Amgen Biotech Experience Program ranks high on Forbes list

The Amgen Biotech Experience Program (ABE) is an international program funded by the Amgen Foundation. It was a particularly strong finish for the ABE Program: they ranked #3 on the Forbes’ “Purpose At Work: 10 Brands Leading With Purpose In 2019” list published in December.

In collaboration with the Amgen Foundation and Amgen Canada, the University of Toronto Mississauga is the first and currently the only site in Canada to host this program.  The ABE@UTM program is led by UTM Professors Dr. Voula Kanelis in the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences and Dr. Steven Chatfield in the Department of Biology, and is supported by site coordinator and master lab technician Kristina Han, M.Sc.

ABE aims to empower high school science teachers to implement real-world biotechnology labs in their classrooms, inspiring scientific curiosity, and instilling confidence in technical laboratory skills.  The scientific literacy that students gain from this program helps strengthen their understanding of the growing role that science plays in today’s society, and creates opportunities for students to explore new career possibilities in the STEM fields. It is widely recognized that hands-on laboratory experiences greatly enhance the quality of science education. The ABE@UTM team is excited to provide this program to schools that are otherwise unable to provide this learning opportunity.

The six labs in offered by the ABE program mirrors those experiments used in Research and Development labs across universities and pharmaceutical sectors, and include hands-on experimental opportunities not available to students until at least second year university laboratory courses.  These hands-on experiments are designed to challenge students to think, implement, and complete tasks with defined end-goals in mind. 

The ABE@UTM program has now been actively supplying schools in the GTA with biotechnology kits for two full years.  To date, we have reached 2000+ students across 53 schools in 7 different boards in the GTA, and are on track to reach a further 1000+ students in the winter 2020 semester.  Globally, the program is active at 11 sites across the Continental US, as well as 10 countries across Europe, Asia, and Oceania.  Nearly 800,000 students have participated in this program to date, and the ABE program hopes to reach 900,000 students by the end of this year. For more information, please follow us on Twitter @ABEUTM1, visit us at ABE@UTM site or at https://www.amgenbiotechexperience.com/.