Tomfohrde Foundation Grants
$25,000 for Biotechnology

The John H. and H. Naomi Tomfohrde Foundation has awarded Pine Manor College a $25,000 grant for updating our offerings in biotechnology. The foundation found that "Pine Manor is well positioned to expand its Biology Department with this new course, which offers technical skill training and practical research experience in biotechnology."

The courses the College has offered through our major in Biology provide broad experience and knowledge to our students in the classroom, but they do not extend into hands-on experiences in the methodologies of the current practices in the area of biotechnology, and do not include time in an actual biotechnology laboratory. The grant has made it possible for us to purchase new equipment necessary for a course in biotechnology.  The addition to our curriculum of this new course will provide our students with practical skills in today's biotechnology.

The biotechnology course will cover techniques from the routine to SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) to PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and beyond, which will prepare studentsto participate in leading-edge research in medical and pharmaceutical sciences.