Building a pipeline to fuel biotech

DEVELOPING SKILLS: Rep. James R. Langevin at URI with students and faculty, from left: Anna Deleon, Stephanie Hernandes, Stephanie Piantedosi, Ben Javery and co-directors of biotechnology Greg Paquette and Denice Spero. / PBN PHOTO/CATIA CUEN
DEVELOPING SKILLS: Rep. James R. Langevin at URI with students and faculty, from left: Anna Deleon, Stephanie Hernandes, Stephanie Piantedosi, Ben Javery and co-directors of biotechnology Greg Paquette and Denice Spero. / PBN PHOTO/CATIA CUEN

Ryan Tassone was a philosopher. Joe Desrosiers, a short-order cook. Neither was truly satisfied with their chosen career path.
Both now represent a new kind of worker – trained and educated through the University of Rhode Island’s biotech-manufacturing program – who officials, educators and scientists say can help thrust the city’s developing Knowledge District into a thriving educational and medical hub of the future.
“I got my degree in philosophy, and I realized I couldn’t [make] much of a career [with it]. My prospects were limited,” said Ryan Tassone, who now works at EpiVax on Clifford Street in the district. “I decided to see what was what out there and it seemed like a great idea. I jumped at the opportunity, and it worked out pretty well.”
The fact that Tassone and former colleague Desrosiers, who now works for the Institute for Immunology and Informatics, or I’ Cubed, at URI, are among the relative few program graduates actually working within the district only amplifies the need for additional funding and support – for the program and the employers, say supporters.
“We can only grow so fast, as a company that’s not venture-backed,” said Annie De Groot, CEO of EpiVax, and director of I’Cubed, adding that she’d be happy to hire more program graduates if she could. “We always look first at the URI program. We feel as a member of the community, that’s what we should be doing.”
Since the program began in 2004, it has graduated approximately 250 students. Isis Biopolymer, on Richmond Street, does not employ any graduates program directors could name. Beechtree Labs, on West Exchange Street, recently has taken interns.
Many former students have found full-time positions – a great number of them stimulated, as Tassone’s was, through an internship – at labs in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In its eight years, the URI program has received about $2 million in funding from an economic-development grant and a wealth of industry support. Most of its operational budget comes from tuition and fees.
“The idea is to develop a critical mass around the life sciences and medical devices” in the Knowledge District, said Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. “Investors are looking to be closer to higher education [institutions] that are closer to these activities. A selection and a wide diversity in a defined area is what helps develop jobs.”
I’Cubed has received approximately $11 million in funding since it opened in 2008, most of which has come from the National Institutes of Health. It focuses on vaccine development and, according to Denice Spero, co-director, has great growth potential, including hiring more lab technicians – if it had additional expansion funding.
“We’re busting at the seams,” Spero said. “We’ve expanded [already] and our trajectory is going up. We’re out of space.”
Greg Paquette, URI’s director of biotechnology, said the program is “meeting most of the needs [for medium-skilled workers], but the demand is greater than the supply. It’s the sector [that has] the greatest growth potential.”
Paquette and other department faculty last week made their case to U.S. Rep James R. Langevin when he recently toured URI’s Providence campus – where the biotech program and I’Cubed are housed.
Langevin’s visit was part of his RISE Tour, which he is using to call attention to businesses and programs that can create partnerships he says will close the gap between employers and an unskilled workforce. Langevin also is advocating for federal funding to help Knowledge District companies with expansion and for creating a development plan with the state.
“I’ve often said that after the Navy pulled out of Rhode Island and we lost the jewelry [manufacturing] base, we never replaced it with that “it” thing that would be a job creator,” Langevin said. “So, Rhode Island has always been the first to go into a recession and the last to come out. I like this area because it focuses on the full spectrum of education and job training.”
The URI biotech program works with about 30 area labratories, 20 or so in Rhode Island.
Paquette said the program’s strength lies in the intensive nature of its first 11 months that he dubs a “biotech boot camp” of courses and heavy lab time.
The aim is for students to acquire real-life industry skills that position them for an internship and to be ahead of the game in experience when they enter the workforce.
Some students, like Tassone, choose to complete a certificate program and others opt to continue for a four-year degree, often while working at a lab.
“While you still need the [doctors] and Ph.D.s and scientists, the real kind of economic engine is what we’re calling the new economy,” Paquette said. “Before, [labs] got biology majors [who] had to start from scratch” learning day-to-day technical skills.
Through a Perkins grant, and in partnership with the R.I. Department of Education, the URI biotech department has developed a high school curriculum that offers a trio of biotech classes.
A $500,000 Amgen grant has provided training for 40 teachers at 20 area high schools to incorporate biotech into their science programs.
Paquette’s colleagues regularly visit area high schools for program recruitment. •

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