Building the future biotechnology workforce: A University of Houston model

Abstract

The field of biotechnology has become more quantitative and interdisciplinary as research in biotechnology continues to grow at a tremendous rate with broader and complex applications in medicine, agriculture, the environment and nanobiotechnology. The tremendous research in recombinant DNA technology has profoundly transformed the way biologists design, perform and analyze experiments. As biological concepts and models become more quantitative, biological research will be increasingly dependent on concepts and methods drawn from other scientific disciplines. Therefore, in order to prepare our undergraduate life science students to be future research scientists, we need to transform undergraduate education. This will require life science majors to develop and reinforce connections between biology and other scientific disciplines so that interdisciplinary thinking and work becomes second nature. With the integration of new technologies in biological research, biology will continue to become more interdisciplinary and will present a challenge for higher institutions that are training future biologists. This paper describes the development of a new undergraduate interdisciplinary research-based biotechnology degree programme offered by University of Houston College of Technology that addresses issues and challenges in biotechnology education.