Geared toward professionals seeking knowledge of the fast-paced biotechnology field, this two-year program launches students into the biotech industry.

Top rated University of Wisconsin faculty and talented business partners in Wisconsin combine their expertise to provide hands-on problem solving experiences while offering flexible scheduling for its students.

Program Description

The Master of Science in Biotechnology is an ideal solution for professionals in the biotechnology industry seeking to move into positions of greater responsibility or leadership.

Practical and results oriented, this two-year program provides the scientific, legal and business foundation necessary for succeeding and advancing in one of the fastest growing and most complex industries in the world.

Market research shows that professionals holding an advanced degree in biotechnology can earn up to 30% more annually than those with B.S. degrees. This valuable credential can be completed in two years, without interrupting a promising job or career.

Our unique program combines the most current scientific coursework and practical business practices for a productive career in biotechnology.

Convenient evening and weekend courses accommodate professionals with challenging personal and professional schedules. Committed instruction, advising and technical support round out the measures designed to ensure success.

Curriculum and Course Descriptions

The Master of Science in Biotechnology requires 24 graduate credits earned by completing the courses listed below. The program is fast-paced and designed for completion within two years.

Students move through the program in a cohort of no more than 24 other working professionals with whom they complete coursework and team-based projects.

The sequence of courses is as follows:



Flexible course scheduling assists working professionals.




Year 1, Fall Semester:
Principles and Practice of Biotechnology (3 credits)

Course Goals
Principles and Practices of Biotechnology (P&P) is a survey course that will serve as a foundation for further studies in the Master of Science in Biotechnology program. Students will develop a broad understanding of the scientific, political, and legal issues that have driven the development of the biotechnology industry. They will also develop an understanding of how these drivers interact with business and finance to influence the formation and growth of biotechnology companies. Students will be introduced to the ethical issues that help shape public policy regarding both agricultural and medical applications of biotechnology.

Course Objectives
After the successful completion of the P&P course, students will be able to:

Identify and trace trends that have defined the history of biotechnology.
Identify and understand the key scientific principles that drive biotechnology.
Model the process whereby biotechnology companies take ideas and turn them into products.
Identify the key areas of ethical concern regarding agricultural and medical research and applications using biotechnology.
Understand how biotechnology companies protect and use intellectual property.
Identify and understand the source and content of the key laws and regulations governing biotechnology research and its agricultural and medical applications.
Understand the business and financial models commonly used within the industry.

Molecular Technologies I (1 credits)

About the Course
The curriculum covers three topic areas:

Biotechnology Methods and Practice
Effective Presentation, Writing and Teaching in a Scientific Environment
and Biotechnology Product Improvement and Applications
The first semester course covers theories in molecular biology and related biotechnology topics, and applications in the areas of Genomics, and Proteomics. Theory will be covered in readings, lectures and facilitated discussions. Students will apply theoretical knowledge by performing laboratory experiments and data analysis activities. Students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills in discussions, by leading topical presentations, solving practical problems, and conducting peer-teaching lessons. There is emphasis on the processes of conducting experiments, recording processes and data in laboratory notebooks, presenting experimental results, and drawing conclusions to be presented in a lab meeting.

The first semester also covers topics in effective presentations, writing and teaching in a scientific environment. The coursework emphasizes the processes that confer the ability to speak, teach and write in a scientific workplace. Students will demonstrate effective presentation by developing and conducting a laboratory meeting to communicate the methods, results and conclusions of course experiment. Students will demonstrate teaching skills by using design principles to create a short practical scientific curriculum that they will conduct for their peers. Students will demonstrate writing skills by performing scientific writing, editing, and iterative improvement exercises in a writing workshop format.

Business of Biotechnology: Fundamentals (2 credits)

Course Overview
The Business of Biotechnology: Fundamentals is designed to give the Masters in Biotechnology student an understanding of the basic business principles and the workings of the primary functional areas of businesses. A basic assumption is that the student has had no formal business education and has not worked in a business management position. The main objective of this course is to prepare the student for the two following courses in The Business of Biotechnology.

Topics to be covered in this course

Trends in Business
Business Planning
Form of Ownership
Marketing
Management
Human Resources
Finance
Business Risk and Risk Management
Exit Strategies
Managing Personal Finances
Goals of the Course
Upon successful completion of this course, each student should be able to:

Use basic business terminology verbally and in written works.
Describe the primary activities involved in the management process.
Understand the current trends in business.
Draft a Business Plan including pro forma financial statements.
Compare the major forms of business organizations.
Outline the steps in developing a marketing strategy using The 4 P’s.
Describe the role of Human Resources management in achieving company goals.
Explain the functions and components of the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Projection
Perform basic financial statement analysis.
Discuss the concepts of risk and risk management.
Analyze potential exit strategies for a firm.
Understand how to manage personal finances
Present a Business Plan to an approval committee.

Year 1, Spring Semester:
Biotechnology Operations (4 credits)

Course Overview
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of how a biotechnology company must operate to be successful and to develop a product for a targeted market.

Students will learn about the specialties of nonclinical and clinical development, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, manufacturing, quality control, and program management, as well as their interdependency in support of a specific marketing plan. Students will learn how each of these disciplines are coordinated and synchronized and will develop an appreciation of how the successful biotechnology firm becomes effective and efficient in operations. Students will participate in practical exercises, which include developing products to fill the corporate pipeline, adding value to their products, and generating revenue for their model firms.

Goals of the Course
Upon completing Biotechnology Operations, each student will understand managerial and technological methods used to develop a biotechnology product.

Biotechnology Operations will cover most technological areas considered under the broad heading of biotechnology. These will include agricultural-biotechnology, plant and animal health, research reagents, diagnostics, and biological products for human health care and therapeutics. Other related subject areas, such as medical devices or drugs, will be mentioned whenever the examples are applicable to the overall objectives of this course. However, the course will focus upon teaching students the overall principles and common practices of biotechnology operations and specific technical areas will provide examples or models.

At the end of Biotechnology Operations, each student will:

Understand the multiple disciplines required to successfully develop a variety of biotechnology products for targeted markets.
Appreciate the need and understand the procedures to plan, manage, coordinate and synchronize development activities within a biotechnology firm.
Be able to build team participation so as to increase product value and reach the marketplace with a variety of biotechnology products.
Understand common principles applied to the development of various classes or types of biotechnology products.
Demonstrate the ability to design a development strategy, clearly communicate objectives, and provide leadership throughout implementation.

Molecular Technologies II (2 credits)

Goals of the Course
This second semester will focus on the process of scientific product improvement, which begins when marketing data suggests changes due to customer needs or competitive situations. Students will identify the customer need (or situation), identify the features of the product and suggest operational or performance improvements that will satisfy the need. These improvements will then be verified in a laboratory setting.
Additional, molecular biology coursework will be in the area of GMO detection and genetic identity, as well as automation. These topics will be covered in readings, lectures, facilitated discussions, and laboratory experiments.

Year 2, Fall Semester:
Business of Biotechnology: Contemporary Challenges and Applications (2 credits)

Goals of the Course
This is the second in a series on business and management concepts. The first (Spring, 2003) provided a fundamental understanding of business issues and functional disciplines including the experience of writing and presenting a business plan.

This course, "Contemporary Challenges and Applications", will present contemporary issues in the business of biotechnology where students apply challenging concepts critical to the success of modern biotechnology firms.

Course Format
The course will focus on important business and managerial issues facing individuals in the biotechnology industries. One of the biggest challenges facing managers and executives in the biotechnology area is to constantly remain creative and innovative. The first session will present concepts and develop skills to encourage "thinking outside the box."

While creativity and innovation are two significant proficiencies required in today’s dynamic biotech environment, the course also recognizes the importance of many other functional needs related to identifying, obtaining, and organizing/managing resources in building and sustaining a successful organization. Specifically, the CCA series will present the challenges related to specific functional areas in an organization – namely, product development, marketing, finance and accounting, management and leadership.

Technology Applications in Early Drug Discovery (3 credits)

Goal of the Course
This course provides students with an overview of the early drug discovery process, including target identification and validation, generation of diverse chemical libraries, assay development and high throughput screening, lead optimization by compound profiling, and drug targeting and delivery.

Course Objectives
By the completion of the course, student should be able to:

Explain the systematic process of early drug discovery beginning with target identification up to pre-clinical trials.
Describe several technologies that are applicable to each step of the early drug discovery process.
Identify a variety of resources where technical information for drug discovery can be found, such as scientific journals and reviews, intellectual property documents, competitive intelligence databases, marketing analysis reports, and scientific conference documents.
Develop an in-depth scientific understanding of 2-3 current or emerging technologies in drug discovery and explain where they will be applied in the next 5 years.
Describe current and emerging methods for generating compounds in chemical libraries.
Identify an individual drug target currently being screened or that has been screened and develop a summary document explaining how it was validated and applied as a drug target, including the technologies that were used.
Describe a list of compound profiling assays currently in use and propose additional solutions that solve current bottlenecks in compound profiling during lead optimization.

Molecular Technologies III (1 credit)

Goals of the Course
Molecular Technologies III covers topics and concepts in the drug discovery process, with emphasis on laboratory assays and methods used in primary, secondary, and ADMETox (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicity) drug screening. The course is designed around intensive hands-on laboratory sessions focused on the detection of kinase activity as a model for a relevant drug target, the effect of inhibitors from a compound library on this activity, as well as how the identified inhibitor effects cytochrome P450 activity and cell viability. These areas address the metabolism and toxicity aspects of ADMETox screening. In addition, students will gain experience with basic cell culture techniques and the use of eukaryotic and prokaryotic in vitro translation systems for screening potential antibacterial (antibiotic) compounds.
Along with mastering course concepts and laboratory practices, students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills through effective scientific communication. Students will keep laboratory notebooks and write detailed scientific protocols to be used in laboratory sessions, conduct team meetings to evaluate various competing technologies, and explain to their peers the modes of action of the various technologies, their advantages, and their disadvantages. An emphasis will be placed on data analysis for the various assays performed in class, including IC50 determination and Z factor analysis.

Course Format
The Molecular Technologies III course is conducted as if the students are part of a drug discovery company. They will be evaluating various technologies to determine which assays/methods they will recommend to the companies HTS department for use for in-house drug discovery.

The instructional emphasis will be placed on the drug discovery process paradigm: gene to target to compound design/synthesis to primary/secondary drug screening to toxicity and pharmacology analysis. The genes (and thus protein products) involved in various diseases are identified through different methods. Small molecule libraries are then synthesized. The compounds are assayed for activity in a primary drug screen to evaluate whether the compounds can bind to or affect the target molecule. Promising compounds may be retested in a secondary screen using the same or similar in vitro assays. In addition, lead compounds are then screened in whole cell systems to evaluate potency, selectivity, and toxicity. Further analysis involves investigating efficacy, toxicity, and drug metabolism in animal models.

The student cohort will be divided into two-three separate functional groups, depending on the laboratory topic for that session(s). Using experimental data and by considering features and benefits, students will assess the competing technologies and make recommendations for further use in the company.

Overlaid on the drug discovery model is a strong emphasis on effective scientific communication. To be successful in the biotechnology industry, effectively communicating scientific information to internal and external customers in written and oral formats is crucial. The students will engage in a number of communication exercises to use effective oral and written scientific communication skills, including WebCT postings, scientific protocol writing, team meetings. and presentations.

Year 2, Spring Semester:
Business of Biotechnology: Frontiers and Strategies (2 credits)

Goals of the Course
"Life Sciences Frontiers and Strategies", will discuss strategic issues in the biotechnology business environment. Recalling the 'hour glass' concept, the first semester course provided a broad, fundamental understanding of business issues and functional disciplines. Then, "Contemporary Challenges and Applications", presented contemporary issues in the business of biotechnology where students apply concepts critical to the management of biotechnology organizations.

Course Format and Tools Used
The course will focus on introducing business strategy, a variety of types of business strategy, and issues that affect the analysis, development, and application of strategy in today's competitive environment.

The course will use a variety of delivery tools including in-class lecture, case analysis, problems, "role plays", readings, etc. Assignments will be assigned on a bi-weekly basis and described in greater detail later in this guide. Typically, participants will be required to read several articles before a session, post input to specific questions related to the session, and prepare several case analyses to the session topics.

Biotechnology Law and Society (2 credits)

Goals of the Course
This course is designed to bring together skills and knowledge of the biotechnology industry from previous coursework with a broader understanding of the environments in which biotechnology research, development and marketing proceeds. By the end of the course, students will appreciate that decisions made at every phase of product design, development and circulation are simultaneously technical, financial, social and ethical in nature. Students will be introduced to present and emerging political arenas, public debates, and social concerns that must be taken into account when planning new products, and writing business and strategic plans in biotechnology industries. Students will gain familiarity with ethical guidelines and policy development related to a variety of biotechnological products and services.
Course Format
The course will include a combination of lectures, guest speakers, case studies, and in-class exercises.

Students are expected to read assigned materials prior to class and prepare discussion questions on individual materials and readings as a whole. Additionally, comments, questions and discussion will be posted by students and faculty in the interim times between sessions. These are expected to be more than questions forclarification

Assignments will ask students to react to specific cases or questions utilizing assigned readings, in-class discussions and as appropriate, students' own work experience.

Students are encouraged to cross-link material from other courses in the Program with this course. Likewise, discussions of challenges, conflicts arising from differing perspectives, opportunities for problem solving, creative thinking and good biotechnology management are encouraged.

Communications: For individual consultation, a confidential space will be provided in DocuShare or meeting times with one of the instructors can be arranged. For the group projects, WebCT or DocuShare will be set up to allow you to communicate with each member of your group.

Independent Research Experience (2 credits)

Goals of the Course
This course is designed as a capstone experience in which students will integrate and apply knowledge and skills gained in M.S. in Biotechnology Program to achieve a new level of synthesis and depth of understanding about an important problem in biotechnology today.

To successfully complete the Independent Research Experience, each student will:

Define an important problem
Identify appropriate questions to ask
Determine the most effective resources to research the problem
Outline the research methods used
Interpret and critically analyze results, observations and information
Describe research findings clearly and concisely
Recognize and articulate unanswered questions
State obstacles and challenges facing the solution to the problem
The problem should have relevance to multiple areas of biotechnology covered in Program, such as science, ethics, business, law and regulatory affairs. Students will document the research in a paper of 20-40 pages (double-spaced) in length.

The format for the paper is not specified. However, students are encouraged to use, as models, in-depth reports for magazines or journals (specialty or general). Alternatively, and perhaps most appropriate for those with projects within companies, the report may also follow the format of a corporate report to a CEO.

Students are strongly encouraged to work toward publication of the papers.