New CCCC biotech building expands workforce training for growing industry

Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) celebrated the opening this month of a facility that will prepare students for highly skilled jobs in biotechnology manufacturing. The newly renovated Biotechnology Building is part of the E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center on CCCC’s Lee Main Campus in Sanford.

“We’re going to show you something that has been a dream for a very long time,” said CCCC President Lisa M. Chapman, Ph.D., addressing guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Biotechnology Building.

She praised Sanford Contractors for their renovation of the building and thanked the many partners and CCCC employees who worked for years to help make it possible. “I think we can all see the excellence in this facility,” she said.

In the Biotechnology Building, students will develop the knowledge and abilities needed to manufacture complex Life Science products, including pharmaceuticals. They will learn hands-on skills that are valuable to area biotech companies, helping ensure the safety and efficacy of the lifesaving products these companies create.

North Carolina’s life sciences industry has grown to include 860 companies statewide that employ 76,000 North Carolinians, according to Laura Rowley, Ph.D., vice president for Life Science Economics Development at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, who spoke at the event.

Earlier in August, STERIS, a supplier to biotech and healthcare companies, announced plans to create a new manufacturing and distribution center in Sanford, joining other key biotech players, such as Pfizer, Kyowa Kirin, and Astellas, in making major investments in the region.

Meanwhile, CCCC’s Bioprocess Technology program has gone from sharing a single lab with the science department, to having its own lab, and now to having its own building, said Lisa Smelser, Ph.D., CCCC’s executive director of Workforce Strategic Initiatives.

Read more about CCCC and STERIS:

Closed auto plant in Sanford becomes a workforce training hub | North Carolina Biotechnology Center

STERIS to invest $600M, bring 335 jobs to Sanford | North Carolina Biotechnology Center

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