MASTERS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
David Knaff and Daniel Hardy have developed one of the country's strongest master's programs in biotechnology, linking the Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech University.
Written by Tiffany Berry
Improving the quality of life is a goal of almost every field of study. A nutritionist wants to advance healthy alternatives to the ways Americans eat. A doctor seeks to enrich our long-term well-being. A teacher dreams to expand our knowledge. As co-directors of the university’s new Master of Science program in Biotechnology, David Knaff, Ph.D., and Daniel Hardy, Ph.D., want to improve nearly all aspects of everyday life.
When explaining what he does for a living to his young granddaughter, Knaff, Horn Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas Tech University, simply defines biotechnology as a way of using genes and proteins to make things that help people. Biotechnology research and results cover a wide array of contemporary concerns: from the quality of food we eat, to the effectiveness of treatments we use to cure diseases.
As scientific colleagues, Knaff and Hardy, associate professor of cell biology and biochemistry at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center knew they shared a common goal of advancing biotechnology education at Texas Tech. They have been able to develop one of the country’s strongest master’s programs in biotechnology.
Knaff, who was named director of Texas Tech’s Institute for Biotechnology when the center was created in 1988, decided to team up with Hardy to create the first joint master’s program between the Health Sciences Center and the general academic campus. Texas Tech students are able to take advantage of both campuses’ expertise and resources in the joint degree program.
In his post-doctoral work, Hardy began to see how work as a biochemist and a molecular biologist contributed to growth in biotechnology. “These are the two basic science disciplines that are driving the field of biotechnology. The fundamental discoveries we make in the lab today can and do become the new products and therapies we enjoy tomorrow. Biotechnology is one of the bright spots in the mostly disappointing news about loss of high tech jobs in the United States,” Hardy says. “A recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that from 2000-2002 the biotech industry had a higher rate of job growth – 12 percent – than any other industry in the nation.”
In developing the new joint master’s program, Knaff and Hardy visited many biotechnology companies across the country, ranging in size from small companies to some of the largest in the world, to ask their employees the simple but essential question of what is lacking in university graduates in the field of biotechnology and how could the issues be resolved. The company representatives almost inevitably reported that the No. 1 complaint was that job applicants did not have enough hands-on laboratory experience. Most biotechnology companies currently do not require their scientists to hold doctoral degrees, but they do expect their hires to have experience in a laboratory setting beyond the level of training typical of that obtained in B.S. degree programs.
To address the biotechnology companies’ dilemma, Knaff and Hardy created a two-track program leading to the master’s degree: a biomedical track and a science/agricultural track. Both tracks have options within them for specialization, and students may pursue either of the two tracks within the program.
Regardless of the track a student selects, all biotechnology master’s students are required to take a common core of three courses (Introduction to Biotechnology, Biochemical Methods and Bioinformatics), according to Hardy. The second-year, off-campus internship in both tracks gives students additional training in state-of-the-art techniques, as well as a “real world” experience of what it is actually like to work in a private-sector biotechnology firm.
“We are training professionals for work at biotechnology companies. If our students get the right lab experience, then Texas Tech graduates are able to make a unique contribution, both to our university and to the nation. We want this program to be attractive to prospective students and give them tools to make them particularly indispensable to the biotechnology industry,” says Hardy.
Capitalizing on the success of the Biotechnology M.S. program, and wishing to expand the training and employment opportunities available to students, a joint M.S. /J.D. degree plan recently has been established by Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech School of Law. This four-year program, which has enrolled its first students, provides students who wish to specialize in intellectual property law in the area of biotechnology, with training in both the legal and scientific aspects of the field.
The study of biotechnology enlightens us about ourselves and other living beings. Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center faculty are improving the scientific field by meeting the educational needs of future scientists. “Texas Tech is raising new professionals to better our lives,” Knaff says.
Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing
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