The Montana Biotechnology Center (BIOTECH) at the University of Montana

The Montana Biotechnology Center (BIOTECH) has recently transitioned to new leadership with Dr. Monica Serban as Director and Ms. Heidi Boggs as Associate Director. BIOTECH is now focused on connecting students, entrepreneurs, scientists, and clinicians to enhance our local and regional biotechnology capabilities. The mission of BIOTECH is to enable local and regional biotechnology-focused workforce development through educational activities and research targeting the development of biomedical products, specifically therapeutics and medical devices, intended primarily for resource-limited settings such as the military in combat areas and/or rural settings. Additionally, we are targeting the development of physiologically-representative in vitro models for biomedical research. Through its educational initiatives, BIOTECH currently seeks to provide communication, teamwork, project management and leadership skills, hands-on training on state-of-the-art equipment, and direct participation in ideation, prototyping and innovation challenges initiated by biotechnology companies and/or innovation forums.

Mission

• Provide core services in support of basic and applied research at The University of Montana
• Facilitate interactions between investigators and private sector enterprises in the state
• Identify biomedical product innovation opportunities
• Guide product development process to technology transfer readiness