Starting in the fall of 2023, Oregon State University-Cascades will launch a new Bachelor of Science degree program in biochemistry and molecular biology to help fill open positions in the growing industries, both locally and regionally, the university announced Tuesday.

The program is expected to prepare students for graduate school, medical, dental and pharmacy school, as well as careers in the biotech, pharmaceutical, bioinformatics, data science and education fields, OSU-Cascades said.

The university cited a U.S. Department of Labor finding that available positions in these fields outpace the number of qualified graduates in Oregon. The new program is designed to help OSU-Cascades graduates take advantage of job openings in the fields currently experiencing growth both locally and in the region, such as biotechnology, OSU-Cascades said.

In Bend, biotechnology companies like Thermo Fisher and Grace Bio-Labs, and pharmaceutical companies like Lonza, have open positions that OSU-Cascades hopes to help fill by preparing students for the job market, said Christine Coffin, OSU-Cascades spokesperson.

“Currently the number of graduates is not keeping up with the number of jobs,” Coffin said. “We do have relationships with several companies in bioscience and biotech and so those relationships can help build experiences for students. Our goal is to educate students and get them ready for their next step after graduation whether that is graduate school, medical school or working in an industry.”

Coffin said the program includes hosting speakers to talk about different industries, and gives students opportunities to apply for internships and tour companies through the school’s career development office.

“When you study in the life sciences field at OSU-Cascades it’s a wonderful place to study because of the faculty the students will work with. We are small enough where faculty will get to know the students and their hopes and dreams,” Coffin said. “We have active researchers who teach students and who will engage students in their research and they will also encourage students to take on their own undergraduate research projects. And they do it all in brand new state of the art facilities here in Bend.”