Nordic Life Science 1
CAREERS // SKILLS SHORTAGE Rachel Rawle, Program
Leader, Shoreline Community College Janet Hoogstraate, CEO, NorthX Biologics To help develop the curriculum, Rawle also tapped into the NSF Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals provided grant funding. S horeline interacts with Career Connect, a public-private partnership to connect youth in the state with hands-on education programs. It also interfaces with the Center for Biotechnology Innovation & Training at the University of Washington, Bothell, which is developing certificate, four-year and master's degree programs. The center partners with local life science companies to adapt to employment needs. Researchers can also tap into Seattle Children’s Therapeutics Cell Manufacturing Facility, which offers lab space and assistance for quality control testing and process development. Working together Of the Nordic countries, Sweden has the most highly-developed ecosystem for advanced therapy medical products (ATMPs) such as cell therapies, says Wiinberg. The Swedish government supports several public-private endeavors, such as the NorthX Innovation Hub, which is expanding into cell therapy manufacturing, and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Nordic, based on the Toronto CCRM. In a third partnership, Cytiva helps teams scale up to industrial-level production, rents equipment and provides training at its Testa Center – a model the company also brings to other countries. “The three of us work together in our communication efforts to promote our innovation hubs, including the need for skilled people,” says Janet Hoogstraate, CEO of CDMO NorthX Biologics. Nordic endeavors more closely linked to universities include the Karolinska ATMP center and an ATMP center at Lund University, both announced in 2023, and the Centre for Advanced Cell Therapy at Oslo University Hospital. Cellerator partners with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW, a research partnership at the University of Copenhagen, Leiden Medical University in The Netherlands and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia. A need for education programs While Seattle built manufacturing capacity largely from scratch, Denmark and other Nordic countries have a longer history of biopharma manufacturing. That also means there’s a lot of competition from established players for workers, says Wiinberg. There’s a lack of education programs in the Nordic countries specifically focused on manufacturing and process development for cell and gene therapies, he says. The Novo Nordisk Foundation, which will open the Cellerator in 2027 at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, is now working with a consulting agency to assess workforce needs, and engaging with educational institutions. “It takes time to establish these certifications. It takes time to educate people. So, it's very timely to start thinking about some of these things,” says Wiinberg. “In the end, it’s the universities that need to own this and drive this.” NLS NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 67 PHOTO JAN LANDEFLEDT