Biologist Chosen to Run Biotech Jobs Program

An area biologist has been selected to head a statewide biotechnology training and jobs program.

As the new statewide director of the biotechnology economic development program in the California community college system, Mary Pat Huxley will coordinate the six regional biotech centers throughout the college system. Huxley said she hopes to increase the program’s funding--now $1.07 million--and to draw more biotech companies into partnership with colleges throughout the state.

Huxley, a geneticist, will manage her new duties from the Ventura College office, where she has run the Central Coast Biotechnology Center.

Huxley will retain her position as executive director of VCBio, a countywide networking group for biotech and support companies, including Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc., Baxter Hyland Immuno and vegetable seed manufacturer Seminis of Oxnard.