Advancing in Cell & Gene Therapy at UMBC

01/03/23 • 38 min

In the field of Biotechnology, the focus on cell & gene therapy continues to advance our potential to improve lives. UMBC's Biotechnology Graduate Programs offers special topic courses that help their students achieve success in the field, courses like BTEC 691, Cell and Gene Therapy.

In this episode of UMBC's Mic'd Up Podcast, we chat with graduate faculty, Darren Dasburg, M.B.A. about the course, the field of Biotechnology in general, and the amazing work being discovered in cell and gene therapy.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction to Darren Dasburg

4:25 Career path

6:15 The importance of networking in a professional setting

11:32 Entrance into the biotech world

14:34 CRISPR

19:57 Favorite part of the biotech field

25:22 What is on biotech company radar

28:07 Where students should begin

34:33 What’s your favorite book

Darren Dasburg's favorite author:

Walter Isaacson

If you'd like to learn more about UMBC's Biotechnology Graduate Programs, visit us!

About Darren Dasburg:

Bringing over 39 years of technical operations experience in a variety of small and large molecule settings, Darren Dasburg recently departed AstraZeneca as Vice President Global PMO & Strategy in 2017 after his role as Site GM for the Boulder Manufacturing Center beginning in September 2015 when AstraZeneca/MedImmune acquired the former Amgen biologics production facility, retrofitted and started up through 2017. He is currently in advancing discussions for cell and gene therapy start-ups.

Previously, Darren held the position of Vice President MedI BioVentures building partnerships in Korea, Japan and China for biosimilar development. Before then, VP of Capacity Utilization with where he led the first of its kind capacity sharing arrangement to support bio-manufacturing production. Prior to that, he was a Founding Partner in a consulting venture where he provided executive management team leadership in the areas of technical operations, manufacturing operations, project management, and business strategy. Darren did his formative years and ultimately served as Vice President of Corporate Engineering with GlaxoSmithKline.

Darren holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University and a MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and advanced certificates in biotechnology from MIT. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina and has worked on the ISPE Bio Mfg Conference since its inception.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction to Darren Dasburg

4:25 Career path

6:15 The importance of networking in a professional setting

11:32 Entrance into the biotech world

14:34 CRISPR

19:57 Favorite part of the biotech field

25:22 What is on biotech company radar

28:07 Where students should begin

34:33 What’s your favorite book

Darren Dasburg's favorite author:

Walter Isaacson

If you'd like to learn more about UMBC's Biotechnology Graduate Programs, visit us!

About Darren Dasburg:

Previous Episode

Why Biotechnology is a Rapidly Growing Field

Biotechnology is a rapidly growing field, especially in the state of Maryland. In fact, according to Mark Schenerman, Ph.D., Graduate Program Director, UMBC Biotechnology Graduate program, "Maryland is one of the leading centers in the country for cell and gene therapy. Companies in Maryland are trying to hire people as quickly as they can. They just can't find enough talent. They can't find enough trained people who are knowledgeable in the skills that they need. And that's what our program tries to give to our students, those skills that those companies really want."
Recent graduates in the Master's of Professional Studies Biotechnology Program can fit into a number of different career paths in industry. For example, helping to work on process development for cell culture process, process development for purification process, for formulation development, analytical development, quality control, quality assurance, project manager, and Regulatory Affairs. These are all very important areas that are growing very rapidly in the state of Maryland. There's lots of opportunity.
"It's a very satisfying career to be in, knowing that you could be working on a drug that can make a tremendous difference to a large number of people, to millions of people." Mark Schenerman, Ph.D.
Learn more about UMBC's M.P.S. in Biotechnology:
https://professionalprograms.umbc.edu/biotechnology/
Check out Mark's favorite book: Truman by David McCullough:https://www.amazon.com/Truman-David-McCullough-ebook/dp/B000FC0VVQ

Next Episode

Staying One Step Ahead in I/O Psychology

When it comes to making an impact in the field of I/O Psychology, one of the first skills necessary is in learning new things. Life is constantly changing, and with those changes comes a need for flexibility and new knowledge. In the grand landscape of what makes up I/O Psychology, one thing remains a constant and that is the dynamic nature of the way we operate in life and in the workforce.
In this episode of UMBC's Mic'd Up Podcast, Spenser Haffey '19 M.P.S. I/O Psychology, joins host, Dennise Cardona, to chat about how he contributes to the world through his role as an I/O Psychology professional.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
About UMBC's I/O Psychology Graduate Programs
UMBC’s Master’s Program in I/O Psychology is a unique, highly applied program which provides graduate training focused on developing skills that are relevant in today’s job market. Students explore and integrate important topics including organizational behavioral management, consulting, human factors, and professional human resources practice. Our graduates develop a professional portfolio while building strong relationships with faculty practitioners and industry professionals.
This program is ideal for students who want to work in areas such as: Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Talent Assessment and Talent Management, Organizational Behavior and Development, and Training and Development.

UMBC Mic'd Up - Advancing in Cell & Gene Therapy at UMBC

Transcript

Dennise Cardona 0:00

Welcome to this episode of UMBC Mic'd Up podcast. My name is Dennise Cardona from the Office of Professional Programs at UMBC. Today we are joined by Darren Dasburg. He is a graduate faculty in the UMBC's Biotechnology graduate programs. And we are going to be talking about cell and gene therapy, a course that he has in that for UMBC students, and the world of biotechnology at large. We hope that you enjoy this episode. Well, welcome Darren,