GE Healthcare and NIBRT Join Forces to Boost Talent Growth in Single-Use Bioprocessing

Marlborough, MA, United States and Dublin, Ireland – September 11, 2019 – GE Healthcare (GEHC) and the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) in Dublin, Ireland are combining their expertise to deliver educational programming on biopharmaceutical and cell therapy development and manufacturing. As part of the collaboration, GE Healthcare and NIBRT will share programming, including GE Healthcare’s Fast Trak training and education curriculum, as well as co-develop a new curriculum designed to help the global biomanufacturing industry meet the needs of changing technologies and modalities.

Umay Saplakoglu, General Manager Fast Trak, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, says: “With the unprecedented growth of the novel molecules market, attracting and retaining talent with a passion for bioprocess is crucial. Our main drives are to support learning and enable access to new therapies in all parts of the world.”

Ireland is now home to all 10 of the top 10 world’s pharmaceutical companies and has seen approximately $10 billion invested in new biopharmaceutical facilities over the past decade. NIBRT has been pivotal in supporting the growth of the biotech talent in the Life Sciences sector, which employs 30,000 people in the country.

Killian O’Driscoll, Director of Projects, NIBRT, says: “At NIBRT, we pride ourselves on our best-in-class education and training programs that support the thriving biopharmaceutical industry. By working with GEHC we will be able to leverage their biomanufacturing expertise to create exciting new programs designed to meet the global demand for talent.”

The GEHC and NIBRT co-developed curriculum will include single-use applications training, cell therapy technology, process efficiency strategies, process development methodologies, and chromatography proficiency. Courses will be offered at GEHC Fast Trak locations, the NIBRT facility in Dublin, Ireland and the Jefferson Institute of Bioprocessing in Philadelphia. GEHC has Fast Trak centers in South Korea, the USA, Sweden, India, and China and satellite Fast Trak Centers in Turkey, Japan and Singapore. The centers are equipped with the latest technologies for bioprocessing in an environment and at a scale that closely replicates the real-life industrial setting.

GE Healthcare supports specialized training through its collaborations:

  • In July 2019, GE Healthcare and University of Technology Sydney announced the opening of the first Australian bioprocessing training-GMP Lite Facility, which provides scale-up facilities to the Australian biotech community and enables new biotech discoveries
  • In August 2018, GEHC and the Swedish Government opened Testa Center in Uppsala, a facility where academia and the industry can test and evaluate biological innovations. The centre offers bioprocess training and education.
  • In June 2017, GEHC and NIBRT opened a single use training centre at the NIBRT facility in Dublin. In 2018, NIBRT delivered approximately  18,300 training days to 4,300 trainees.

About GE Healthcare Life Sciences

GE Healthcare Life Sciences helps therapy innovators, researchers and healthcare providers accelerate how precision diagnostics and therapies are invented, made and used. Our products enable biological analysis, research, development and the manufacture of advanced therapies and vaccines. Life Sciences is part of the $19.8 billion healthcare business of GE (NYSE: GE).  With over 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry and more than 50,000 employees globally, GE Healthcare helps efficiently improve outcomes for patients, healthcare providers, researchers, and life sciences companies around the world.  Visit our website https://www.gehealthcare.com/about/life-sciences for more information.

About NIBRT
The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) is a global centre of excellence for training and research in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. NIBRT is located in a world class facility in Dublin, Ireland. This facility is purpose built to closely replicate a modern bioprocessing plant with state-of the art equipment and enables NIBRT to offer the highest quality training and research solutions. NIBRT’s mission is to support the growth and development of all aspects of the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

Media Contacts:

Colleen Connolly
GE Healthcare
Colleen.Connolly@ge.com
+774 245 3893

Alison Quinn
NIBRT
Alison.Quinn@nibrt.ie
+353 1 215 8194