The Jackson Laboratory is teaming up with the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system to train and prepare students for careers in bioscience and biotechnology.
The formal partnership establishes the “Genomics Workforce Institute.” Goals include promoting professional development, faculty collaboration, hands-on training for students, curriculum development and direct access to potential employers.
The development follows a pilot program funded mainly through a $12 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to create new and revise existing health and life sciences programs across the country. Grant funding for the program ended this year, and JAX has agreed to continue and enhance the program and partner with CSCU.
Funding for the program will be developed, said JAX’s Melanie Sinche, director of education.
“JAX is committed to advancing this initiative through a combined search for funding that can be scaled to benefit all seventeen CSCU member institutions. At this point, JAX has contributed significant staff time and financial support to the pilot event in this relationship, the Bioscience Careers Forum,” she said via email.
The institute will include an annual career forum; attendance by two selected CSCU faculty to attend a five-day course in molecular genetics, bioethics and teaching techniques; outreach to high school students through established programs like Gear Up; internships, among other initiatives.
The partners will also work to identify funding for all 17 CSCU institutions to participate in workforce development.
CSCU President Mark Ojakian said that the hands-on training will benefit students while Jackson Lab will gain access to highly-skilled potential employees in Connecticut.
The partnership will be ratified this afternoon from 12-5 p.m. at The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington.
Besides Jackson Laboratory’s genomic medicine institute in Farmington, the independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution, which is based in Bar Harbor, Maine, has a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in Sacramento, Calif.
