Blogs

This is our final day on the set where the educational interactive movie: Making the Call: Quality in Biomanufacturing, is being filmed by the amazing film crew from Pellet Productions. This talented group from Pellet is producing hours of professional footage that will be processed and edited into a “choose your own adventure” movie that will prepare students to work in a regulated biomanufacturing environment. The Pellet team, led by executive producer Anthony Manupelli, includes director Bob Roche; camera operators Gilberto Nobrega and Jason York; writer and science editor, David Levin; sound Keith McManus; lighting experts, John Minard and Ricky... Read more

I am new to the Community College Biotech world, and so am learning a lot about its successes and challenges every day. I had a chance (thanks Sandy Porter) to read a great article about increasing diversity in Biotech, and how incorporating research into biotech teaching is so crucial. The article, Setting the Foundation for Success: Undergraduate Research at Community Colleges by R. Deborah Overath, PhD, from Del Mar College, was posted on the SACNAS website over the summer (July 13, to be exact). What, I wondered, was SACNAS ? SACNAS stands for Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics... Read more

One of the challenging aspects of this project is to make sure that it is dramatically interesting and educationally useful at the same time as it is technically correct. The Pellet team relies on expert advisors for this purpose. Here at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center, where the production is being filmed, we have BTEC staffers Dan Mardirosian, Kristen Piccard, and Chris Bellerive as advisors. These advisors have years of biomanufacturing industry experience. They consulted with the Pellet team on script development and Dan and/or Chris have been on the set throughout the filming. They have... Read more

A short behind-the-scenes video clip can be seen here. In this clip you will see the director, Bob Roche (green shirt) coaching the actors, actor Ariel Zuckerman explaining the crisis being filmed from his perspective, and Dan Mardirosian explaining the disaster that can occur when there is too much foam in a bioreactor. Read more

This is day 2 on the set where the educational interactive movie: Making the Call: Quality in Biomanufacturing is being filmed. The purpose of this “choose your own adventure” movie is to prepare students to work in a regulated biomanufacturing environment. Yesterday our intrepid actors encountered several workplace challenges in their roles as biomanufacturing technicians. The character, Corrine, accidentally turned the wrong valve potentially contaminating a batch of the life-saving (fictitious) drug, Squabanin. How she handles this crisis will determine the fate of her career…

Today we are introduced to a new character, the production manager played by Aseem... Read more

Bio-Linkers Jeanette Mowery, Vivian Ngan-Winward, and Lisa Seidman have traveled to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Biomanufacturing Education and Training Center for the filming of an educational interactive movie: Making the Call: Quality in Biomanufacturing. The purpose of this “choose your own adventure” movie is to prepare students to work in a regulated biomanufacturing environment. During the movie, students will view scenarios that might occur in the workplace and will be asked to make decisions as if they were the employees in those situations. Different outcomes, some good, some not, will unfold depending on the student’s decisions. This movie project... Read more

Plans are underway for the 2016 Summer Fellows Forum. This year's conference will be a little shorter because of other events in San Francisco at the beginning of the week, but we still expect a good turnout and as always, a great time learning from old friends and meeting new ones.

Submit your presentation now by completing the: Summer Fellows Forum Presentation Proposal 2016

Proposals are due by April 1st, 2016.

We will notify all submitters in early May.

Pellet Productions and the South Carolina Advanced Technological Education Center are partnering to offer a workshop on:

“Build-Your-Own Recruitment Video” (Beta Test)

The application deadline is December 15, 2015 at 5:00 pm (your time zone).

Limited to one application per college.

Applicants will be notified of selection by Jan. 15th, 2016.

The workshop will be held on Friday, June 10, 2016 in Florence, South Carolina.

Overview

A Build-Your-Own Recruitment Video customization tool is being developed that will enable any educator (teacher, recruiter, marketing professional) to select micro-content... Read more