At the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland, the U.S. Senator talked life sciences and workforce training

At a lab in West Baltimore on Friday morning, students told U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen how they were dissecting DNA, and learning about stem cell research.

Leaders of the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland don’t see these as mere science projects. Executive Director Kathleen Weiss described throughout the morning how the work is part of the 20-year-old nonprofit’s efforts to prepare Baltimoreans for jobs in the biotech industry. Under the BTI BioSTART to Laboratory Associates Program, the nonprofit offers free training to underemployed and unemployed city residents who have a high school degree or GED out of its facility at 1101 W. Pratt St. The six-month program involves course work and a 100-hour internship.

“I went from having nothing to working for one of the most prestigious universities in the world,” said Candace King, a graduate of the program who was seeking more solid employment after a stint in the culinary industry. Always interested in science, she found BTI at a job fair, and went on to work at Johns Hopkins.

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