ph.D., who has been an instructor and scientific adviser for BioTech Primer since 2002, instructed the course last year and will be returning to teach this spring. Before teaching the course, Dr. Jones spent nearly 10 years as a research scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

 

Dr. Jones received many positive reviews from students of the course, with many describing him as “enthusiastic” and “exciting.”

 

“Dr. Jones was engaging and made a complex subject interesting!” said Abby Carney, an administrative assistant in the Medical Affairs Department at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

 

Registration for the upcoming offering of the course is currently underway and nearly half the class’s spots have been filled.

 

As with all MassBioEd courses, employees of MassBio member companies can register for the course at a discounted rate by visiting www.massbioed.org or by emailing Hannah Yun at courses@massbio.org.

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