NH CREATES

SUMMARY

NH CREATES used NH BioMade education seed funds and an NIH (National Institutes of Health) grant to expand 2021 and 2022 summer youth and educator programs into regenerative medicine and biomanufacturing to support workforce development through education. NH CREATES will be sustained with additional $4 million funding as part of a larger $44 million grant awarded to the City of Manchester, NH, and the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute by the U.S. Economic Development Administration Build Back Better Regional Challenge. 

WHAT IS THE IMPACT?

In 2021 and 2022, 89 youth participated in UNH Tech Camp, and 13 teachers participated in a 2-week institute to study regenerative medicine and project-based learning (PBL) instruction. Teachers created critical ongoing relationships with subject matter experts, increased awareness of the biotechnology industry in NH, and began implementation of biotechnology lessons in secondary science classrooms. NH CREATES, building on UNH Tech Camp success, will serve students and teachers in Durham and Manchester in 2023, with a larger pool to recruit individuals from underrepresented groups in Manchester.

TELL ME MORE

Funds from NH BioMade and NIH worked in tandem to introduce youth and teachers to new biotechnology content at UNH Tech Camp in July 2021 and 2022. University of NH Associate Professor and UNH Tech Camp Director, Carmela Amato-Wierda, designed the Collaborative for Regenerative Medicine Education and Training for Engineers and Scientists of the Future (NH CREATES) to help build a skilled workforce for New Hampshire’s rapidly growing regenerative medicine and biotechnology industries building on UNH Tech Camp success.

UNH Tech Camp held new youth programs focused on topics including bioinformatics, cryopreservation, regeneration with planaria, molecular visualization, 3D bioprinting, and entrepreneurship in biomanufacturing. Students learned topic(s) through hands-on activities in a lab, demonstrations, and lectures. Funds from NH BioMade were used to obtain equipment, such as a 3D bioprinter for the 3D bioprinting youth project.

High school teachers participated in a 2-week institute to study regenerative medicine and project-based learning (PBL) instruction. The teachers (12/13 teachers) developed new curricula and began instruction of biotechnology topics in secondary science classrooms in the fall. Funds from NH BioMade supported teachers’ new classroom equipment, such as microscopes and VR headsets, materials, and guiding institute texts, and one class field trip to Boston University to visit the Gaudette Lab and learn about their efforts using spinach leaves as scaffolds for regenerating heart tissue.

The New Hampshire Center for Multiscale Modeling and Manufacturing of Biomaterials (NH BioMade) is an NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 project (#1757371).

Written by: Carmela Amato-Wierda, & Amy Booth, UNH; Jennifer Baker, NH EPSCoR
Photos: Amy Booth & Shannon McCracken Barber, UNH