May 10, 2010

Johns Hopkins to unveil Center for Biotechnology Education

The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ Advanced Academic Programs will unveil the Center for Biotechnology Education this week at its fifth annual biotechnology research symposium, to be held on the university’s Montgomery County Campus. The center will expand the scope of Johns Hopkins’ biotechnology education by adding symposia, workshops, youth development programs and noncredit training to its current offering of graduate degrees, and master’s certificates and fellowships.

“The Johns Hopkins University has long played a significant role in scientific research and discovery,” said Patrick Cummings, director of the center and senior associate program chair of the MS in Biotechnology program. “In that tradition, we created the Center for Biotechnology Education to help share the knowledge and resources of our premier research institution with students, working professionals, teachers and the general public.”

The establishment of the center positions Johns Hopkins at the forefront of educational continuum for regional, national and international biotechnology programming and leadership.

“The center is working to forge strong partnerships with industry and government organizations, area school districts and other Johns Hopkins entities,” said Dick McCarty, chair of the center and chair of AAP’s Advanced Biotechnology Studies program. “Our goal is to build a pipeline of students and professionals equipped to achieve success in K–12 education, graduate school and the workplace in the fields of biotechnology, bioinformatics, bioscience regulatory affairs, and bioscience business and leadership.”

The center’s inaugural event will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, in Gilchrist Hall. The event will feature keynote speaker Jesse Goodman, chief scientist and deputy commissioner for science and public health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and poster presentations from area high school students and from Johns Hopkins biotechnology, bioinformatics and regulatory affairs master’s degree students.

The administrative offices for the center are in the Wyman Park Building on the Homewood campus. To serve its surrounding community, the center also has an office on the Montgomery County Campus, which has a state-of-the-art laboratory for graduate student training and for workshops, as well as a dedicated computer laboratory for bioinformatics workshops.

For more information, go to biotechnology.jhu.edu or e-mail biotechnology@jhu.edu.