News and Events

Susan Windham-Bannister, PhD, took the helm as the first president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center this summer. MassBioEd asked her some questions about her experiences so far and the upcoming priorities for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

College sophomores, juniors, and recent graduates pursuing a degree in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) are encouraged to check out these financial resources from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, the Massachusetts Office of the State Treasurer, and Genzyme.

Amy Mahery knew that she wanted to help save lives since she was a child. She began her collegiate career at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1995, aiming to become a veterinarian. It only took a year of college before the Rhode Island native realized a new calling: neuroscience.

Just days after the school year began, the MobileLab, a central component of the MassBioEd BioTeach program, kicked off its 2008-2009 academic year with a visit to Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough.

By Lance Hartford

WITH THE RELEASE of this year's troubling MCAS scores in science, it is obvious that the state must try harder to engage students in science education if it hopes to fill future life sciences jobs.

Within Biogen Idec's Cambridge headquarters, middle and high school students from the surrounding neighborhoods are hard at work in the Community Lab. They have donned safety goggles and lab coats, picked up pipettes, and are engineering DNA to code for green fluorescent protein.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation's Biotech Learning Center is pleased to announce the addition of two new courses beginning in July: “Leadership Training Program for Scientists” and “Principles of Current Good Manufacturing Practices."

Ken Karey is now a seasoned 13-year veteran at Genzyme Corporation in Framingham, Mass., but he didn't set out to become a scientist- he had his sights on veterinary school. A few unexpected road blocks and exposure to biological research prompted him to take a different route. He now applies his original desire to make a difference to his role as Senior Science Director of Therapeutic Protein Expression.

While other teenagers may have summer jobs scooping ice cream or stocking supermarket shelves, 16-year-old Tracy Samia of Bellingham, Mass., opted for a different avenue. Before she enters her junior year at Bellingham High in the fall, Tracy decided to spend her summer vacation as an intern at Interleukin Genetics, Inc.(AMEX: ILI) in Waltham, Mass.

BioTeach program provides schools with professional training and financial resources to create biotech labs and strengthen life science curriculum in state's public schools

Ensuring a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce is a key element in the long-term economic success of the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) has recently established the STEM Scholar Intern Matching Fund as an important way to help develop future STEM employees.

Massachusetts competes in a rapidly-changing, highly competitive global economy. Now, and in the future, the economic vitality of the state depends on a robust business climate and a strong pool of talented workers. This axiom is especially true for the biotechnology industry.

New biotechnology laboratory has teachers, students excited By Rich Fahey Globe Correspondent / March 9, 2008 Collin Manning and Max Liberman were about to nail Greg Anglin. Milton High School juniors had a piece of classmate Anglin's fingernail, crucial DNA evidence that the two hoped would prove they had the right suspect in an experiment they called "The Case of the Missing iPod." If it sounds like something out of the hit TV series "CSI," that's because it is. The students were performing an experiment in Milton High School's state-of-the-art biotechnology lab, one that didn't cost the town's taxpayers anything

Teachers & Student Demonstrate Life Science Experiments During State House Visit The Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd) recognized legislators for their support of the foundation's MassBioTeach program, which awards grants to advance biotechnology education in the Commonwealth's high school classrooms.

By Matt Kakley/Daily News correspondent GHS Tue Feb 26, 2008, 10:00 AM EST High school students in Milford and Bellingham are getting the chance to learn cutting-edge technology under a grant program highlighted yesterday at the State House. "Biotech is a wave of the future, for sure," said Ed Fleury, principal of Bellingham High School. "It's great that our kids have the opportunity to get involved with something like that." The Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation, or MassBioEd, provides funding for Massachusetts high schools to teach biotechnology, the use of living organisms in technology, to introduce students to the field's career possibilities. With the program's funding, Bellingham High students are able to study emerging fields, such as forensic science, an experience that was heightened by a trip to Boston to see the "CSI: The Experience" exhibit that had been at the Museum of Science.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 By DAN RINGdring@repub.com BOSTON - Teachers from Western Massachusetts yesterday joined business leaders on Beacon Hill to highlight the training of students in biotechnology and other fields in the life sciences. The Statehouse event was sponsored by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization based in Cambridge. All the students and teachers were trained in laboratories that have equipment purchased with grants from the organization

BY STEPHEN PETERSON SUN CHRONICLE STAFF WRENTHAM - Goggles on, test tubes full, and laboratory instruments heating and measuringIt wasn't a scene from CSI, the Crime Scene Investigation TV series, but it could have been. This past week, more than 400 students - mostly sophomores in biology classes at King Philip Regional High School, took part in special lab workshops in the growing field of biotechnology put on by Boston University's CityLab.

Working at an unemployment office in 2005 was not the future Kathleen Tompkins envisioned when she graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. With few opportunities to showcase her talents, the stage performer felt her passion for singing quickly dissolving. She came to the conclusion that either Boston is not the city for an opera major, or perhaps she had chosen the wrong career path. Unsatisfied yet optimistic, the 29-year-old Vermont native decided a major life change was in order: she was going back to school.