Fralin Life Science Institute

During the 2007-2008 school year, Biotech-in-a-Box served over fifteen thousand students at eighty-six Virginia schools in thirty-six counties and ten independent cities. The program, now in its fifteenth year, continues to offer five different kits: DNA Biotechnology, Column Chromatography, Protein Electrophoresis, Introduction to Immunology, and Thermal Cyclers for PCR experiments.

In 2008, the Biotech-in-a-Box program received a grant from VCATS, the Virginia Council on Advanced Technology Skills. The grant award is $20,000 a year for two years. VCATS is also known as the Virginia Bio/Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Project and was established by the Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA) and the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VA Bio) as a “new workforce development project. This project will establish solutions to the upcoming shortage of advanced manufacturing workers in Virginia.”