The Biosymposium

The Biosymposium: Transitioning Students to the Biotech/Life Sciences Workforce

Article by Tyler Ford

The transition from the structured world of the classroom to the professional world can be daunting. Gone are many of the defined metrics of success - quizzes, tests, and grades. As a result, it’s easy to feel lost once you enter the workplace. Even in a career that aligns with your favorite classes, you might become exhausted and unhappy. This is not because you find the work too hard, but because your day-to-day activities simply aren’t fulfilling.

The Biotechnology Program at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) eliminates this mismatch between education and professional reality. The program gives students practical skills and experiences in biotech. As a result, graduates are poised to find positions at companies whose activities and goals inspire them.

CCSF puts the rewards of this practical focus on display at its semiannual Biosypmosium. Here students from the program demonstrate their scientific knowledge and skills. All the while, they make essential networking contacts. The Biosymposium provides CCSF students with a springboard into the biotech workforce.Indeed, over 50% of the students who complete internships in the CCSF Biosciences program work in the life sciences within a year of completing their internships! Read on to learn how we’ve achieved this fantastic level of success.

The Biosymposium - A focus on practicality across educational stages

At the Fall 2019 Biosymposium, student presenters were separated into two groups.

1. Those who completed one semester Biotechnology coursework

2. Those who completed both semesters of their course work and completed an internship

First semester students in the Biotechnology program present posters on real-world biotechnology research. These students often have little biology experience before entering the program. Nonetheless, they choose their own research areas and learn the current state of biotech in these areas. Students don’t regurgitate info from textbooks. Instead, they focus on the fascinating possibilities of now. At the Fall 2019 Biosymposium, students presented on such far-reaching topics as cancer treatments, genetically modified crops, CRISPR genome editing, and 3D cell culture models! 

Because the students get to pick their topics, their presentations are never dry. Indeed, students often have personal connections to their presentations. For instance, one student at the Fall 2019 Biosynposium (Yasmin Palacios) dove into microbiome research. She wanted to know if microbiome research could impact her own autoimmune disease. Her genuine interest was on display in the way she animatedly explained the research. These personal connections clearly motivate the students far more than if they were simply assigned topics.

In their posters, students provide more than overviews of their topic areas. They often present real research data. Indeed, this focus on data is emblematic of the practicality of the Biotechnology Program. When they enter labs, these students will have to interpret data everyday. Presenting data on their posters, gives them real-world practice in this essential skill.

Finally, the first semester students round out their posters by highlighting companies working in their topic areas. Researchers rarely do this in their presentations, but it’s great to see! It shows that the students have direction - they are determined to discover if they can find jobs in their fields. Indeed, some of the students at the Fall 2019 Biosymposium even indicated that they were planning on applying to internships at the companies they discovered. For those who couldn’t find any companies, this exercise was still useful. It showed that they might have to shift focus. This could keep them from wasting valuable time in the future!

Second semester internships for essential on-the-job training

Second semester Biotechnology students have learned a variety of lab techniques in their coursework. They get additional credits by putting their technical lab skills to work in internships. Then they present the results of their research at the Biosymposium.

These interns don’t run around grabbing coffee or filing paperwork. Instead, they work directly with researchers. They do experiments, collect data, and interpret their findings. Interns at the Fall 2019 Biosymposium worked on many kinds of projects. Some tested water for contamination or foods for potential allergens. Others were involved in improving methods for the creation of biofuels or investigating bacteriophages as possible future antimicrobials Still others made immune cells live longer for therapeutic purposes. Exciting work all around!

Many second semester students at the Fall 2019 Biosymposium mentioned that they were nervous about “screwing up” when they started their internships. Yet, the Biotechnology Program prepared them well. Most had plenty of their own data to present. They used lab techniques ranging from cell culture, to protein purification, to biochemical assays. All students were excited to have worked on projects that got real results. Once again, the practical focus of their CCSF Biotechnology training shined through.

The Biosympium as a bridge to a successful career

CCSF Biotechnology graduates are ready to take the next steps in their careers. Many at the Fall 2019 Biosymposium hoped to move into research assistantships. Others were getting ready to go into masters or PhD programs. In such positions they’ll make good use of the many lab techniques they learned in the program.

The Biosymposium also provides the graduates with a way to network and make connections that could lead to jobs. The Biosymposium regularly welcomes 150-200+ attendees each semester, including academic researchers, industry researchers, science communicators, and recruiters. Over 40 volunteers from research and industry support the event through mock interviews, poster judging, networking lunch discussions and panel discussions. Scientists from these different professions rarely all meet in the same space. Yet, the organizers of the Biosymposium go out of their way to pull them all together. This exposes the Biotechnology students to many career paths. As a result, CCSF Biotechnology Graduates take on happy careers in many different roles. You can find a list of the various places Biotechnology graduates have been hired here.

To learn a little more about the career paths taken by CCSF Biotechnology program interns, check out our alumni profiles and interviews with Mentors and Mentees from the program!

For more information about the BioSymposium:

• Dr. Golnar Afshar

• Dr. Karen Leung