Our plan is designed to support training and dissemination of technologies and products developed by the center to ensure that technologies and products are accessible to the broad scientific community. The proposed work will leverage offices and resources available at Penn State to maximize dissemination and impact.
Training
1. Hands-on training focused on the use of technologies and protocols developed by the center will be available to researchers from the scientific community. Researchers will have opportunities to meet virtually with center researchers to discuss technologies and to travel to Penn State for training in center labs.
2. The Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology (CoEIB) at Penn State has a strong track record in workforce development, including hosting past workshops for biotechnology professionals in fermentation and downstream processing. We will leverage the close ties of CoEIB with industry to build connections with biotechnology professionals for specialized training and workshops focused on cellular manufacturing technologies developed by our center.
3. We will also host a half-day biennual symposium at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) annual meeting as part of the Advanced Biomanufacturing Special Interest Group (ABioM-SIG). The symposium will spotlight cellular manufacturing, with invited talks from leading experts in the cellular manufacturing field and sessions focused on training researchers how to use center technologies.
Questionnaires will be utilized to gather feedback on training and to refine workshops for future offerings.
Dissemination
Dissemination strategies will be organized around project milestones including development of new technologies and training opportunities.
1. The Center website will be used to disseminate information about technologies and products developed by the center researchers and to highlight activities including training opportunities. The website includes lists of papers, patents, tools, and resources. Lists of papers, patents and tools will also be shared on the individual faculty PI’s and co-Is’ lab websites. Penn State’s ScholarSphere, a repository used for sharing work with a broad audience, will also be used to make products resulting from this project widely available.
2. The Center will work closely with the Huck Institutes communications team and the Penn State College of Engineering Communications and Marketing office to disseminate products via press releases and social media (i.e., LinkedIn). We will also collaborate with the Communications and Marketing office to publish an annual Center newsletter that will be sent out via email to mailing lists relevant to cellular manufacturing, including academic and industrial contacts of center faculty and CoEIB. Press releases will also be shared with the Biomedical Engineering Society to include as highlights in the monthly BMES newsletter.
3. The Center will organize monthly seminars and will invite internal and external speakers in the cell manufacturing and therapy field. Recordings of the seminars will be made available on the center website and on a center YouTube channel.
Dissemination will be evaluated yearly by examining citations of publications, visits to the Center website, number of participants in training, and newly established contacts and outcomes. Assessments will be utilized to refine dissemination strategies.