TBA The Biotechnology Initiative

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BEC and TBI working together to promote biotechnology in Ontario

In January 2010, The Biotechnology Initiative (TBI) will welcome Bioscience Education Canada (BEC) as its featured presenter to kick off its 2010 monthly breakfast series.

Formerly known as the Canadian Biotechnology Education Resource Centre (CBERC), BEC is a federally incorporated, charitable not-for-profit organization with a mandate to grow the biotechnology sector in Canada at the grass roots level. The organization has developed a network of academic, government and industrial partners to help deliver a range of educational programs designed to excite and motivate Canadian students and the public about the promises and challenges of biotechnology.

“We have two functions, one is to educate students, teachers and the general public about the field of biotechnology and increase public awareness of its benefits and the other is to bridge the gap between the industry as a whole, and individuals who are just starting out or looking to take their first steps into the industry” explains Dr. Alison Symington, executive director of BEC.

“One example of our joint efforts is through the Sanofi Aventis biotech challenge. TBI has shown a lot of support for this initiative in past years both in the competition phase and the lecture series that we put on in April for high school students. The program is considered one of BEC’s crown jewel programs. This award winning science competition has branched out to 14 Canadian regions, including Toronto, Montreal, Eastern Ontario, Southwestern Ontario, Halifax, St. John’s, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Fredericton, Charlottetown and the Northern region. Last year alone the competition attracted 1600 high school students to its lecture series, where lecturers spoke about all sorts of issues focusing on the many facets and sectors of the industry. It has also proved to be a good means to educate students on the types of jobs that are out there in the Bio science field.

While the outreach from this event has been good in the past, BEC has recognized the need to do more. TBI has been helping in this regard, with a plan to make this year’s lectures available on the web so that students and teachers who cannot attend personally will have access. “We are trying to reach out to the rural and remote communities, where they don’t have the opportunity to see the presenters personally and we feel this is a format that will work very well. It’s important that every student and teacher has this opportunity,” says Dr. Symington.

Moreover, through TBI’s network, BEC hopes to connect the industry with what’s going on at the grassroots level with Bioscience education. BEC is working with TBI and its members to support the development of the next group of movers and shakers that will soon join the industry.

As such, BEC is introducing a very unique program this year with the help of TBI- Beakers for teachers.

“This is an idea that came out of London and the tech alliance. We’re asking industry to contact us about equipment they don’t want anymore, such as beakers, pipettes, unwanted PCR machines and other equipment, and we in turn will give it to schools. What a company does not need or use anymore, a school would just love to have.”

This initiative will help educate Canadian students about the biotechnology field; while at the same time could lead to an increasing number of students entering biotechnology as employees and/or employers.

Information about both programs will be on BEC’s website by February. The lecture series will again be open to the public, and will be held at York University in April. It is hoped that both members of the industry and TBI members will come out. The Sanofi Aventis Challenge final ceremony will be held April 8th and again TBI members are welcome to attend.

“Keep an eye out for these students; some of these projects are pretty impressive,” states Symington, directing people to see examples of past projects on the BEC website.
http://bioscienceeducation.ca/