Advancing in Cell & Gene Therapy at UMBC

In the field of Biotechnology, the focus on cell & gene therapy continues to advance our potential to improve lives. UMBC's Biotechnology Graduate Programs offers special topic courses that help their students achieve success in the field, courses like BTEC 691, Cell and Gene Therapy. 

In this episode of UMBC's Mic'd Up Podcast, we chat with graduate faculty, Darren Dasburg, M.B.A. about the course, the field of Biotechnology in general, and the amazing work being discovered in cell and gene therapy. 

Timestamps: 

0:00 Introduction to Darren Dasburg

4:25 Career path

6:15 The importance of networking in a professional setting

11:32 Entrance into the biotech world

14:34 CRISPR 

19:57 Favorite part of the biotech field

25:22 What is on biotech company radar

28:07 Where students should begin

34:33 What’s your favorite book

Darren Dasburg's favorite author: 

Walter Isaacson 

If you'd like to learn more about UMBC's Biotechnology Graduate Programs, visit us! 

About Darren Dasburg: 

Bringing over 39 years of technical operations experience in a variety of small and large molecule settings, Darren Dasburg recently departed AstraZeneca as Vice President Global PMO & Strategy in 2017 after his role as Site GM for the Boulder Manufacturing Center beginning in September 2015 when AstraZeneca/MedImmune acquired the former Amgen biologics production facility, retrofitted and started up through 2017. He is currently in advancing discussions for cell and gene therapy start-ups. 

Previously, Darren held the position of Vice President MedI BioVentures building partnerships in Korea, Japan and China for biosimilar development. Before then, VP of Capacity Utilization with where he led the first of its kind capacity sharing arrangement to support bio-manufacturing production. Prior to that, he was a Founding Partner in a consulting venture where he provided executive management team leadership in the areas of technical operations, manufacturing operations, project management, and business strategy. Darren did his formative years and ultimately served as Vice President of Corporate Engineering with GlaxoSmithKline.

Darren holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University and a MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and advanced certificates in biotechnology from MIT. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina and has worked on the ISPE Bio Mfg Conference since its inception.