Biotechnology
UBC's Biotechnology program is one a unique program where students gain cross institutional training through two years of study, including 15 hours per week in the lab and theoretical training, at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) followed by two years spent learning scientific theory and continued laboratory classes at UBC. This program was created to address the documented need for people who can combine technical experience and training with expertise in other areas such as:
- Management
- Production
- Regulations
- Intellectual property
Biotechnology Co-op students complete their first two work terms through BCIT. The students are available for their third and fourth work terms as seniors through UBC Science Co-op.
Sample skill sets
- Culture, enumeration, and transformation of bacteria
- Plant propagation (in vitro and in vivo) and plant transformation
- Maintenance, transfection and CRISPR gene editing of mammalian cells
- Immunofluorescence staining and fluorescence microscopy of mammalian cells
- Flow cytometry of mouse spleen cells and analysis with FlowJo software
- Isolation and handling of nucleic acids (plasmid and genomic DNA, RNA)
- PCR and molecular cloning, including the use of SnapGene software for planning
- Gene expression analysis by qRT-PCR
- Protein expression analysis by Western Blot and ELISA
- Bioinformatics, including differential gene expression analysis using R studio
- Protein purification using size exclusion and ion-exchange chromatography
- Bioreactor set up and operation, downstream processing
- Analytical Chemistry – GC, HPLC, LC-MS/MS, GC-MS and ICP-MS/MS
- Regulatory affairs based on ISO 9000 standards