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Biotechnology

The Mercy High School Biotechnology Pathway Program introduces students to the field of biotechnology and provides them with tools to gain relevant experience and confidence in their skills as they build resiliency in problem solving. Biotechnology combines biology and technology. Modern biotechnology is a fast evolving field that can be broken into five branches—human, animal, plant, environmental, and industrial—and that is focused on changing our world in profound ways. The biotechnology industry spans from helping to fight hunger to saving energy to reducing our ecological footprint and so much more. 

 

Relation to Girls' Education

At the highest level of biotechnology companies, women are missing. And it is time to change that. 

More women than men attend college, study biology at graduate and undergraduate studies and more than half of Bio PhDs are earned by women; yet women are still missing at the leadership level. 

Though women make up 47% of total employees at biotech companies headquartered across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, only 31% of executive teams and 23% of CEOs at the companies surveyed are women.

Female leadership in biotechnology is needed, and Mercy is committed to offering young women the education, tools, and preparation necessary to give them the confidence to explore and thrive in the field of biotechnology.

Relevance to Today’s World

In September of 2022, the White House hosted a summit on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing with the goal of advancing President Biden’s Executive Order to launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative “to lower prices, create good jobs, strengthen supply chains, improve health outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions.” With over $2 billion dollars of funding committed, the future of biotechnology is necessary and promising and in need of women’s voices. 

Program Requirements 

Course Requirements

  • 4 Years of Math*

  • 4 Years of Science*

  • Additional STEM Course

* Students who take Honors and AP courses will receive Honors Biotechnology recognition. 

Additional Requirements 

  • Participation on Robotics Team 

  • Intro to Biotechnology Workshop

  • Ethics and Trends in Biotechnology Workshop

  • Entrepreneurial Innovation Workshop

  • Pathways Speaker Series

  • Biotechnology Pathway Mentorship Program 

  • Biotechnology Capstone Project

Sample Courses & Workshops

  • Statistics/ AP Statistics
     
  • Calculus/ AP Calculus
     
  • Biology/ H Biology/ AP Biology
     
  • Chemistry/ AP Chemistry
     
  • AP Computer Science
     
  • Robotics
     
  • AP Environmental Science
     
  • Geometry/ H Geometry
     
  • Biotech Lab Principles
     
  • Biotechnology and Society
     
  • Forensics Science
     
  • Anatomy and Physiology
     

Sample Careers

  • Genetic Counselor

  • Chemical Engineer

  • Biochemist

  • Microbiologist

  • Environmental Scientist

  • Agriculture and Food Scientist