Finding the Right Mentor Can Bolster a Career
With the professional world increasingly becoming more competitive and stressful, finding a mentor can be an excellent career opportunity. Mentors can provide career advice and help young professionals improve their skills. They can be either someone who works in the same company, industry, or in a similar position elsewhere. A mentor can help improve performance, increase pay, and possibly even help land a better job. "If you have good mentors and good relationships, a lot of doors can open up," says Ernst & Young's Nancy Altobello. Some companies have formal programs that match employees with mentors, but even workers with access to these programs should look for other mentors, says PricewaterhouseCoopers' Michael Fenlon. Building a good relationship with a mentor requires some work. Workers should prepare a pitch for potential mentors that explains why they should commit their time to mentor. Once a mentor is found, the mentee must take responsibility for maintaining the relationship, be it securing a monthly time to meet or coming prepared to meetings with an agenda on what to discuss. Fenlon says that given the unpredictability of today's market, having a team of advisers both inside and outside your organization can provide excellent opportunities. "It is not possible to have too many mentors," he says.
  (Associated Press (12/28/09))  http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/28/business/AP-US-Your-Career-Mentoring.html

Montgomery Tries to Incubate Resurgence in Biotech Industry
Johns Hopkins University's Montgomery County, Md., campus hosted academics and state and local officials to recruit biotech entrepreneurs. These people are needed because of the emerging field of personalized medicine, which involves discovering the genetics behind a person's illness. But it is challenging to do the work because of fierce competition. Even Montgomery County, which has its advantages, has found it difficult to keep up with other cities. A study of the top U.S. biotech communities ranked the Washington, D.C., area 10th, behind Philadelphia, Pa., the Raleigh-Durham region in North Carolina, and Chicago, Ill. "The perception that we're right behind Silicon Valley and Boston may have been accurate 10 years ago, but isn't accurate today," says Montgomery County economic director Steve Silverman. "We've got to play catch-up ball." Decades ago, Montgomery County thoughtfully planned the biotechnology industry. About 250 of the Maryland's 400 biotech companies are located in the area, and technology companies such as MedImmune, Cellphire, and Adlyfe have moved to Shady Grove, where Johns Hopkins placed its Montgomery County campus. But the county has still had problems in three areas--the county has been unable to make ties with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because it has stringent rules on NIH scientists working with the private industry, some start-ups have had trouble gaining venture capital that is available in other places such as Silicon Valley, and Montgomery County has had trouble connecting investors, entrepreneurs, and scientists. A Biosciences Task Force has been created to deal with that problem, and is looking to attract entrepreneurs from around the country to help local biomedical researchers to link with investors.
  (Washington Post (12/22/09); Laris, Michael)  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122103262.html

Factory Revived as Biotech Lab
The South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Innovation Center recently opened in Charleston to transform the city's biotechnology industry. Representatives from the SCRA, MUSC, city of Charleston, and other parties attended the grand opening of the building that was once a mattress factory. The center is expected to attract startup companies that will bring new drugs to the market and research developed by the medical university. "This is the culmination of a dream and lots of efforts," says Mayor Joe Riley. "This is a pivotal point in our community's history. It's easy for communities to move in the same direction with hard work and devotion. To really advance, you've got to pivot and move in a different direction." The center will provide jobs to the area, and a nearby street will be converted into a live/work biotech community connected to MUSC for researchers at the center. MUSC President Ray Greenberg thinks that the four companies moving into the building--Neurological Testing Services, Immunologix, Vortex Biotechnology, and Microbial Fuel Cell Technologies--will be the future of biotechnology in Charleston and beyond.
  (Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC) (12/20/09); Quick, David)  http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1224284.html

New Cook Pharmica Plant Needs 115 New Workers
Cook Pharmica recently constructed an $84 million manufacturing factory in Bloomington, Ind., that will fill and package pharmaceutical products. The facility needs educated and trained scientists that can perform the functions, and it also needs hourly employees to work on a production line and fill up to 600 syringes a minute. Workers also are needed to work with vials. The vial line can complete about 150 units per minute, and both lines are sealed in glass and cleaned with vaporized hydrogen peroxide so they cannot be contaminated. Cook Pharmica has hired around 85 people to work in its factory, and is planning to hire some 115 more. The company needs to fill the positions soon, though, because clients have already agreed to use the facility before it has even begun operating. "These jobs represent a newer type of manufacturing," says Bloomington Economic Development Group President Ron Walker. "It looks different, it feels different, but some of the same concepts apply." The city of Bloomington spent $3 million improving roads, assisting with employee training, and offered payroll tax benefits, but officials say that it is worth it because the factory will improve the area.
  (Herald-Times (IND) (12/17/09); Fyall, Chris)  http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2009/12/17/business.qp-5232005.sto

Pharmacy Technician Employment Increasing Up to 32 Percent By 2016; PCTB Certified CPhTs Are Uniquely Qualified in Growing Healthcare Field
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2008-2009 report estimates that employment for pharmacy technicians could increase as much as 32 percent by 2016. In light of these statistics, the need for certified pharmacy technicians (CPhTs) is growing. Over 40 states now regulate pharmacy technicians; and, more than 70 percent of those states have endorsed Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) exam as the required standard for pharmacy technicians. In order to meet this demand, the PTCB has made several changes to its program to make it easier for technicians to become certified. Certification exams are now available in more than 200 Pearson Professional Centers, which offer pass/fail results immediately following the exam. Candidates are now also able to schedule PTCB examinations Monday through Friday, with possible Saturday availability.
  (PR Newswire (12/08/09))  http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pharmacy-technician-employment-increasing-up-to-32-by-2016-78763187.html

Biopharmaceutical Industry Is Banking on Boston
Biopharmaceutical companies currently have $2.3 billion in manufacturing plants in various stages of development throughout the Boston area, producing genetically engineered drugs. With development costs averaging around $2,400 a square foot for special materials, equipment and equipment testing, corporate decisions to build anew in Massachusetts -- where the cost of living is high -- are not made lightly. The main allure for biotech companies is the region's high caliber of research and production talent. Those already entrenched in and around Boston are committed for the long haul to keep together their teams of doctors, scientists, researchers and engineers who create manufacturing processes to grow living cells that produce therapeutic drugs. Although many biotech businesses have settled in Boston and Cambridge to be close to mentors, colleagues and competitors in the research communities surrounding Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, several firms have begun developing space in nearby, less-expensive suburbs in recent years. In search of a balance between suburban convenience and proximity to Boston and Cambridge, New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ultimately settled on a site about 40 miles west of Cambridge for a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing and office complex. Construction was recently completed on the $750 million project, which has a half-dozen buildings. The company expects to have the factory in commercial production by 2011.
  (New York Times (01/06/10))  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/realestate/06bio.html?ref=todayspaper

Biotechnology a Target Industry for Growth in Area
Baton Rouge, La. had many milestones in the biotechnology industry during 2009. TransGenRx, a specialty protein maker, announced that it won up to a $30 million contract to make a human-growth hormone for Laboratorio Pablo Cassara SRL. The company will make 66 pounds of the hormone during the contract and will be paid $1.1 million for every 2.2 pounds of the hormone. Esperance Pharmaceuticals proved in preclinical testing that its cancer treatment drug could kill ovarian cancer cells transplanted in mice. NuPotential received another $1 million in funding to ensure that the company's technology is feasible in order to transform skin or fat cells to have the same abilities as embryonic stem cells. Finally, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center is expanding by 90,000 square feet, and will add 300 new jobs.
  (Baton Rouge Advocate (LA) (01/03/10); Griggs, Ted)  http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/80485527.html