The Wistar Institute Awarded Second National Science Foundation Grant to Expand Award-winning STEM Training Program
May 14 2024 - 12:32PM
PHILADELPHIA — (May 14, 2024) — The Wistar
Institute was awarded a $649,971 grant from the
National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the
continued expansion of its award-winning
Biomedical
Technician Training (BTT) Pre-apprenticeship Program.
The grant supports Wistar’s reach to community colleges in
New Jersey and Delaware who may have limited or no access to
hands-on laboratory training and internships. This marks the second
NSF grant supporting the Program’s continued expansion.
“As the Greater Philadelphia Region’s life science sector
continues to expand, there is greater demand for laboratory
technicians in both academic and industry labs,” said Dario
Altieri, M.D., president and CEO, director of the Ellen
and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, and the Robert and Penny Fox
Distinguished Professor of The Wistar Institute. “This 25-year
program has offered career pathways to a candidate pool that is
eager to join the life science sector and gain access to both
entry-level and long-term careers here in Philadelphia.”
Created in 2000, The Wistar Institute’s BTT Program was
initially designed as a two-summer, hands-on, mentored technician
training program that prepared community-college students for
positions in academic and biomedical, biotechnology, and
pharmaceutical laboratories. Originally limited to students from
Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), in 2021, Wistar received
its first National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological
Education (ATE) grant, Expansion, Curriculum Evolution, and
Enhancement during BioTechnician Training (ExCEEd BTT), allowing it
to expand from a cohort of 12 students from CCP to a cohort of 20
students from CCP and four other regional community
colleges.
The latest grant, Tri-State ExCEEd BTT, will enable Wistar to
bring its BTT Program to additional community colleges in New
Jersey and Delaware starting in Summer 2025 through Summer 2027.
The grant will expand the applicant pool in the Greater
Philadelphia Region by including three additional community college
collaborators, for a total of eight community colleges covering at
least 10 counties in three states for Wistar’s BTT
Pre-apprenticeship Program.
In ExCEEd BTT, students engage in a paid, accelerated,
one-summer pre-apprenticeship training that includes a hands-on
laboratory orientation at Wistar and two full-time, mentored
experiences in academic and industry labs. Program graduates are
prepared for immediate employment as laboratory technicians and may
also continue training through Wistar’s registered Fox Biomedical
Research Technician (BRT) Apprenticeship.
The BTT Program and BRT Apprenticeship provide training and
research experiences not typically available to associate degree
students, a segment of the workforce that is indispensable to
support the success of an ever-expanding life science sector.
Tri-State ExCEEd BTT supports Wistar’s commitment to building a
diverse and inclusive life science sector talent pool. With
this support from the NSF Wistar can expand its programming base
and continue to train a diverse and underrepresented student
population with limited access to life science research.
“By exposing students to Wistar science, we’re giving them
access to the latest research, so they are ideally positioned for
future careers,” explained Dr. Kristy Shuda
McGuire, Dean of Biomedical Studies in the Hubert J.P.
Schoemaker Education and Training Center at The Wistar Institute.
“Our approach is to work closely with faculty at community colleges
to develop a cohesive program that offers students the foundational
knowledge and the hands-on training they need to be successful.
Then they put their knowledge and skills to work with two lab
experiences with academic or industry collaborators here in the
region doing cutting-edge science.”
Tri-State ExCEEd BTT will also add cell and gene therapy
components to the current curriculum, provide a blueprint for
incorporating a biotechnician pre-apprenticeship program into
various biotechnology and science curricula at community colleges,
and serve as a model for regional program expansion. New employer
collaborators in two neighboring states will be recruited, allowing
the registration of the apprenticeship for use nationally.
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ABOUT THE WISTAR INSTITUTEThe Wistar Institute is the nation’s
first independent nonprofit institution devoted exclusively to
foundational biomedical research and training. Since 1972,
the Institute has held National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated
Cancer Center status. Through a culture and commitment to
biomedical collaboration and innovation, Wistar science leads to
breakthrough early-stage discoveries and life science sector
start-ups. Wistar scientists are dedicated to solving some
of the world’s most challenging problems in the field of cancer and
immunology, advancing human health through early-stage discovery
and training the next generation of biomedical researchers.
wistar.org.
Darien Sutton
The Wistar Institute
215-870-2048
dsutton@wistar.org