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The Biotechnology Degree Program

This is a program of Kingsborough's Department of Biological Sciences. After the 2-year program, the A.S. Biotechnology graduating student can secure a job immediately in the Biotechnology field or transfer to our partner institution, Brooklyn College, earn a Baccalaureate degree (either B.S., or B.A. in Biology) and move into the biotech field at a higher level.

The transfer arrangement with Brooklyn College is seamless and students lose no credits upon transfer from Kingsborough. According to the Biotech Institute (www.biotechinstitute.org), when most people think of opportunities for careers in biotechnology, they think of a scientist in a white coat in a laboratory developing drugs to improve the quality of life.

However, biotechnology has a wide variety of career opportunities ranging from sales and marketing, to research and development, to manufacturing and quality control and assurance and to computer work in the field of bioinformatics.

The biotechnology industry continues to flourish nationwide. Not only are the total number of biotechnology companies increasing, but employment in the biotechnology field continues to grow as well.

The impact of biotechnology can be seen in medical, environmental, industrial, and criminal justice fields, as well as many others

For an idea of how extensive the scope of biotechnology is, the following statistics are from the Biotechnology Industry Organization:

There are more than 300 biotech drug products and vaccines currently in clinical trials targeting more than 200 diseases, including various cancers, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and arthritis.

Biotechnology is responsible for hundreds of medical diagnostic tests that keep the blood supply safe from the AIDS virus and detect other conditions early enough to be successfully treated. Home pregnancy tests are also biotechnology diagnostic products.

Consumers are already enjoying biotechnology foods such as papaya, soybeans and corn. Biopesticides and other agricultural products are used to improve our food supply and to reduce our dependence on conventional chemical pesticides.

By Harnessing pollution eating microbes, environmental biotechnology products make it possible to clean up hazardous waste more efficiently and without the use of caustic chemicals.

Industrial biotechnology applications have led to cleaner processes that produce less waste and use less energy and water in such industrial sectors as chemicals, pulp and paper, textiles, food, energy, metals and minerals. For example, most laundry detergents produced in the United States contain biotechnology-based enzymes.

DNA fingerprinting, a biotech process, has dramatically improved criminal investigation and forensic medicine, as well as afforded significant advances in anthropology and wildlife management.