Doing business with the biotech industry but can’t tell a nucleus from a nucleotide? BioNJ, the biotech trade group, is hosting a two-day crash course in the basics of the science behind one of the most important sectors of the Princeton-area economy.
The BioBasics course will be held Thursday and Friday, December 12 and 13, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the conference center at Mercer County Community College. The cost is $845 for BioNJ members and $945 for nonmembers. To register, go to bionj.com.
The course instructor is Karin Lucas, the director of training and education for Biotech Primer Inc. Her duties include new product development, client training customization, and instructor training for BioTech Primer. Lucas earned a Ph.D. in protein chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.
Lucas has been an invited speaker at many events including the annual BIO International Conventions, the Sarawak Biodiversity Center in Malaysia, and the National Biotechnology Week in Canada. Prior to her engagement with BioTech Primer, Lucas worked as a scientist at Biogen Idec where she developed protein pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer and multiple sclerosis and as a scientist and project director at Cardinal Health, where she worked on the development of more than 25 products with multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The course includes a definition of the biotech industry, units on cell structure, DNA, genes, mutations, proteins, RNA, plasmids, genetic engineering, biosimilars, stem cells, proteomics, antibodies, drug discovery, and drug development. Participants will participate in activities on DNA isolation and extraction, a genetic variation taste test, using a microarray to determine drug metabolism and protein electrophoresis.
