VGCC students learn about Biotech Opportunities at N.C. Central

Students enrolled in Bioprocess Technology courses at Vance-Granville Community College recently had the opportunity to see for themselves the next steps they could take in their education. Students from both the college’s main campus in Vance County and the Franklin County Campus traveled to the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) at North Carolina Central University in Durham on Sept. 1. The students were accompanied by VGCC Bioprocess Technology program head/instructor Joseph Tyler, BioWork/Bioprocessing instructor Dr. Tara R. Hamilton and Franklin County Early College High School principal Jim Harris. The group included 11 Early College students who are enrolled in Hamilton’s Bioprocess Practices class at the Franklin Campus , where the high school is located.

BRITE combines highly credentialed faculty with state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories to prepare tomorrow’s leaders in the growing biotechnology and pharmaceutical sciences fields. Several graduates of VGCC’s two-year Bioprocess Technology associate degree program have already transferred to NCCU to study at BRITE.

NCCU faculty member Jonathan Sexton gave the VGCC group an introductory lecture on some of the projects at BRITE. This was followed by a tour of the facility and ended with a hands-on laboratory exercise working with cultured human cells.

VGCC’s Bioprocess Technology curriculum prepares individuals to work as process technicians in biological products manufacturing facilities. For more information on the Bioprocess Technology program, call Joseph Tyler at (252) 738-3350. For more information on Franklin County Early College High School , call (919) 496-1567, ext. 3619.

Above: From left, BRITE senior scientist Audrey Adcock shows equipment to Marissa Tyler, a Franklin County Early College High School student enrolled in a Bioprocessing Practices class at VGCC’s Franklin County Campus.