Biomanufacturing
Montgomery County Community College, PA
Finger Lakes Community College, NY
Biomanufacturing Hub
Bring together leaders to share curricular advances for training biomanufacturing technicians
We are a community of practice for faculty and partner institutions engaging in biomanufacturing education and training. We support programs to introduce, strengthen, and scale biomanufacturing content to produce well trained technicians for the biopharmaceutical, advanced therapy, and industrial biotechnology sectors. Mentoring and professional development guide faculty in the use established skill standards and open source curricular resources — such as SOPs, batch records, and equipment lists.
Who we are
Dr. Maggie Bryans was formerly a Principal Investigator for the NSF ATE regional center for biomanufacturing, NBC2. For over a decade NBC2 collaborated with biopharmaceutical manufacturing companies to advance technician training. Although the Center sunsetted in 2022, further funding from the NSF ATE and NIIMBL led to engagement with therapeutic biomanufacturing and new curriculum for technician training. Dr. James Hewlett is an expert at incorporating biomanufacturing as course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). The Biomanufacturing Hub is dedicated to supporting faculty as they develop or expand biomanufacturing content in their programs. It brings together community leaders to share curricular advances to technicians for a variety of biomanufacturing sectors.
Who we can do for you
- Mentor faculty to incorporate biomanufacturing content at all levels.
- Mentor faculty to design courses and programs in biopharmaceutical, industrial, or advanced therapy biomanufacturing.
- Support the introduction of biomanufacturing content or modules into existing courses.
- Troubleshoot experiments.
- Consult with program leads and industry partners for best-fit curriculum.
- Collaborate on new biomanufacturing content that can be shared with the community.
Hub Hosts:
Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Finger Lakes Community College, Canandaigua, New York
Maggie Bryans, Ph.D.
Biotechnology Professor and Program Coordinator
Montgomery County Community College, PA
mbryans@mc3.edu
+1 215 619 7335
James Hewlett
Industrial Biomanufacturing Lead
Co-PI, InnovATEBIO
Executive Director, CCURI
Finger Lakes Community College, NY
james.hewlett@flcc.edu
+1 585 785 1325
Current programs
NBC2
For over a decade the Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative (NBC2) engaged with biomanufacturing companies to develop skill standards, skills training, and a suite of curricular materials–including a textbook, several lab manuals, and over one hundred standard operating procedures. NBC2 hosted many faculty workshops and mentored faculty as they adopted the curriculum. All NBC2 curriculum is open source, curated into biomanufacturing units, and available on the NBC2 website. Faculty may also request access to the educator’s portal for ancillary materials such as lectures, representative data, and a biomanufacturing exam. To expand the breath and impact of the website, we are reviewing new biomanufacturing curricula developed by NSF ATE funded projects to add to the website.
Preparing a Technical Workforce for Manufacturing Advanced Therapies
According to an April 2025 report of the US Senate’s National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, demand for workforce in cell and gene therapies double in the last five years. These reports detail the knowledge, skills, and abilities students will need to pursue biomanufacturing jobs of the future.
Biomanufacturing Monoclonal Antibodies Using NISTCHO Cells
NISTCHO cells are a monoclonal antibody producing CHO cell line developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and MilliporeSigma as a reference material for the biopharmaceutical industry. Through funding from the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) and in partnership with Montgomery College MD we developed a biomanufacturing curriculum using NISTCHO for monoclonal antibody (mAb) production. We continue to develop procedures for NISTmAb analytics with members of our community of practice.