State and local leaders celebrated the opening of a biopharma training and education center in Rockville on Thursday that is anticipated to increase the workforce for life sciences in the region.
The 8,200-square-foot facility at 9808 Medical Center Drive is the product of BioHub Maryland, a state initiative focused on helping residents pursue careers in the life sciences.
Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D) told those attending the grand opening of the center that it is a “home base for the next generation of STEM professionals and a beacon of opportunity for our workforce.”
Construction of the center was funded by $3 million from Montgomery County, $1.25 million from the state and $2.5 million in federal funding made possible by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) of Kensington, according to BioHub spokesperson Henry Fawell.
Miller noted that the county has been the “epicenter” of the state’s progress in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) innovation. In the state, there are more than 2,700 life sciences companies that employ more than 50,000 people, she said.
The county is ranked as the third largest biopharma hub in the country with more than 350 life sciences companies including AstraZeneca with a campus in Gaithersburg, United Therapeutics in downtown Silver Spring and REGENXBIO in Rockville, according to the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. About 40,000 workers are in the life sciences field in the county, which is also home to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg.
County Executive Marc Elrich has long supported investment in growing the county life sciences sector. At Thursday’s grand opening, he said he was “very excited” about the facility, adding it would be a game changer.
“It’s important to be on the research end of things, but our weakest place here is on the manufacturing end of things,” Elrich said.
He noted the center will make the county stand out as a good location for biopharma manufacturing if the county is able to foster its own talent pool.
Other local elected officials who joined Elrich at the grand opening were County Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe and Evan Glass as well as Rockville Mayor Monique Ashton.
Ashton told MoCo360 that the new BioHub Maryland facility was especially important to Rockville, which she said represents a “significant” portion of the county’s life sciences sector.
“When I visit those biotech companies, I ask them, ‘Why did you choose Rockville or Montgomery County?’ And … access to an educated workforce is one of the top things they say,” Ashton said. “You can have a great idea, but if you don’t have a talented workforce to make that happen, you know you can’t get your work done.”
The center is set with labs, equipment and training classrooms. It is near The Universities at Shady Grove, Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County campus and REGENXBIO’s offices.
Trainees at the center can learn such skills as aseptic techniques and the manufacturing of recombinant proteins, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies. Programs and courses for manufacturing technicians, analysts and warehouse technicians are available.
According to a BioHub press release, the facility is the only training center in the Washington, D.C., region that features curricula from the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), which is based in Dublin, Ireland. NIBRT is a globally recognized leader in biopharmaceutical manufacturing training and research, the release said.
Kelly Schulz, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council, which launched the BioHub Maryland initiative, said the BioHub is the starting point for residents looking for entry-level positions in the life sciences field. She said the center can cater to individuals with only a high school diploma, people changing their careers and military veterans looking for civilian work.
“Our hope is that not only they can continue to upskill here, but there will also be individuals that will want to go get an associate’s degree or … a bachelor’s degree from the [Universities at Shady Grove] or a master’s degree,” Schulz said. “This is that entryway for them to get started.”
Ashton said the BioHub center is an opportunity for economic development and improvement of residents’ careers as well as for the future of life sciences.
“The human genome was mapped in Rockville, right? And so, what’s next? What are we going to do to help accelerate health and wellness?” Ashton said. “I really believe that medical innovation starts here.”
