Life Sciences Summer Institute gives science teachers a chance to attend an education boot camp at the Biogen Idec Community Lab. (Photo courtesy Biocom)

Synergy, teamwork, alliance, call it what you will — in San Diego, biotech companies and schools have joined forces to encourage today’s students to become tomorrow’s life sciences workforce.

By exposing young minds to the marvels of science, San Diego companies — such as Gen-Probe, Life Technologies and Conatus — are investing in the future of the region’s biotech industry. They hope to keep San Diego on the “A” list of great places for entrepreneurial science.

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Maintain competitive edge

Life science leaders do not want the United States to lose its competitive edge as other countries increase support for science education.

“We (the life sciences industry) feel strongly about science education,” said Kristie Grover of Biocom, a San Diego-based life science association that represents more than 550 biotech companies in Southern California.

” The cutbacks in education threaten the future scientific workforce at a time when developing nations, such as China and India, are pouring billions of government dollars into developing a thriving biotech industry.”

Investing in scientific future

While the state this year has cut more than $4.4 billion in funding for elementary, middle and high schools, life sciences leaders are dedicated to ensuring that this financial loss does not translate into an irrevocable loss in terms of science education and future workers.

The industry has stepped in to help schools combat the impact of the fiscal cuts, outdated labs and materials, teacher layoffs, larger classes, and weakened curriculum.
As the budget crisis worsens, stronger measures that may be taken include shortening the school year and school closures.

Global competition

Jori Tulkki, associate director of Government and Corporate Affairs for Gen-Probe, Inc., added that students from other countries are graduating from stellar U.S. universities with science degrees and taking that knowledge and expertise back to their countries.

“We want to increase the number of American-born students who will major in the sciences and keep that pipeline of scientific knowledge open,” she said.

To that end, biotech companies are boosting science education and getting kids excited about science through participation in a variety of programs sponsored by the Biocom Institute, the nonprofit arm of Biocm.

Industry-based programs include the Life Sciences Summer Institute (LSSI), a collaboration with the San Diego WorkForce Partnership that places high school students in internships.

Science boot camp

The program also includes a science boot camp for students and teachers; a scholarship and education fund; and the recent Science Education Speakers Bureau, which premiered this past summer and sends industry veterans into middle school classrooms to give science lessons and talk about the many different career paths available in the biotech industry.

The pilot program reached more than 1,200 middle school students in San Diego County and was in five schools in five different districts. Seventeen different lesson plans for the hour-long sessions were written by the Biocom Institute in collaboration with the San Diego Science Alliance and the San Diego County Office of Education. According to Grover, director of the Biocom Institute, students showed an 82 percent increase in understanding the lesson topic after one hour with the volunteer teacher.

“That’s incredible,” said Grover, who usually started the lessons by bounding in front of the classroom and introducing the speaker. “The lessons show these kids how what they are learning applies to real life.”

Two teachers participating in the Life Sciences Summer Institute will take their lessons back to the classroom where they can share them with their students. (Photo courtesy Biocom)

Combating negative images

“We have to combat what the pop culture tells them,” said Grover. “They think scientists are evil, such as in James Bond and Spider Man, or boring nerds. The guest scientists/teachers change their perceptions, showing them how scientists save lives, and how many career paths there are in biotech.”

After giving a brief description of the lesson plan, Grover tells the teens about other benefits of biotech jobs, such as: good salaries, paid vacations, travel, team projects and helping people.

Evidently, the kids listen and appreciated the lessons. The institute has received more than 400 thank you cards, many saying that now they understood why they needed to study science.

For the three companies profiled by SDNN, helping young minds explore science and envision careers in science is all in a day’s work – which includes developing a diverse talent source for San Diego’s life sciences industries in the future.

See all stories in this series:

Biotech companies invest in school programs for future scientists

Life Technologies sends high school science students to Africa

Conatus Pharmaceuticals sparks student interest in fossil science

Gen-Probe mentors low-income students seeking science careers