{"id":13555,"date":"2023-01-11T12:28:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T17:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/?p=13555"},"modified":"2023-01-18T20:58:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T01:58:56","slug":"longstanding-elizabethtown-college-eurofins-partnership-leads-to-valuable-real-world-experience-for-biochemistry-and-molecular-biology-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2023\/01\/11\/longstanding-elizabethtown-college-eurofins-partnership-leads-to-valuable-real-world-experience-for-biochemistry-and-molecular-biology-major\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-Standing Elizabethtown College-Eurofins Partnership Leads to Valuable, Real-World Experience for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Major"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long-standing relationship between Elizabethtown College and the local bio\/pharmaceutical laboratory services facility, <\/span>Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories<\/span><\/a> has led to valuable, hands-on, real-world experience for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) major Kaylynn Leap \u201923.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leap, who is also minoring in Mathematics, has held two summer internships with the company and has been working part-time as a Senior Technician since August 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have loved every minute of my time at Eurofins,\u201d Leap exclaimed. \u201cIt didn’t matter if was relearning a technique I was already familiar with, shadowing someone run a gel or inoculate cells, cleaning the lab space, or learning completely new techniques and reaching the point to do them independently and confidently\u2026 I was having the time of my life.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kaylynn Leap (center) with members of the Eurofins Viral Clearance (VC) department<\/p><\/div>\n

Leap\u2019s first internship came in the summer of 2021 when she interned with the Biologics team within the Pharmaceutical Raw Materials department, strengthening the general chemistry and biology lab skills she learned at Etown through the company\u2019s extensive introductory training. She returned this past summer to intern in the Viral Clearance (VC) department before staying on as a part-time technician for the fall semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hands-on learning I have gained at Eurofins has bolstered my lab skills and experiences to allow me to become a very competitive candidate for Ph.D. programs,\u201d Leap explained. \u201cIt is through my time in VC at Eurofins and immunology research with Dr. (Jodi) Lancaster at Etown that I have found my passion for utilizing my strong chemistry lab and instrumentation background to work in a biology or biochemistry setting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded in 1961, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, Inc. provides innovative and timely scientific solutions that enable customers to better manage the drug development process. The company has a longstanding relationship with Etown, which includes a formal agreement to provide a semester-long required internship for students majoring in Chemistry Laboratory Science. Through the years, more than 25 alumni have been employed by Eurofins, and at least eight have completed internships.<\/span><\/p>\n

This partnership is especially beneficial for both students in Etown\u2019s School of Sciences and the local job market as physical and life sciences jobs are predicted to increase by 10.6% in Lancaster over the next 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe strong connection that Etown\u2019s School of Sciences has with Eurofins greatly benefits our students,\u201d Elizabethtown College School of Sciences Dean Jodi Lancaster said. \u201cIt is a routine location for students to complete high-quality internships and gain valuable hands-on laboratory experience. An internship at Eurofins increases the marketability of our graduates whether they are seeking full-time employment or continuing on to graduate school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her current role at Eurofins, Leap is both strengthening and supplementing her lab education at Etown through various lab activities such as fixation and stains, refeed of high volume assays, preparing media and crystal violet, discarding expired plates\/flasks\/reagents, managing biohazardous waste, checking environment-monitored storage unit charts, helping to disassemble and clean chromatography columns, aid in cleaning water baths weekly, preparing glassware for cleaning, and restocking lab supplies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leap’s position at Eurofins hasn\u2019t hindered her from having an active role on campus. She completes research with the Dean of the School of Sciences Dr. Jodi Lancaster, is a tutor for various chemistry courses and in the Learning Zone, serves as the Colleges Against Cancer Luminaria Chair, plays clarinet in five on-campus ensembles, and is the secretary for both the Chemistry Club and the Women in STEM club.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following graduation in May 2023, Leap plans to pursue a Ph.D. in immunology or a closely related field. However, thanks in large part to the relationships she has cultivated during her numerous internships and work experiences, she\u2019s confident that she would be welcomed back at Eurofins at any time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I have encountered and interacted with at Eurofins is so friendly and helpful,\u201d Leap said. \u201cI can ask any question, science or life-related, and someone has an answer for me. The people are more than co-workers to me, they are like a family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long-standing relationship between Elizabethtown College and the local bio\/pharmaceutical laboratory services facility, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories has led to valuable, hands-on, real-world experience for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) major Kaylynn Leap \u201923. Leap, who is also minoring in Mathematics, has held two summer internships with the company and has been working part-time as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":13557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1338,775],"tags":[1126,197,1350,1627,1416],"class_list":["post-13555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-and-research","category-campus","tag-biochemistry","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-etown","tag-eurofins","tag-molecular-biology","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13555"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13567,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13555\/revisions\/13567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}