Students from Guisborough Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College paid a visit to a major bio-technology company.
Teenagers from both colleges who are studying maths, biology, chemistry and computer science-based subjects, are part of a new initiative that aims to educate them about future technologies and the skills required to secure a career in the sector.
They visited FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB) at Billingham, and, working with Professor Raymond Oliver, a college governor, and the group had a full-day visit with talks, tours and a fun activity.
FDB representatives spoke about their processes from initial conception with their customers to patents, quality checks, audit trails and ultimately manufacturing the products.
The students heard about microbial development, cell cultures and cell line development and got to explore several labs and observe the technology in use.
A college spokesperson said this helped the students appreciate the importance of the work that is undertaken locally on this expanding site and the wealth of opportunities that will be available to them in the future.
FDB recently invested £400m into expanding its Billingham site and currently employs more than 1,000 staff. This expansion is expected to create another 350 highly-skilled jobs once complete.
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