GE Healthcare and NIBRT have joined forces to accelerate talent growth in Ireland’s biomanufacturing industry with specialised training.
GE Healthcare and the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) announced yesterday (11 September) that they will develop new educational programming on biopharmaceutical and cell therapy development and manufacturing.
Through their combined expertise in the area, the two organisations will build a new curriculum aimed at helping the global biomanufacturing industry meet the needs of changing technologies and modalities.
Umay Saplakoglu, general manager for the Fast Trak training and education programme at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said: “With the unprecedented growth of the novel molecules market, attracting and retaining talent with a passion for bioprocess is crucial. Our main drives are to support learning and enable access to new therapies in all parts of the world.”
All 10 of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies now have a base in Ireland, and approximately $10bn has been invested in new biopharmaceutical facilities over the past decade.
With this partnership, NIBRT will continue its support of biotech talent growth in the life sciences industry, which currently employs 30,000 people in Ireland.
Killian O’Driscoll, director of projects at NIBRT, said: “We pride ourselves on our best-in-class education and training programmes that support the thriving biopharmaceutical industry. By working with GEHC we will be able to leverage their biomanufacturing expertise to create exciting new programmes designed to meet the global demand for talent.”
The GE Healthcare and NIBRT co-developed curriculum will include single-use applications training, cell therapy technology, process efficiency strategies, process development methodologies and chromatography proficiency.
Courses will be offered at GE Healthcare Fast Trak locations, with centres in South Korea, the US, Sweden, China and Singapore, as well as at the NIBRT facility in Dublin and the Jefferson Institute of Bioprocessing in Philadelphia.
This isn’t GE Healthcare’s first foray into collaborations to support specialised training. In July, the company partnered with University of Technology Sydney to open a new Australian bioprocessing training facility, which aims to enable new biotech discoveries.
