Here’s what Jefferson’s biopharma training hub will look like

Thomas Jefferson University, which last year merged with Philadelphia University, announced Friday details about its upcoming Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing, a training and education center for the biopharma space set to open in 2019.

The 25,000-square-foot space — first announced in February and created in partnership with Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) — is expected to train some 2,500 people a year when it opens in the spring of 2019.

The hub will be based in Lower Gwynedd, Pa., as part of Montgomery County’s Spring House Innovation Park development, a 133-acre, multi-use campus including office, laboratory and R&D space.

“The Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing demonstrates the vision and mission of Jefferson by leveraging partnerships with industry, academia and government agencies to provide globally recognized, transdisciplinary education and training in this fast-emerging field,” said Ron Kander, dean of Jefferson’s Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce. “Our facility at Spring House Innovation Park will utilize leading-edge biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology and support current and future workforce demands in this critically important field.”

For scale, the institute will be about half the size of the University of Pennsylvania’s research hub, the Pennovation Center. The facility will let Jefferson enroll 70 additional students in a bioprocessing engineering program, from undergraduate through Ph.D. levels.