A new biomanufacturing training facility will open in Richmond in November. There, students will learn best practices for working in facilities with various tasks from growing cells to filling vials of medicine.
The BC Biomanufacturing Training Facility, run by the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) will be housed at the BCIT Aerospace Technology Campus on Russ Baker Way and will eventually train up to 700 people a year.
This is the first place in B.C. that offers biomanufacturing training – CASTL already runs facilities in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and in Montreal.
The idea is to prepare people to use good manufacturing practices in biomanufacturing where drugs and medicines are produced, explained Penny Walsh-McGuire, CEO of the not-for-profit CASTL.
Biomanufacturing is a "highly regulated environment," she added, so having the right technical skills is critical to patient safety.
“From start to finish, that process is very complex, and the competencies required are very specific and technical, therefore, our role is to really prepare individuals to work in industry,” she said.
Their training is also applicable to people who don’t necessarily work “on the floor” in biomanufacturing but need to understand the processes involved.
The courses will be for pre-industry – students studying sciences - as well onboarding new employees, or even senior employees who want to upskill or cross-train in the industry, Walsh-McGuire said.
“We like to say we train across the spectrum of someone’s career journey,” she added.
She called the BCIT facility the “most advanced” and largest of their three facilities.
In designing the new Richmond facility, they were able to tailor it to nuances in B.C. biomanufacturing, which has focused on areas such as RNA innovation as well as nanotechnology, Walsh-McGuire explained.
The teaching facility will replicate a smaller version of life-science industry companies. The 6,000-square-foot training facility will include lab space, a prep and cleaning room, a quality control area as well as a classroom, meeting rooms and offices.
Courses can be as short as one day, but some are as long as three weeks.
The life-sciences sector employs about 20,000 people in B.C.
CASTL is part of a global network of biomanufacturing training institutions and has exclusive rights in Canada to use the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training programs.
Classes at the BCIT campus are expected to begin in December.
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