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InnovaBio-MD

Internships

Two Biotechnology program students completed internships in the InnovaBio-MD labs during the Spring 2010 semester.  Below are their thoughts regarding their experience.

“Practice makes perfection. I started my internship knowing the basics of biotechnology, and now that I finished my internship I can see a great difference in my ability to apply what I learned in my course work. I learned many techniques, and how to use different equipment in order to do our job faster and easier. I loved every minute that I spent in the laboratory. I think that getting in the biotechnology program was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge and experience in the biotechnology field. One word I will not forget, flawless!” -Dessiree Pena, Spring 2010 BTC-269 intern

 

“My name is Jessica Rose and I completed an internship with the InnovaBio-MD program at HCC in the spring semester of 2010. Throughout my internship experience I learned a lot of new things and got hands-on experience using advanced laboratory equipment. I learned several new laboratory techniques including PCR and electroporation as well as perfected other skills I had little experience with such as using multichannel pipettes and bacterial conjugation. I also had a chance to work with several other interns, as a team on collaborative projects, as well as work individually. Throughout the semester I devoted a great deal of time and hard-work to our projects but was able to have fun at the same time. As we all spent time together as a group we got to know each other well and became like a small “family unit.” It was a lot of fun and I will miss the experience immensely. Thank you to everyone in the InnovaBio-MD lab for an enjoyable and exciting semester!” -Jessica Rose, Spring 2010 BTC-270 intern  

 

High School Students in BTC-102

BTC-102, Introduction to Applied Biotechnology Research, is a course designed to expose high school students to biotechnology research.  Students complete this course in the InnovaBio-MD labs and three students took the course during the Spring 2010 semester.  Their thoughts on the experience can be seen below.

“During spring semester 2010, I interned at the InnovaBio-MD lab with Dr. Rick Ulrich.  While the internship required a commitment of time and dedication, the experience was invaluable as well as lots of fun. The atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed, but at the same time, we felt responsible for completion of our assigned work.   Dr. Ulrich was always available to assist us and to answer any questions.  I feel the experience and knowledge I have gained while working in the lab has greatly prepared me as I transfer to a four year college as well as instilled a greater sense of confidence.  One of the best aspects of interning in the lab was getting to work alongside the other interns.  Everyone in the lab worked and learned together, and we became very close throughout the semester.  I am very blessed to have been a part of this internship and would highly recommend this program to anyone interested in the biotech or any field of science.  I would like to thank Dr. Rick Ulrich and Dr. Melanie Ulrich for their tireless efforts and for truly caring and investing in my life and the lives of the other interns.“ -Andrew Michael, BTC-102 Spring 2010 senior from Grace Academy

 

"I had the great privilege of working in the new InnovaBio Maryland lab at Hagerstown Community College as the first to go through a full year of the program. The overall experience and amount of skills and scientific confidence I have gained through my experience cannot be put to words and it will truly be an experience that I will remember through all of my upcoming educational days. Not only did I learn far beyond what I was looking for from a lab study but I also met and fellowshipped with some of the coolest science geeks I’ve ever known.

  • Dr. Ulrich  Dr. Ulrich was who I worked with most of the time, one on one the first half of the semester and still most of the second. He is a very laid back kinda guy that doesn’t just provide the knowledge and experience that is above necessary to make a lab run smoothly but he also tries as hard as he can to make it a good and memorable experience for the students as well. He is very open to questions and if after explaining it too you a number of times will either give you one of his famous chalk talks, in which he uses highly accurate drawing to convey what he is talking about (…if you can decipher the scribbles and lines), but he will show you how it’s done so you can learn from watching. But he also expects you to learn and remember what he has shown you and told you, not so he has an easier workload, but because he wants you to become a self-thinking independent scientist. Overall Doctor Ulrich provided my lab experience with a good bit of work along with a high degree of fun and independent learning to pass the time of the never ending preps and 96 well plates.
  • The Good Stuff  Rest assured that when you come into lab you will have your work cut out for you. Literally. Usually everyday Dr. Ulrich has a “to do” list listing all that needs accomplished either by you personally or by the team of students as a whole. For my work load I had my own semi-private project to do along with helping with the common lab jobs (tip filling, 96 well plates, autoclaving, plate pouring, etc.) and helping other students with what they had been told to do for the day. But as the days get more routine you get very familiar with all the equipment and learn a multitude of procedures in which to complete your tasks.
  • My Project  My project was to make B. oklahomensis quorum-sensing mutants. Using isolated inserts ligated into a P. aeruginosa plasmid we then electroporated these plasmids (after confirmation) into E. coli cells SM10. After the SM10 cells were confirmed plasmid positive we then mated these cells with wild type B. oklahomensis cells to try to get a mutant strain. After that we would have tested a number of different things to determine what AHL production had been affected and see what phenotypic differences there would have been between the mutant B. oklahomensis and the wild type B. oklahomensis. But unfortunately we could not get the darn cells to mate and mutate so I only got up to the mating stage of the project. But Doctor Ulrich assures me that my work will be carried on and hopefully the next intern will be able to complete my project.
  • Advice  Any future student would be lucky to have the opportunity that I had in this laboratory. But the fun does not come without its share of work as well. For one, upcoming students should be very careful to keep a daily updated and neat journal so that what they learned, questions they may have, anything new they may have done that day including procedures and how what they did that day fit into the bigger picture of the experiment or lab should all be included on a day to day basis. Its sounds like a lot and for the first week or two it is. But it helps majorly in the long run to have detailed descriptions of what you did on a day to day basis for troubleshooting and for future reference. Students should also memorize beforehand the equations necessary for work in the lab (molar calculations, solution calculations, etc.). And words of advice to any new students, read the papers that Dr. Ulrich gives you and look up more material outside of lab. It provides a good background of what you will be doing and working with and it helps loads when working and talking about what you are doing in lab plus it can also lead to alternative way of completing your experiment. And discuss what you’re reading with Dr. Ulrich or any of the other interns so you get a clearer picture of what the paper is talking about and you could find other resources or better papers to read."  -Nick Montoya, BTC-102 Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 senior from Grace Academy
 

"Every experience in life teaches you something new about yourself. Being in the InnovaBio-MD internship program proved that anybody can enjoy science and the various aspects of it, particularly Biotechnology. The projects and assignments are intriguing and when you get good results from your work you feel highly accomplished. It brings Biotechnology from behind a glass to right in front of your eyes, and that is the best gift a person can receive that is trying to pursue a career in this field." -Kenise Lewis, BTC-102 Spring 2010 senior from Washington County Technical High School


 

Student Highlights

Nick Montoya, a high school student who worked in the InnovaBio-MD labs during the fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters, 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 rooms 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 a new Director to be determined.