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SANFORD N.C. - College and community leaders smashed walls — ceremonially — at an event celebrating the start of renovation for a facility that will prepare students for highly-skilled biotechnology manufacturing jobs.

The 10,000-square-foot Biotech facility is part of �ڰ�������’s E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center in Sanford. 

The center is named for Eugene Moore, an alumnus of the college and key donor for the center.

“When students come through us the sky’s the limit, and that’s what this wall breaking represents,” said �ڰ������� President Dr. Lisa M. Chapman. 

The Biotech facility will be the new home for �ڰ�������’s existing Bioprocess Manufacturing Technology program and will serve students obtaining degrees, certificates, continuing education, and industry training. It will increase the college’s capacity to support students entering the rapidly growing life science industry in North Carolina.

Demolition inside the building is set to begin in the next few weeks, according to Provost and Capital Project Coordinator Dr. Jon Matthews. After that, workers will rebuild the space in keeping with designs created in close collaboration with industry partners. The goal is to build a learning environment that best simulates what students will experience as they enter industrial facilities.

�ڰ������� hopes to have the building fully operational for students by next fall, Matthews said. 

Once complete, the Biotech facility will provide cutting-edge labs, flexible learning spaces, and opportunities for hands-on training aligned with industry needs.

The new Biotech facility will include two BioWork labs to accommodate continuing education and industry training, as well as a large hybrid lab with flexibility to respond to current and changing technologies. Other highlights of the facility include Quality Control and Fill Finish spaces.

Bioprocessing involves using living cells such as bacteria to manufacture products. Cells are good at creating large, complex molecules which can be useful in treating diseases. 

“�ڰ������� is helping us find, grow, and empower the talent that makes creating those breakthroughs that change patients' lives possible,” said Dorothy Kellam, Director of Site Strategy and Operations Management at Pfizer.

Leaders from Astellas and Kyowa Kirin, two other industry partners, also took part in the ceremony, as did William “Bill” Bullock, Senior Vice President of Economic and Statewide Development for the NC Biotechnology Center.

“Some of you in this room may have noticed we are amidst a life sciences boom in the state of North Carolina,” he said. 

The state has seen $13.5 billion in announced investment in life sciences and the announcement of a potential 5,200 jobs, just since the beginning of 2024.

“I have to tell you, driving from Raleigh today, coming down the 1 corridor, what’s happening in this corridor is transformation,” he said. “This corridor is becoming its own global cluster for pharmaceutical biomanufacturing.” 

Visit �ڰ�������’s Bioprocess Manufacturing to learn more about the program.