Any good Biotechnology universities ?

<p>Barrons,</p>

<p>Those patents come from other discoveries in the engineering field as well since they don’t make note that it is just biotech. I work in industry, where is your credibility? </p>

<p>"The official mission of this private, non-profit organization is to support scientific research at the UW-Madison. WARF accomplishes this by patenting inventions arising from university research, licensing the technologies to companies for commercialization, and returning the licensing income to the UW-Madison to support further scientific endeavor. Since making its first grant of $1,200 in 1928, WARF has contributed more than $750 million dollars to the UW-Madison, including monies to fund research, build facilities, purchase lands and equipment, and support a bevy of faculty and graduate student fellowships each year.</p>

<p>WARF plays no role in determining how these dollars are distributed, however; that decision is left solely with university officials. The purpose of this policy is to allow the commercial use of UW-Madison discoveries while avoiding a situation where commercial interests directly influence the research being conducted on campus. The university refers to WARF’s annual grant as its “margin of excellence” funding, since the grant can be used to support highly innovative, early-stage research for which no other funding sources are available."</p>

<p>Yes, it is NON Profit so when the technology is transfered, VC money is needed to seed the company. That money is used for academic research which will later be transfered, hence, when the company is officially started it is VC funded. VC’s are not NON profit.</p>

<p>coureur,</p>

<p>Considering I work in SD for a large biotech (over 1000+ employees), yes UCSD supplies many of the areas companies with top scientist from the grad and undergrad level. However, you do not gain experience in high throughput screening (automated lab equipment) at the academic level. You gain the basic skills like tissue culture, protein purification, running assays, etc. No academic program teaches you GMP, quality control/assurance, large scale protein production in fermenters, clinical trials, FDA regulations and many other aspects of biotech. Sadly, this is either gain in industry experience or UCSD extension courses or biotech programs at Mira Costa Community College.</p>

<p>Now where San Diego’s industry gives students an advantage is if they want to network.
<a href=“http://www.sdbiotech.org/schedule.htm[/url]”>http://www.sdbiotech.org/schedule.htm&lt;/a&gt; is where there is free food and beer, plus it’s where recently layed of Pfizer and Neurocrine employees go to look for new jobs.</p>

<p>Obviously you know nothing about how WARF works and you probably never heard of it before this week. WARF is totally independent and is free to invest its funds directly into startups. The university only controls the funds after WARF gives them to it in the annual grant. It is not controlled by the university. It owns positions in more than 40 companies. Not all of them are even in Wisconsin. The investment funds come from the independent WARF endowment.</p>

<p><a href=“http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1481[/url]”>http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1481&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.warf.org/about/index.jsp?cid=27&scid=37[/url]”>http://www.warf.org/about/index.jsp?cid=27&scid=37&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Most people have never heard of WARF outside of Wisconsin and quite frankly most really don’t care. You have completely strayed off the topic which is what is the best school to go if you want to work in the biotech industry. And the answer depends on what type of biotech company do you want for and in what capacity? Any good science school will do and ones that are centrally located in biotech hotbeds give you opportunities gain industry experience. Working on advance cutting edge science in academic doesn’t mean **** if companies do not have needs for those skills. For example, gene therapy vectors in adenoviruses packed with anti HIV genes seems like cool research but there are little industry positions which can make use of those skills. Diagnostics, pharma, biopharmaceuticals companies maybe impressed with what you did but you won’t have the skills necessary for their positions.</p>

<p>Many new start ups which pay little, expect a lot in demand (they need to show a proof of concept to hit milestones) tend to keep their staffs to a minimum and do not have the time to train new graduates who may not work out(unless you were an intern or student worker there). </p>

<p>The most plentiful entry level jobs are in larger more established companies who do have the resources to train. You get these positions with actual lab experience relevant to the position and it really doesn’t matter where you went to school as long as it’s reputable. This isn’t McKinsey where pedigree matters.</p>

<p>If you want to wash test tubes your community college approach is fine. If you want to become a top researcher you better start someplace where they do top research. California is very aware of WARF. They are feuding wtih it over access to UW’s stem cell patents so they can get their bioresearch program off the ground.</p>

<p><a href=“http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3386[/url]”>http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=3386&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Someone had this on another board.</p>

<p>Top Academic Research Performers</p>

<p>Of the 640 institutions surveyed, the top 20 in terms of total R&D expenditures accounted for 30% of total academic R&D spending (table 4). The top 100 research performers accounted for 80% of all R&D dollars in FY 2005. Two universities were displaced from the top 20 in FY 2005: the University of Colorado slipped from 20th in FY 2004 to 22nd in FY 2005, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign dropped from 18th in FY 2004 to 24th in FY 2005. Replacing them were Columbia University in the City of New York, which moved from 23rd in FY 2004 to 18th in FY 2005, and the University of Florida, which climbed from 27th to 20th. Duke University had the most significant change of rank within the top 20, an increase of over $100 million in academic R&D spending moved them from 14th in FY 2004 to 10th in FY 2005.</p>

<p>1 Johns Hopkins U.
2 U. MI all campuses
3 U. WI Madison
4 U. CA, Los Angeles
5 U. CA, San Francisco
6 U. CA, San Diego
7 Stanford U.
8 U. WA
9 U. Pennsylvania
10 Duke U.
11 PA State U. all campuses
12 OH State U. all campuses
13 Cornell U. all campuses
14 M.I.T.
15 U. CA, Berkeley
16 U. MN all campuses
17 U. CA, Davis
18 Columbia U. in the City of NY
19 Washington U. St. Louis
20 U. Florida</p>

<p>Hey, I never stated someone was going to wash test tubes. You still never told me as to why you are such a credible source on biotech. Have you even seen the entry level jobs most students get? You are really getting on my nerves since you obviously have no industry experience and all you can do is to point to articles written by the UW-M. It seems you must be their PR guy since they it to compete to get better talent from areas like San Diego, Boston and SF.</p>

<p>You can do top research with cool experiments but if the skill set isn’t applicable to the job you are applying to then it doesn’t mean ****. </p>

<p>Lets look at this ENTRY LEVEL position from Medimmune (no Barrons is not glass washing)</p>

<p>Position Title: Research Associate I
Department Name: Analytical Biochemistry
Location: Gaithersburg
Job ID Number: 3250-056</p>

<p>Job Description
The candidate will be responsible for being trained on and performing various immunoassays in the combined Immunoassay/Electrophoresis Areas within Analytical Biochemistry. They will be responsible for obtaining the sample to be analyzed, assaying the samples in the appropriate assay, recording all information in a GMP-compliant notebook, and reporting the results via written and electronic means. The candidate will be expected to make detailed observations, analyze data, and interpret results with supervision. The expectation would be to prepare technical reports, protocols, experimental summaries, and to give oral presentations when required. Previous immunoassay experience (ELISA, etc.), familiarity with assay instrumentation (plate readers, washers, reader software, etc.) and strong pipetting skills are a plus, as is previous experience working in a GMP compliant facility.</p>

<p>Job Requirements
Requires a Bachelors degree in a scientific discipline with a minimum of 0-2 years experience in a research or development area. *************************************************************************************************MedImmune, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.</p>

<p>basically, all you do is run an ELISA assay and gels on many different samples all day and record the results according to good manufacturing practices (GMP). First, GMP is not taught at many universities since it is not an academic topic. It won’t matter since 0-2 years they don’t expect you too know GMP but if you do it’s a plus. So you did top research on lets say stem cells or a new medical imaging device. That’s impressive but those are different skills than what this job requires. Second, if you come into the interview for the job after doing that great research academically where you had individual freedom and since this position isn’t as glamourous, you will kick yourself out of the position because you will be seen as a flight risk (aka someone who quits early because they are bored). </p>

<p>They are many other jobs in biotech such as Quality Control such as this one from Genetech that are entry level for new college graduates:</p>

<p>Performs collection, handling, testing, and documentation of samples from plant utilities to support routine manufacturing operations and facility qualifications. Performs sample management functions for all in-coming test samples;QC assays for In-Process product samples and associated lab support functions. Compiles, tabulates, and organizes QC data for tracking and trending purposes. Performs all functions in strict accordance to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Safety procedures, and established Genentech business processes. Applies current Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Documentation Practices to all QC testing and laboratory operations.
Key Responsibilities:
-Must work effectively in a fast-paced environment with a team of analysts to collect samples and perform routine testing for utilities (waters, clean steam, and compressed gases).
-Perform compendial microbiological and chemical assays such as Bioburden, Endotoxin, pH, TOC and Conductivity.
-Perform automated (bio)chemical assays of In-Process product samples according to SOPs.<br>
-Must be accurate and efficient at performing required testing and calculating/recording results in order to support tight timelines of manufacturing production schedule.
-Documentation of data and test results must be legible, complete and correct per cGMPs and SOPs.
-Perform sample management functions for all in-coming test samples to ensure that they are properly received, logged, stored, and transferred to appropriate QC lab for testing.
-Resolve problems with sample labeling and documentation by effective, professional communication with customers from various work groups including QC, QA, Manufacturing and Validation.
-Responsible for entering and verifying data and generating reports from electronic systems such as LIMS and DMS.
-Organize, tabulate and publish QC test data for tracking and trending purposes.
-Perform lab support functions, such as aliquoting of samples, reagent preparation, equipment cleaning, and temperature monitoring
-Compile, reconcile, verify and distribute sample submission data to QC and other departments.
-Generate and maintain logbooks for sample management and lab support functions.
-Must have excellent computer skills with working knowledge of office programs such as Excel, Word, Project, PowerPoint, Visio, etc.
-The individual must be willing and able to work non-rotating 4 day/10 hour shift (day/swing/night) that includes with one weekend day and holidays; Overtime will be required on an as-needed basis.
-Must be able to work effectively in controlled environments (e.g. clean rooms) wearing appropriate aseptic apparel and/or Personal Protective Equipment.
-Good organizational skills and attention to detail; Good written and verbal communication skills; Ability to interpret technical data.
Supervision Received:
-Progress on work assignments is supervised, as required, and reviewed on a regular basis.
-Manager/Supervisor provides work priorities, timelines and resources.
Education and Experience:
-Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Biochemistry, or related science.
-Minimum of 1/2 - 1 year related experience in a scientific discipline.
Work Environment/Physical Demands/Safety Considerations:
-Work in office and laboratory environment; expected to be on feet for 8 to 10 hours a day</p>

<p>Honestly, the key factors to getting the job are relevant previous job experience, good attitude, some scientifc appitude and the ability to work well with others. Going to a top school is nice but not necessary. Doing top research looks great but only if you highlight transferable skills and most skills are so common that even certain community colleges with biotech courses could teach you them. Granted, most jobs will still require a bachelors anyways. </p>

<p>As for top cutting research, most will be done by start ups and they typically don’t hire new college grads. Most older established companies are departmentalized and streamlined that you only do one aspect and transfer it to another group.</p>

<p>As for people who know about WARF, go ask a majority of people who work in biotech and they probably wouldn’t or even care since they must more pressing things to worry about.</p>

<p>I’m glad to see it doesn’t matter where you go to school to get these jobs.</p>

<p>After reading the last two job descriptions, these jobs don’t sound very exciting, to put it mildly.</p>

<p>Do jobs like this lead to better, more interesting jobs? They must, right?</p>

<p>The people who do high level licensing of patents know about them as many biotech firms have licensed UW patents.</p>

<p>Most people serious about getting into biotech at a real research level go on to graduate school and on to the PhD level. That is where school ranking is important. Getting into a quality grad program requires going to a quality undergrad.</p>

<p>My guess is there are a lot more quality undergrad programs than you read about on CC.</p>

<p>Actually I pointed to articles in INC magazine, Forbes, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. You are posing as some expert on getting entry level jobs in biotech but do not even know one of the leading institutions in the biotech field even though it was featured on the cover of Time magazine a few years ago. You try to say that WARF does not act as a venture capital firm when it is clear they do and have equity in 40 companies around the US… You just don’t know much outside your company.</p>

<p>So as going to a prestigious University doesn’t matter, Should I look for a good Undergrad B-School and give quality of Biotech the secondary priority ? Or should it still be the opposite?</p>

<p>I do know the leading institions are having gone to one. But you are entirely disillusioned since most high level research is being done by graduate students and post docs. As for jobs, I mentioned 2 positions for companies I do not work for but are common within the industry. Considering I have worked for 3 different companies within the industry, I can tell you at the BS level coming straight from college you won’t find many dazzling jobs even if you went to a top university.</p>

<p>You still haven’t answered the question of what makes you an expert in this field? What is your background and what first hand knowledge do you posses besides being able to pull up magazine articles?</p>

<p>“So as going to a prestigious University doesn’t matter, Should I look for a good Undergrad B-School and give quality of Biotech the secondary priority ? Or should it still be the opposite?”</p>

<p>It all depends on career goals. If you look at the profiles of most companies, sadly, most have MBA’s and went to no name universities. This industry is mostly about experience and once you get your foot into the door, it doesn’t matter. A top MBA will definitely give you options from a vast network and getting an interview, but from there, it’s all up to you.</p>

<p>Thanks Mike</p>

<p>

I doubt it. These are glorified lab tech jobs. How’d you think you may demonstrate your research potential on the job?</p>

<p>The OP asked what schools have good biotech programs–at a high level. Not what do I need to get a job in biotech with an undergrad degree. All your posts have no relevance to the OP question and really add nothing to the discussion about academics and the best schools. I only responded because you made numerous uninformed comments related to what opportunities a UW student would have. You thought there was no biotech activity in Madison to get experience while in school and I proved you wrong–there are scores of companies of all types from large older ones to startups. There are many paid lab jobs both on and off campus for students to get experience. But most serious bio students go on to get advanced degrees so they don’t get stuck in entry level jobs.</p>

<p>That is the point. Top science schools are often times top biotech schools because of the high level of research they do. That often gets transfered if there is a market for it into industry. But no school has specifically a true “industry” biotech program which emcompasses the all the different types of biotechnology companies out there. </p>

<p>The answer to schools that would best prepare you for biotech are the ones that are surrounded by a strong biotech community. Why do you think someone would ask about are good biotech schools if he did not want to work in the industry? The true value of a good school is getting internships with companies or doing research in “specific” professors at the school who’s technology is often transferred into starting companies where you would learn some relevant skills and who have good job placements. Here are somes examples:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.scripps.edu/mb/barbas/[/url]”>http://www.scripps.edu/mb/barbas/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://schultz.scripps.edu/[/url]”>http://schultz.scripps.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Serious students often get Ph.D but if your goal is to work in industry you have to realize that there are FAR too many Ph.D for little Ph.D positions. You maybe in lab studying some odd mechanism but unless you have skills specific to the job description you aren’t getting the job. A job maybe for protein purification and characterization or Invivo pharmacology and your Ph.D/post doc lets say is in molecular biology then you aren’t likely to even be considered a candidate for the position. Companies do not train ph.d level candidates. Even with the area you received your ph.d in, there a sub categories and unless your background fits specifically in that description you are **** out of luck. </p>

<p>And when you talk about UW-M being a top biotech area, it isn’t. It’s just a small pocket like one in UT-Austin or Orange County, CA.</p>

<p>A “small” pocket can provide more than adequate opportunities for an undergrad to get some experience–especially when many of the firms were founded by UW profs and UW alums with money from the WARF tech arm and set up shop in the UW research campus where something like 100 companies work. It’s called a symbiotic relationship. You don’t need 50 large firms to get some experience. Now it became obvious you knew nothing of the Madison biotech market nor of the close relationship that the school and the firms have.
And if you would like a list of the labs similar to those at Scripps you can easily find them on the UW site. There are scores of them and they are building a new $350 million research facility to house more of them.</p>

<p>I don’t believe Scripps even has undergrad programs. So why are you posting that here?</p>

<p>Scripps and the Salk are literally next door to UCSD where a vast amount of UCSD and to a smaller extent, SDSU students work there. </p>

<p>Yes, you don’t need 50 large firms but the area has many firms from 1-5 person start ups to the headquarters of multinational pharmaceuticals/biotechs. There are MORE oppertunities for students when there are more companies to choose from. The fact that over 100 companies share that building suggest they are only small start ups in the research phase.</p>

<p>Second, because of the lack of diversity of companies that are in different stages (start up vs. established) you may only get experience with just research and development. Small start ups are burning through seed money to look for a new treatment of a disease or develop a product to get into clinical trials. Therefore, the experience one gets is often very limited towards that aspect. There is more to the industry than just R&D, there are jobs for people who can take these products from the small scale and scale them up for production as well as those who can “validate” those manufacturing processes. There are jobs in Quality Control, Medical/Clinical affairs, Quality assurance, regulatory affairs, business development, manufacturing, marketing, etc that are jobs where you can utilize a science degree. </p>

<p>For jobs in many of those departments, there is no biotech curriculum that gives someone that knowledge which is primarily gain from working in the field. </p>

<p>So when its comes to what school is best to prepare you, like I said, it honestly doesn’t matter as much as you think. It depends on what you want to do. A good start would be a reputable science university and one where you can get the industry experience card punched. </p>

<p>UW-M is a great school, but for industry jobs, it really doesn’t matter which is the honest truth.</p>

<p>What matters is going to a school that meets your needs today and in the future, If you have any expectation about going further than a BS you better go to a school wit grad school connections and a name you can trust in the field. UCSD certainly is and so is UW. To imply that it is a must to work go to school in San Diego, Boston or SF because those are where the largest biotech firms are is absurd and would unduly limit your list of choices. UW provides a far different college experience than UCSD including a real college town next to campus, big-time sports, and a lively social scene. These are things some prospective students find attractive in addition to the academcis.</p>

<p>You have no idea about the diversity of firms in Madison but they are not in one building to begin with. It is a park developed by the university with over 1.5 million sf in 34 buildings. It was so successful thay are opening a phase 2 park
"By early 2007, University Research Park’s Phase 2 development at Junction Road and Hwy M on the far West side of Madison will be complete. This carefully choreographed expansion will:</p>

<p>Add 53 building sites on 270 additional acres
Increase tenant count to well over 200
And add 10,000-15,000 additional employees"</p>

<p><a href=“http://universityresearchpark.org/property/park_statistics/?Id=216[/url]”>http://universityresearchpark.org/property/park_statistics/?Id=216&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Obviously to most, this is not some puny one horse development. There numerous other companies who have their own buildings in locations all around Madison. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bio.wisc.edu/clusterMap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.bio.wisc.edu/clusterMap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The OP also wanted nanotech–UW is very active in it.
<a href=“http://www.news.wisc.edu/13436.html[/url]”>http://www.news.wisc.edu/13436.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You want industry orientation</p>

<p><a href=“http://buswire.ocr.wisc.edu/leadstory/200512.php[/url]”>http://buswire.ocr.wisc.edu/leadstory/200512.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Now here’s a new startup just getting off the ground. The article shows how it works in Madison.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/10/11/0610110002.php[/url]”>http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2006/10/11/0610110002.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;