Meeting Industry Demands for an Immunobiotechnology-Capable Workforce through College and Secondary Technician Education

以两年制大学为重点的高级技术教育(ATE)计划侧重于为推动我国经济的高科技领域的技术人员提供教育。免疫生物技术是生物技术领域发展最快的学科之一。免疫生物技术包括两个对现代医学至关重要的主要领域：开发与免疫系统有关的药物和诊断方法，以及制造来自免疫系统的治疗药物(例如，来自抗体)。免疫生物技术的工作需要专业的专业知识，而这些专业知识对于中学生和大学生来说并不普遍。不断发展的行业需求和现有培训之间的差距意味着，即使是大学毕业生和现有的行业工人也必须寻求额外的免疫生物技术培训或教育，才能获得和/或在这些工作中取得成功。通过为参加两年制大学学位和证书课程的学生提供增强的教育体验，并将该课程与中学教育联系起来，华盛顿州海岸社区学院的这个项目将根据行业需求培养各种各样的生物技术工作者，因为它提供了强有力的教育和培训计划，以支持华盛顿州和美国不断增长的免疫生物技术产业。通过该项目开发的成果和最佳实践将通过与Bio-Link(国家生物技术ATE中心)的协调，在生命科学教学资源社区网站，在海岸线社区学院和奥斯汀社区学院主办的教职员工和教师发展机构，以及通过生物教育期刊和会议来传播。生物技术是一个充满活力的行业，不断变化的方法和实践必须反映在技术人员培训和继续教育中，以确保新兴和现有劳动力拥有当前高需求的技能。目前，ATE的Bio-Link网络中没有其他项目提供免疫生物技术方面的证书或专业培训。该项目旨在通过创建可移植的免疫生物技术课程来填补这一空白，供两年制大学在学位和证书课程中使用，以及可供高中教师在各种中学生物课程中使用的基于工具包的教学单元。华盛顿州海岸社区学院的研究人员与数字世界生物学合作，并与该地区生物技术行业的顾问合作，将在该学院现有生物技术项目的多门课程中纳入免疫生物技术主题，并将创建新的免疫生物技术课程，以回应当地行业的新需求。新课程包括药物开发、癌症生物学、质量系统、高级生物信息学的案例研究，以及为学生提供独立研究经验的两个特别项目课程。新课程将作为选修课，供海岸线生物技术应用艺术与科学协会(A.S.)现有和未来的学生使用。学位和生物技术证书课程。新课程还包括一种可堆叠的免疫生物技术证书的核心，旨在帮助寻求更新知识和技能的毕业生和现有行业工人。新的免疫生物技术课程将通过Bio-Link Course-in-a-Box(TM)功能向更广泛的生物技术技术员教育社区传播。此外，项目组将开发和试点两个高中水平的免疫生物技术工具包教学单元--传染病和癌症生物学--以鼓励中学生完成高中学业并寻求大学水平的教育。未来，这些试剂盒将通过Shoreline现有的生物技术计划试剂盒贷款计划向当地教师提供。可移植的大学级课程和高中级工具包的传播可能会极大地改善全国生物技术技术人员的准备情况。将采用形成性和总结性评价程序，不断加强项目活动，并为研究和评价项目及其交付成果的成功提供机会。

With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. Immunobiotechnology is one of the fastest growing disciplines in the field of biotechnology. Immunobiotechnology encompasses two main areas that are vital to modern medicine: developing drug and diagnostic methods that relate to the immune system and manufacturing therapeutic drugs derived from the immune system (for example, from antibodies). Jobs in immunobiotechnology require specialized expertise that is not widely available for secondary and college students. The gap between evolving industry needs and existing training means that even college graduates and incumbent industry workers must seek additional training or education in immunobiotechnology to acquire and/or succeed in these jobs. By offering enhanced educational experiences to students enrolled in two-year college degree- and certificate programs and connecting this curriculum with secondary school education, this project at Shoreline Community College in Washington will educate a wide variety of biotechnology workers in line with industry needs as it provides a robust education and training program to support the growing immunobiotechnology industry of Washington state and the United States. The deliverables and best practices developed through the project will be disseminated through coordination with Bio-Link (a National ATE Center for Biotechnology), at Life Sciences Teaching Resources Community website, in faculty and teacher development institutes hosted at Shoreline Community College and at Austin Community College, and through biology education journals and conferences.Biotechnology is a dynamic industry, where continually changing methods and practices must be reflected in technician training and continuing education to ensure the emerging and incumbent workforce possesses current, high demand skills. Currently no other project in ATE's Bio-Link network offers a certificate or specialty training in immunobiotechnology. This project intends to fill this gap by creating portable courses in immunobiotechnology for use in degree and certificate programs by two-year colleges and kit-based instructional units that can be used by high school teachers in a variety of secondary biology courses. Investigators at Shoreline Community College in Washington state, collaborating with Digital World Biology and consulting with advisors from the region's biotechnology industry, will incorporate immunobiotechnology topics in multiple courses in the college's existing biotechnology program and will create new immunobiotechnology courses that respond to the emerging needs of local industry. New courses include Case Studies in Drug Development, Cancer Biology, Quality Systems, Advanced Bioinformatics, and two special projects courses providing independent research experiences for students. The new courses will serve as elective courses for current and future students enrolled in Shoreline's Biotechnology Associates of Applied Arts and Sciences (A.A.A.S.) Degree and Biotechnology Certificate programs. The new courses also comprise the core of a stackable Immunobiotech certificate aimed at graduates and incumbent industry workers seeking to update their knowledge and skills. The new immunobiotechnology courses will be disseminated to the broader biotechnology technician education community via the Bio-Link Course-in-a-Box(TM) feature. In addition, the project team will develop and pilot two high school level kit-based instructional units in immunobiotechnology - Infectious Disease and Cancer Biology - to encourage secondary students to complete high school and seek college-level education. In the future these kits will be available to local teachers through Shoreline's existing Biotechnology Program kit loan program. The dissemination of the portable college-level courses and high school-level kits is likely to dramatically improve the preparedness of technicians in biotechnology nationally. A formative and summative evaluation process will be employed to continuously enhance the project activities and provide opportunities for researching and evaluating the success of the project and its deliverables.