Biotechnology Archives - Faculty of Science

�첥��Ƶ enhances science co-op, internships through national grant

kseo — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 12:54:32 +0000

Thanks to a national grant program, �첥��Ƶ’s Faculty of Science has expanded its work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities and partnerships to undergraduate science co-op and internship students in the new Master of Biotechnology Management program.

The Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL Canada) grant of $115,580 will enhance experiential learning opportunities in science by providing funds to York students and programs.

About 80 per cent of the grant went directly to domestic students, each receiving a bursary of $1,416. (Only domestic students qualify for CEWIL funding; however, York International matched the grant for international students.)

In the summer of 2024, Tiffany Pollock, formerly in the Division of Students, now serving as associate director, quality program and development, in the Office of the Vice-Provost, along with Tammy Kim-Newman, associate director of employer and alumni engagement, Career Centre, worked closely with the Faculty of Science, the science co-op team and Markham Campus to win the CEWIL Canada iHub grant in the innovation stream. This grant supports community and industry research and projects through expanding access and career pathways via science-based WIL.

The grant activity was integrated into two science experiential education courses: COOP 2000 Introductory Professional Communications, a prerequisite for most science co-op students; and BIOT5020 Science Communication and Writing, a mandatory course before students complete a required internship.

These two courses incorporate WIL by connecting students with 11 industry partners and having teams of students solve problems in the bioeconomy industry, ranging from workplace conflicts to technical project questions. The initiative exposed students to a wide range of careers and industry challenges they may encounter in the workforce.

This WIL initiative increased employer engagement and career networking for 95 students in the fall term. The instructors of COOP 2000, Kathryn Franklin, course director, and BIOT 5020, Luz Adriana Puentes Jacome, assistant professor, incorporated career discovery and mentorship activities such as a panel discussion, industry networking, a virtual lunch-and-learn career series and industry events such as The Medtech Conference hosted in Toronto last fall.

“To get them to be able to pursue the best career opportunities possible, they have to first understand where could they work. What are the pathways available to them?” Kim-Newman says.

The grant also paid for industry training through Canadian Alliance for Skills & Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) which gave students access to globally recognized bioprocessing training and a virtual biomanufacturing facility tour.

After completing COOP 2000 and BIOT 5020, students have access to the science WIL job board, where students apply on their own and compete with students from other universities.

Co-op placements can range between eight and 20 months. Some use the time as an opportunity to sample different companies; others apply to the same company repeatedly and could end up with a full-time job upon graduation, Kim-Newman says.

Students do not receive credits for co-op terms but are paid for their work and gain work experience. The program, which has doubled in enrolment since before the pandemic, now offers co-op opportunities to students in 13 science degree programs, says Mike Scheid, associate dean of students in the Faculty of Science and an associate professor in the Department of Biology.

The co-op program is now a major draw to York’s Faculty of Science and its goal is to continue building co-op partnerships and develop additional WIL opportunities.

Kim-Newman agrees that focusing on growing co-op is key to students’ future success.

“Students’ main objective is to get a good job after they finish their studies,” she says. “We have a responsibility to help provide some open doors. It's up to the students if they go through those doors and continue down the hallway.

“But,” she continues, “we have an obligation to provide students with some tools and access to career connections and opportunities. And this is what that grant allowed.”

With files from Julie Carl

Courtesy of YFile

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Markham Campus prioritizing experiential education with unique biotechnology programs

kseo — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 18:57:18 +0000

With �첥��Ƶ’s new Markham Campus now open, the campus is prioritizing opportunities that demonstrate York’s leadership experiential education (EE), which is increasingly a focus in Canada’s halls of higher learning. It is doing so with innovative new programs, including two rooted in biotechnology.

_{Dan Palermo}

“The vision for the Markham Campus from the onset was to provide our students with access to high-level experiential education opportunities,” said Dan Palermo, interim deputy provost, Markham. “This vision aligns with the broader vision of �첥��Ƶ to expand experiential education opportunities for students across the institution.

“This is also in response to what students want as part of their academic journey, even what parents want for their children as they go to post-secondary school. And it does prepare students better for the workforce,” Palermo said.

The Markham Campus offers degree programs and micro-credentials focused on EE, digital technologies and entrepreneurship. Among the courses benefiting from the campus’s focus on EE are the brand-new Communication, Social Media & Public Relations course, the Digital Technologies course and the Computer Science for Software Development course, which will all include work terms in Markham-based industries or non-profits.

The Markham Campus’s new Master of Biotechnology Management (MBM) program and Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology will also advance the University’s EE leadership, closely aligning classroom education with what the industry has said workers need.

In the case of the biotechnology programs, the course experiences were – in fact – specifically designed that way.

_{Jade Atallah}

Jade Atallah, graduate program director of biotechnology at Markham and an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology; and Luz Puentes Jácome, an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology, developed the curricula and pedagogical approaches of the biotechnology programs after listening to the industry.

“Pedagogically, we knew that experiential education must be at the centre of curricular delivery,” Atallah said. “Because we were working with new programs, it was a relief that no retrofitting was needed. We were able to start from the ground up, where experiential education was at the centre and everything else came around it.”

Indeed, the graduate biotechnology programs incorporate immersive and multimodal experiential learning such as industry workshops, industry fireside chats, participation in biotechnology conferences, industry challenge questions, interdisciplinary capstone projects and industry internships.

“We bring in industry partners to act as industry mentors, and our graduate program students work in groups as consultants and try to solve a problem posed by the industry mentor,” said Puentes Jácome.

“In that way, they’re working directly in an industry context. They go through the process of figuring out a solution for this program, doing some literature search and writing a white paper. Then they’ll have a final presentation in which we will bring all the industry mentors together to observe the presentations and to network with our students.”

The programs are interdisciplinary. In the case of the MBM program, students integrate management training with the biotechnology portion of the course. “This would prepare the students to, perhaps, run a biotech startup,” Puentes Jácome said. For example, she said, “they might work toward creating a water bottle with biology, not fossil fuels.”

Marisol John is a student in the Master of Biotechnology Management program and is among those who have seen the many possibilities for a biotech career available to them through the program.

“I have learnt so much about this industry, and I’m excited to continue this process of directly engaging with real-world industry problems,” she said.

John is already envisioning ways she can apply her in-class experiences.

“I have a very deep passion for agri-bio and environmental biology,” John said. “Coming from a Caribbean island, Dominica – the greenest island in the Caribbean – I think this program will afford me a diverse skill set to effect positive and sustainable change in my country.”

Her undergrad thesis was based on the therapeutic applications of ginger, something John hopes to expand upon. Her grandparents treated flu and upset stomachs with ginger tea, and John’s research showed it’s used for many therapeutic reasons, including pneumonia, tuberculosis and asthma. But, she said, there is limited information available on these topics.

“I am using this to drive the rest of my career,” said John. “I am learning how various biotech industries can be integrated to bridge the knowledge gap and innovatively solve problems related to crops, agricultural sustainability, food processing and diversification. The possibilities are endless.”

Thanks to the experiential education opportunities provided by the new Markham Campus – like those in biotechnology – the possibilities will be endless for other students, too.

With files from Julie Carl

Courtesy of YFile

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Faculty of Science responds to industry needs in the chemical and bioeconomy sectors

aburtin — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:46:21 +0000

To meet the changing needs of the chemical and bioeconomy sectors, the Faculty of Science is offering several new educational opportunities to ensure people working in science-related positions have the best possible education to meet evolving industry demands.

The Faculty has recently introduced two new biotechnology programs at the Markham Campus – the Master’s in Biotechnology Management and the Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology – as well as a new micro-credential in Vaccine Production and Quality Control that is aligned with these programs.

The Faculty also introduced its first micro-credential, NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) Spectroscopy for Industry at the Keele Campus. NMR spectroscopy is an advanced characterization technique used to determine the molecular structure of a sample at the atomic level.

“We want to offer our students programs and courses that lead to career success,” said Hovig Kouyoumdjian, associate dean of curriculum and pedagogy for the Faculty.

^{Luz Adriana Puentes Jácome}

Slated to launch in Fall 2024, the Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology and the Master’s in Biotechnology Management are the culmination of research and planning done over the past few years. Professor Mark Bayfield and associate deans Kouyoumdjian and Michael Scheid led the program design and development. Now, Jade Atallah and Luz Adriana Puentes Jácome, assistant professors of biology, teaching stream, have taken the reins and will oversee the two programs.

“Both programs are rooted in industry needs,” Atallah said. “Our colleagues did extensive research to ensure industry alignment; an evidence-based approach is driving them.”

The Toronto Business Development Centre, for example, notes that “Canada has experienced a in biotech companies in the past two decades, with hundreds of small startups working to bring scientific discoveries to market.”

The two programs will share biotechnology courses for the first year, but the master’s students will also take management courses through the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies that will allow them to graduate with the degree and diploma in under two years. The integrative program also includes a capstone course and a paid internship component with industry. The diploma program requires only two semesters of coursework.

^{Hovig Kouyoumdjian}

“They are both full-time programs but are designed to accommodate mature, working students in terms of scheduling,” said Atallah.

The master’s program aims to meld scientific knowledge with business skills.

“The interdisciplinary approach better reflects the workplace reality and maximizes understanding of the overall product lifecycle from conception to commercialization,” said Atallah. “It’s a marriage of two Faculties and will provide well-rounded knowledge and skills in both areas. It will increase the students’ competitiveness while benefiting the biotech economy.”

Puentes Jácome agreed, noting, “We want these students to be very versatile. They need the professional biotechnology knowledge, but the business background will be very useful in the startup economy, while in established companies, it will give them the skills to move around.”

The two programs have a joint lab component, and students in both programs will benefit from industry guest speakers and networking opportunities.

“We want our students to have hands-on insights and experiential opportunities,” Atallah said.

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The lab component of the course will give students a condensed experience in biotechnology laboratory techniques.

“It is not a cookbook lab,” said Atallah, referring to the usual step-by-step instructions students receive for lab experiments. “Students will be able to make decisions on the best protocol to use, and there’s room for mistakes, so they can troubleshoot and adjust. It will mimic a real-life scenario.”

The master’s degree internships, arranged in collaboration with the experiential education office at the Markham Campus, will last between eight and 12 months. Students will have the opportunity to put their theory to the test. The capstone course, which is project-based, will also provide a real-world opportunity.

Alongside these programs, the Faculty of Science at Markham Campus will also introduce a micro-credential on Vaccine Production and Quality Control. This specialized course aims to provide participants with the essential skills required to use biotechnological tools for the development of vaccines.

The introduction of the micro-credential in NMR is spurred by the government of Ontario’s push for and support of post-secondary education rapid training programs designed to help people retrain or upgrade their skills to meet the needs of employers.

Now, the Faculty of Science is dipping its toes in those waters, inaugurating the NMR Spectroscopy for Industry micro-credential during the Winter 2024 term and developing the micro-credential addressing Vaccine Production and Quality Control.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Kouyoumdjian. “We looked at the demands of the job market, as well as the gaps in training, and gauged the need for these skills.”

The NMR micro-credential course is taught by �첥��Ƶ instructor Howard Hunter. Students will learn the basic theory behind NMR spectroscopy, as well as its practical applications. They will learn to successfully process and analyze raw NMR data to understand a sample’s composition or chemical structure, a skill applicable to employees in both chemical and biotechnological fields. 

The course is held in the evening, so people employed in related fields can fit it into their schedules. The hybrid course is pass/fail, with a lab component included.

“For us, as scientists, the hands-on aspect is important,” Kouyoumdjian said. “It’s the nature of our field. We design our micro-credentials to contain in-person experiential components and avoid the fully asynchronous online model as much as possible.”

Those who pass will receive both a certificate of completion and an to affix to a resume or a LinkedIn profile. Kouyoumdjian will approve the badges based on course results; they are authenticated and traceable.

Much like the students are learning new skills, Kouyoumdjian and his team did, too. Throughout the process, they had to learn how to create a micro-credential offering, from proposal to approval to creating contracts, hiring an instructor and promoting the program online. This accumulated knowledge will be used for introducing the aforementioned Vaccine Production and Quality Control micro-credential course.

“As biotechnology continues reshaping how health care works, professionals with such expertise play an important role in progressing this field, especially with the urgent global need for effective disease prevention.” Kouyoumdjian said. “We are looking forward to offering the new micro-credentials, as well as the two new graduate programs.”

Kouyoumdjian applauds the Faculty for making these new offerings possible.

“Like any new initiative, it takes a team to bring these programs to fruition,” he said. “We are looking forward to expanding the knowledge of many students and observing their subsequent career accomplishments.”

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