Students Tour Biomanufacturing Facility

Biotechnology students enrolled in Montgomery County Community College’s Biomanufacturing course recently toured a GlaxoSmithKline commercial scale biomanufacturing facility in Upper Merion, PA. Cliff Barkley, Senior Manufacturing Training Specialist, led the tour and explained each stage of the upstream and downstream process for the production of Albiglutide, an anti-type II diabetes biologic. The students gowned-up for the tour and can be seen here in front of a 2-meter chromatography column. Touring the facility provides students with the opportunity to experience first-hand commercial scale equipment and processes that they mimic at a bench-top scale in the MCCC Biomanufacturing lab.

The MCCC biomanufacturing course (BIT 232) is one of four biotechnology courses offered at MCCC.  It is included as part of the Biotechnology AAS degree and the 16-credit Certificate of Completion in Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing.  The course can also be taken as a stand-alone course for industry professionals looking to expand their skill set with hands-on biomanufacturing training in a simulated-cGMP environment.  For more information about biomanufacturing or biotechnology program offerings at MCCC, contact Maggie Bryans, Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Biotechnology, at 215-619-7335 or mbryans@mc3.edu.