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InnovaBio-MD

Student Highlights

Nick Montoya, a current high school student working in the InnovaBio-MD labs, was featured in an article in The Herald Mail.

What is InnovaBio?

InnovaBio-MD is the first partner community college to replicate Salt Lake Community College's InnovaBio Program. InnovaBio-MD is an innovative partnership of corporations and educators working to support Maryland’s biotechnology industry. We offer a low risk environment for organizations wishing to develop a product or wanting to explore new ideas using our biotechnology lab, a qualified scientist and student interns. The challenging research completed by our interns creates a valuable talent pool for Maryland biotechnology companies.

The overall goal of the contract research organization, InnovaBio-MD, is to create flexible industry-based research internship opportunities available to both college and high school students. InnovaBio-MD contracts projects from regional biotechnology agencies and interns conduct the work. The research projects are performed on-campus at the Hagerstown Community College’s Technical Innovation Center and supervised by the InnovaBio-MD scientific staff. Students receive credible research experience and internship credit, as well as effective communication, problem solving and leadership skills.

The Biotechnology program at Hagerstown Community College has recently been awarded two grants.  Both the NSF and BRAC grants have been featured in newspaper articles in the local Herald-Mail.

Is Innovabio for me?

Our mission is to enhance student education through legitimate corporate internships using peer-based learning.

Our Goals:

  1. Provide a challenging and exciting training environment for college and high school interns
  2. Provide optimal access to all interns to increase success in their career path
  3. Provide quality research services to contract company partners in a directed and timely fashion
  4. Contribute to economic and workforce development for the State of Maryland

What are the facilities and equipment like?

The InnovaBio-MD Program is a unique career and technical education program aimed at training college and high school students for entry-level positions in the biotechnology industry. It prepares students for immediate hands-on work in critical, high-impact industries in a way no other training program does. InnovaBio-MD was modeled off of the Salt Lake Community College InnovaBio program.

The InnovaBio-MD program is housed in the Technical Innovation Center. This building is used as a business incubator for small start-up companies. There was a wet lab addition completed in 2008 specifically for biotechnology start-up companies. There are 11 labs and 1 common lab providing shared equipment. InnovaBio-MD occupies 2 of the labs and provides students with standard equipment for research.

Because of the location of the facility, the students are also able to gain professional interactions with the four companies that are housed in the TIC wet-lab facility. That will expand the scope of knowledge to different research projects as well as everyday operations of a functioning company. What makes the InnovaBio-MD program special is its innovative partnership with research institutions and companies. Projects for the interns in InnovaBio-MD are contracted from the outside agencies and further, the collaborative partners will contribute to the students learning by providing services such as instruction and guest lectures.

Where will classes be held?

Our laboratories are located on the Hagerstown Community College campus, in the Technical Innovation Center. The labs are room 119 and 120.

The address is 11400 Robinwood Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21742

What are the credentials of the faculty and staff?

Our laboratory is managed by Rick Ulrich.

Rick received a Bachelor’s degree from Clemson University in Microbiology in 1997 graduating Summa Cum Laude. He went directly into a Ph.D program after completing his B.S. at Clemson University working to identify, clone, sequence and characterize a proposed lactacin B enhancer protein as well as partially characterize the Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis ATCC 4797 genome by shotgun cloning. He graduated in 1999 and worked as a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Science at Clemson University identifying the bacterial genes involved in the metabolism of vinyl chloride within various species of Pseudomonads. In 2001, Rick moved to Maryland where he worked at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases using reverse genetics to develop live attenuated strains of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei. Rick joined the HCC team as the Director of InnovaBio-MD in August 2009. Rick also holds a 100 TON USCG boat Captain’s license and works on a dinner cruise ship in Washington, DC when not in the lab. In his spare time Rick likes to fish on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay on his center console fishing boat or in the islands of the Bahamas.

Rick's Publications:

  • Panchal RG, Ulrich RL, Lane D, Butler MM, Houseweart C, Opperman T, Williams JD, Peet NP, Moir DT, Nguyen T, Gussio R, Bowlin T, Bavari S Novel broad-spectrum bis-(imidazolinylindole) derivatives with potent antibacterial activity against antibiotic-resistant strains. (Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009 Jul 27).
  • Zelazny AM, Ding L, Elloumi HZ, Brinster LR, Benedetti F, Czapiga M, Ulrich RL, Ballentine SJ, Goldberg JB, Sampaio EP, Holland SM. Virulence and cellular interactions of Burkholderia multivorans in chronic granulomatous disease. (Infect Immun. 2009 Jul 27).
  • Panchal RG, Ulrich RL, Bradfute SB, Lane D, Ruthel G, Kenny TA, Iversen PL, Anderson AO, Gussio R, Raschke WC, Bavari S. Reduced expression of CD45 protein tyrosine phosphatase provides protection against anthrax pathogenesis. (J Biol Chem. 2009 Mar 6).
  • Gelhaus HC, Rozak DA, Nierman WC, Chen D, Varga JJ, Ulrich RL, Adamovicz JJ. Exogenous Yersinia pestis quorum sensing molecules N-octanoyl-homoserine lactone and N-(3-oxooctanoyl)-homoserine lactone regulate the LcrV virulence factor. (Microb Pathog. 2009 Feb 26).
  • Duerkop BA, Herman JP, Ricky L. Ulrich, Churchill ME, and Greenberg EP The Burkholderia mallei BmaR3-BmaI3 quorum-sensing system produces and responds to N-3-hydroxy-octanoyl homoserine lactone. (Journal of Bacteriology. July 2008. 190(14):5137-41).
  • Mark A. Schell, Ricky L. Ulrich, Wilson J. Ribot, Ernst E. Brueggemann, Harry B. Hines, Dan Chen, Lyla Lipscomb, H. Stanley Kim, Jan Mrazek, Willian C. Nireman, and David DeShazer Type VI secretion is a major virulence determinant in Burkholderia mallei. (Molecular Microbiology, June 2007. 64(6):1466-85).
  • Breck A. Duerkop, Ricky L. Ulrich, and E. Peter Greenberg Octanoyl-homoserine lactone is the cognate signal for Burkholderia mallei BmaR1-BmaI1 quorum sensing. (Journal of Bacteriology, July 2007. 189:5034-40).
  • Justin A. Boddey, Chris J. Day, Cameron P. Flegg, Ricky L. Ulrich, Sebastien R. Stephens, Ifor R. Beacham, Nigel A. Morrison, and Ian R. A. Peak The bacterial gene lfpA influences the potent induction of calcitonin receptor and osteoclast-related genes in Burkholderia pseudomallei-induced TRAP-positive multinucleated giant cells. (Cellular Microbiology, February 2007. 9(2):514-31. Epub 2006 Sep 20).
  • Wilson J. Ribot and Ricky L. Ulrich The animal pathogen-like type III secretion system is required for the intracellular survival of Burkholderia mallei within J774.2 macrophages. (Infection and Immunity, July 2006. 74(7):4349-53).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich, Melanie P. Ulrich, Mark A. Schell, H. Stanley Kim, and David DeShazer Development of a PCR Assay for the Specific Identification of Burkholderia mallei and Differentiation from Burkholderia pseudomallei and Other Closely Related Burkholderiaceae. (Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease. May 2006. 55(1):37-45).
  • Melanie P. Ulrich, David A. Norwood, Deanna R. Christensen, and Ricky L. Ulrich The development of a Burkholderia mallei specific real-time PCR assay for the in vivo and in vitro detection of this highly infectious Burkholderia species. (Journal of Medical Microbiology. May 2006. 55(5):551-9).
  • H. S. Kim, M. A. Schell, Y. Yu, R. L. Ulrich, S. H. Sarria, W. C. Nierman, and D. DeShazer Bacterial genome adaptation to niches: divergence of the potential virulence genes in three Burkholderia species of different survival strategies. (BMC Genomics, December 2005. 7(6):174).
  • Joanne M. Stevens, Ricky L. Ulrich, Lowrie A. Taylor, Michael W. Wood, David DeShazer, Mark P. Stevens, and Edouard E. Galyov Actin-binding proteins from Burkholderia mallei and B. thailandensis can functionally compensate for the actin-based motility defect of a B. pseudomallei bimA mutant. (Journal of Bacteriology, November 2005. 187(22):7857-7862).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich, Kei Amemiya, David M. Waag, Chad J. Roy, and David DeShazer Aerogenic vaccination with a Burkholderia mallei auxotroph protects against aerosol-initiated glanders in mice. (Vaccine, March 2005. 23(16):1986-1992).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich*, David DeShazer, Harry B. Hines, and Jeffrey A. Jeddeloh Quorum sensing: a transcriptional regulatory system involved in the pathogenicity of Burkholderia mallei. (Infection and Immunity, November 2004. 72(11):6589-6596).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich*, David DeShazer, Ernst E. Brueggemann, Harry B. Hines, Petra C. Oyston, and Jeffrey A. Jeddeloh Role of quorum sensing in the pathogenicity of Burkholderia pseudomallei. (Journal of Medical Microbiology, November 2004. 53:1053-1064).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich* Quorum quenching: enzymatic disruption of N-acylhomoserine lactone-mediated bacterial communication in Burkholderia thailandensis. (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2004. 70(10):6173-6180).
  • W. C. Nierman, D. DeShazer, H. S. Kim, H. Tettelin, K. E. Nelson, T. Feldblyum, R. L. Ulrich, C. M. Ronning, L. M. Brinkac, S. C. Daugherty, T. D. Davidsen, R. T. Deboy, G. Dimitrov, R. J. Dodson, A. S. Durkin, M. L. Gwinn, D. H. Haft, H. Khouri, J. F. Kolonay, R. Madupu, Y. Mohammoud, W. C. Nelson, D. Radune, C. M. Romero, S. Sarria, J. Selengut, C. Shamblin, S. A. Sullivan, O. White, Y. Yu, N. Zafar, L. Zhou, and C. M. Fraser Structural flexibility in the Burkholderia mallei genome. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2004. 101(39):14246-14251).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich, Harry B. Hines, N. Parthasarathy, and Jeffrey A. Jeddeloh Mutational analysis and biochemical characterization of the Burkholderia thailandensis DW503 quorum-sensing network. (Journal of Bacteriology, July 2004. 186(13):4350-4360).
  • Melanie P. Dautle, Ricky L. Ulrich, and Thomas A. Hughes In vitro antibiotic sensitivity and resistance of 100 clinical bacterial isolates purified from microbial biofilms associated with silicone gastrostomy tubes removed from pediatric patients. (Journal of Applied Research, March 2004. 4(1):50-59).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich and David DeShazer Type III secretion: a virulence factor delivery system that is essential for the pathogenicity of Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344. (Infection and Immunity, February 2004. 72(2):1150-1154).
  • Melanie P. Dautle, Ricky L. Ulrich, and Thomas A. Hughes Typing and subtyping of 83 clinical isolates purified from surgically implanted silicone feeding tubes by random amplified polymorphic DNA amplification. (Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2002. 40(2):414-421).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich and Thomas A. Hughes Cloning and expression analysis of the 28 kDa protein from Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis ATCC 4797 hypothesized to influence lactacin B production. (Journal of Applied Microbiology, December 2001. 91(6):1067-1073).
  • Matthew F. Verce, Ricky L. Ulrich, and David L. Freedman Transition from cometabolic to growth-linked biodegradation of vinyl chloride by a Pseudomonas sp. isolated on ethene. (Environmental Science and Technology, November, 2001. 35(21):4242-4251).
  • Ricky L. Ulrich and Thomas A. Hughes A rapid procedure for isolating chromosomal DNA from Lactobacillus species and other Gram-positive bacteria. (Letters in Applied Microbiology, January 2001. 32(1):52-56).
  • Matthew F. Verce, Ricky L. Ulrich, and David L. Freedman Characterization of an isolate that uses vinyl chloride as a growth substrate under aerobic conditions. (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000. 66(8):3535-3542).

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