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Biosciences opens doorway to numerous careers

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Growing up in Brockville, Ontario, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, Danielle Sanderson was immersed in the natural beauty of the Thousand Islands.
“I spent a lot of time at my grandpa’s house when I was younger,” said Sanderson. “I was really interested in the wildlife out there — the frogs and the turtles.”
With a passion for environmental issues, conservation, biology and chemistry, Sanderson wanted her post-secondary studies to be flexible and accommodating.
“I wasn’t exactly sure what part of the field I wanted to study,” she said. “So I thought Loyalist College would be a really good starting point.”
Loyalist’s School of Biosciences has a common first year for its Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering and Environmental programs. It gives students the freedom to explore their options before committing to a specific stream.
“You can do your first year in Biotechnology and if you then decide Environmental is for you, you can transfer into that program,” she said. “After I gained more experience with post-secondary, I decided to stick with Biotechnology.”
Sanderson graduated from Loyalist in the spring of 2015 and entered directly into the third year of the Bachelor of Science in Biology degree program at Trent University in the fall.
“I always knew I wanted to go to university,” she said. “After high school, I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to commit to four years and then completely change my mind. That’s why I went to college first.”
Having benefited from hands-on training in the labs, Sanderson was ready to make the move to university and explore her options in sciences.
“In terms of workload, it isn’t that different from college,” she said. “The confidence I had in myself after doing so many hours in the lab at Loyalist really helped prepare me for university. I developed critical thinking skills and solved problems independently. The labs help you understand the big picture, so I was able to take that and apply it to the courses I’m taking at Trent.”
When it comes to narrowing in on a specific field, Sanderson is keeping her options open. Be it conservation, genetics or ecology, she’s interested in the endless opportunities her education can yield.
“There are so many pathways that I can take, and they all sound so exciting, so I haven’t really decided on just one,” she said.
Since the summers spent at her grandfather’s house, listening to the songs of frogs, Sanderson’s interest in conservation and turtles has led to an unrelenting curiosity in sea turtles.
“I always keep up with the sea turtle population and how different diseases and pollution affect them,” she said. “I just love sea turtles so much and almost every species of sea turtles is endangered or threatened. I’m really concerned about their conservation. It’s something that’s very dear to my heart.”
Biotechnology plays a critical role in the battles against hunger, disease and pollution. The science is used in developing precision medicines and gene therapies, environmental decontamination to restore polluted spaces and engineering crops to improve their yield and nutrition. There is a growing demand for skilled technicians, technologists and research assistants in the high-tech economy.
Graduates like Sanderson find opportunities in the Biotechnology sector, including life sciences, health sciences, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, industrial fermentation, industrial hygiene, and bioremediation. They attain roles in research and development, quality control/quality assurance, applied microbiology, regulation and inspection, processing and manufacturing. With a Loyalist diploma, graduates can transfer directly into the second or third year of more than 70 university degree programs in Canada or abroad to expand their employability.
To learn more about Biotechnology at Loyalist College, visit loyalistcollege.com.

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