BRITE Program at North Carolina Central University

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BRITE Program at North Carolina Central University

• Li-An Yeh, Ph.D.
• Director, BRITE
• ISPE- 2007 Annual Technology Show
• March 21, 2007

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Why North Carolina?

• Workforce Development BPTC
• North Carolina ranks 3th in the nation in
  biomanufacturing and biotechnology industry
• Total 45,000 jobs at North Carolina in Biotech
• 2000 new jobs created each year
• Over 3 billion annual revenue
• Over 1.7 billion payroll per year
• Over 100 million in tax revenue

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Biomanufacturing and Pharmaceutical Training
Consortium (BPTC)

• BioNetwork
• BTEC Biomanufacturing Training and Education
  Center
• BRITE Biomanufacturing Research Institute
  Technology Enterprise

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Mission for BRITE

• To establish programs to educate students with
  scientific competence to work in biomanufacture
  and biotechnology companies at the B.S., M.S. and
  Ph.D. levels
• To begin student enrollment in Fall 2006

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Agenda

• BRITE Facility New and Temporary
• BRITE equipment
• BRITE program and Curriculum 2007
• Faculty and Student Recruitment
• Career Opportunity
• Industrial and BPTC Partnership

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New Facility for BRITE

• 20.1 million from Golden LEAF Foundation for a
  52,000 sq. ft. new facility
• Construction started in November 2006 and will be
  completed by February 2008

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New BRITE facility

• Two story building 52,000 gsf
• 31,000 gsf of laboratory space
• 21,000 gsf of classroom and office space

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Temporary Facility for BRITE

• BRITE shares laboratory space with both Biology
  and Chemistry Departments in the Mary Townes
  Science Building in 2006-2008.

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Funding for Laboratory Equipment

• Proposal to Golden LEAF Foundation for additional
  funding 1.5 million has been granted.
• 5 million of state-of-art equipment will be
  used for teaching, training and research at
  BRITE.

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Curriculum for BRITE

• 4-year curriculum, with internship, to offer BS
  in Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Bioanalytical chemistry, protein separation
  sciences, molecular cloning, microbiology and
  fermentation will be enhanced in this curriculum
• Topics related to biomanufacturing will be
  included as additional courses through 4-years,
  such as FDA-regulation, Quality assurance, cGMP,
  intellectual properties and patent law etc.
• Internship is required in junior year.

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Curriculum for BRITE

• Students will be working in the laboratory in the
  senior year with faculty members on a specific
  project of biomanufacturing sciences.
• Students will have many opportunities to take
  courses at law and business schools related to
  biotechnology.
• Articulation Agreements with Community Colleges
  to enroll students in the junior year
• This curriculum is designed to offer students the
  core scientific competencies and hands-on
  laboratory experiences in order to work in
  biomanufacturing settings right after graduation

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Faculty Recruitment for BRITE

• Initially, 8 teaching faculty members will start
  up the programs related to process improvement,
  bioanalytical chemistry, and formulation sciences
  in January 2006.
• 7 tenure track faculty members have joined BRITE.
• 6 out of 7 of these faculty members have
  experience working in major pharmaceutical
  companies and biotechnology companies.

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Drug Discovery Drug Manufacturing
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Drug Discovery Programs at BBRI BRITE

• Target Validation Research Research related to
  the identification of targets for therapeutic
  intervention Cardiovascular, Cancer,
  Neurodegeneration, infectious diseases, metabolic
  diseases, orphan diseases, drug abuse and other
  CNS related diseases
• Assay Technologies Research related to the
  detection technologies, assay miniaturization,
  automation etc
• Medicinal Chemistry SAR, lead optimization,
  combi-chem library synthesis
• Chemo-informatics molecular modeling, QSAR and
  virtual screen

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Drug Manufacturing Programs (Process Development)
at BRITE

• Microbial and Protein Sciences optimization of
  scale-up process using recombinant microorganisms
• Mammalian Cell Genomic Sciences development of
  novel cell lines, proprietary media and vial
  vectors to improve the large scale production of
  protein in serum-free media
• Bioanalytical Sciences development of analytical
  methods (HPLC, CE, LC/MS, TOF-MS) for
  quantification of macromolecules
• High throughput science and biosensor technology
  Biosensor, HTS detection development
• Agriculture Biotechnologies

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BRITE Student Recruitment for 2006

• An integrated marketing plan has been developed
  for recruiting BRITE students.
• The plan includes the use of multimedia
  strategies and scholarship programs.
• A new website has been designed-www.nccu.edu\BRITE
  .

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BRITE Scholarship

• Full Scholarship for freshman and junior students
• GPA 3.2 with SAT score 1700/2400 or math
  section 600
• Interview with the selection committee
• BRITE offered 15 scholarship in 2006

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BRITE Student Recruitment for 2006

• Established Articulation Agreements with
  Community Colleges (22 agreement)
• Worked with DPI and PLTW program to recruit
  pre-college students
• Hired Academic Advisors/recruiters
• Recruited total 30 students in 2006

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Career Opportunities for BRITE Students

• Work as scientists in
• Biomanufacture RD, QA/QC department
• Biotechnology companies
• Pharmaceutical RD
• Graduate or Medical School

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Partnership with Industry

• Incorporated Industrial input in curriculum and
  new building design
• Represented on the BRITE Scientific Advisory
  Board
• Established Student Internships (40 annually)
• Established Student Fellowships
• Collaborated with scientists at biomanufacture
  and biotechnology companies

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Partnership with BTEC and BioNetwork

• Working with BTEC for additional internship and
  training opportunities
• Sharing courses and distance learning
  opportunities
• Sharing resources equipment and database
• Submitting joint proposals for additional funding
• Collaborating in research activities
• Establishing articulation agreements with
  community colleges and BioNetwork Centers

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Goals for BRITE

• To establish programs to educate students with
  scientific competencies to work in
  biomanufacture and biotechnology companies at the
  B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. levels