Business Mentors
Jessica Martin Eckerly
Credentials: MBA, MS in Biotechnology
Position title: CEO and Co-Founder
Forward BIOLABS
Ben Seffrood
Credentials: MBA, MS in Biotechnology
Position title: Manufacturing Finance, Illumina (Madison); Adjunct Professor, MS in Biotechnology Program, UW-Madison
Hemanth Shenoi
Credentials: PhD in Immunology
Position title: Associate Director Product Management, NeoGenomics Laboratories
Scientific Mentors
Natalie Betz
Credentials: PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Position title: Academic Director
M.S. in Biotechnology Program (in-person)
Capstone Certificate in Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs (online)
M.S. in Applied Biotechnology (online)
Capstone Certificate in Applied Bioinformatics
School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Mark Cigan
Credentials: MS Zoology, Ph.D.
Position title: Global Head of Genetic Innovation
Cobb-Vantress
Laura Strong
Credentials: PhD in Organic Chemistry
Position title: Vice President, Strategy and Healthcare
DataChat Inc.
Capstone Overview
crb845: Capstone Research Project
Year 2, Spring Semester (1 credit)
The completion of the M.S. in Biotechnology degree includes a final capstone thesis paper that demonstrates a full and complete understanding of your work in the program. The capstone is an enriching opportunity for each student to pursue a deeper analysis and understanding of a topic of personal interest.
For the capstone project, each student will:
- Identify and define an important global problem, then identify and define a novel biotechnology-based technology solution to that problem
- Analyze the economic logic of your problem and solution: Who are the customers and who will pay for the product? Is there a reasonable market for the product? Could a company charge enough to warrant development of the product? Who are the current and potential competitors?
- Identify insightful business and technical questions to research
- Determine the most effective resources to research the problem
- Describe the technical and business research findings clearly, concisely, and logically
- Identify a company to implement your proposed solution to augment their current portfolio
- Analyze and interpret both technical and business findings critically reliant on your learning throughout the program
- Discuss global / international technical and business considerations (using information and tools covered throughout the M.S. in Biotechnology Program)
- Identify credible business and technical solutions and recommendations
Based on your analysis, propose a strategy for your selected company to implement your technology. Discuss obstacles and challenges associated with the implementation of your proposed solutions and strategy. Acknowledge unanswered / unanswerable questions. Create a succinct and complete executive summary that covers all of the major discussion points in the entire paper.