Ian Chen, 3rd year SFU Biology Student
PCR Co‑op Research Assistant
Cristiana Pan, 4th year UBC Biology Student
Molecular Biology Co‑op Research Assistant
Daniel Kong, 3rd year UBC Commerce Student
Marketing/Design Co‑op
Daniel Kong, 3rd year UBC Commerce Student
Marketing/Design Co‑op
“My co-op experience here at abm truly prepared me for a career in the biotechnology industry.”
| When was your co-op term with abm, and when did you come back as full-time employee? | |
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I first joined abm as a co-op for eight months in 2009 and I had the valuable opportunity to take on many projects and challenges during this time. My hard work paid off as I was offered a full time position at the end of my work term, but since I had to return to school to finish up my final three classes, I was given the flexibility to continue working part time during my final term and transition to full time upon graduation.
Before working at abm, I always thought the only career I can get out of doing life science program is either becoming a physician or pharmacist. However, experience in abm gave me a lot of ideas of the real world experience in life science research, and I now know that it is also pretty cool to work as a lab technician! |
| What is your current position? Could you briefly describe your job responsibilities? | |
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I am now currently the VP of Product Development and I oversee all of the Research and Development (R&D) projects here at abm. I meet regularly with all of the Directors in the company to review R&D progress, assess new R&D initiatives, and commercialize and bring the products and technologies they have developed to market. It's really exciting to be at the forefront of developing new technologies and products that will help researchers around the world!
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| What was the best thing about working at abm as a co-op student? | |
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As a co-op student, I was able to work on a variety of projects, some of which I initiated myself after conducting my own literature research. I was not just doing routine tasks that my supervisor told me to do; I was challenged to design the experiments, carry them out, and present the analysis of my results to my supervisors and my peers.
Even now, no day is the same as the one before and every day we are presented with new challenges. The world of science is constantly evolving and I'm proud to say that abm is always striving to be one step ahead and because of that, I'm lucky enough to get to work on the most exciting and new technologies day after day. |
| What are a few unique advantages abm offers to our co-ops compared to other co-op employers? | |
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My co-op experience here at abm truly prepared me for a career in the biotechnology industry.
Having studied in the UBC/BCIT Biotechnology program, we were trained to be able to adapt to industry-style environments, but abm was a step above what I was prepared for, in a good way. The fast pace and demanding environment of business and the biotech industry pushed me to really hone my time management, trouble-shooting and critical analysis skills, all of which I feel are not given enough emphasis in school. I had the opportunity to learn many different technologies such as cloning, cell culture, protein production, PCR and qPCR techniques, as well as many transferable soft skills and business skills such as effective communication, negotiation, market analysis and commercialization. Honestly, I could not have had a better co-op experience to prepare me for a career in the biotech industry. |
| How did your co-op experience at abm shape your study and career development? | |
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Before joining abm, I had completed work terms in two academic labs at UBC, both of which were great experiences. The projects were very interesting, but they were very focused on a particular topic and I didn't feel like there was a defined "end goal" or "deliverable" that we were working toward other than a manuscript or paper that was going to be published sometime after my work term had ended.
Here at abm, you have a chance to work on developing products and services as well as new technologies that you can see either as a physical product in your hands and/or as a service listed on our company website, both of which you can put on your resume and say that you played an important role in developing that technology which is now used by researchers across the world. In addition, all co-op students are involved in a business-oriented project where they get to reach out to researchers and technology institutes, hone their communication and negotiation skills, and expand our product profile as a result. We value our co-ops as employees here at abm, and expect that they take full advantage of all the unique learning opportunities we provide. Last but not least, abm provides strong references for those seeking graduate studies or medical school, and also frequently hires back previous co-op students as full time employees, many of whom (including myself) are in management and director positions now. The sky is the limit with abm! |
“abm trained me from the ground up in so many different techniques and areas as a co-op.”
| When was your co-op term with abm, and when did you come back as full-time employee? | |
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My co-op term with abm was from September 2013 to April 2014, and I was working in the Molecular Biology Department. I came back as a full time employee in the Cell Culture Department in December 2016 after graduating from SFU in June 2016.
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| What is your current position? Could you briefly describe your job responsibilities? | |
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I currently work as a Cell Culture Technician. I am mainly responsible for stable cell line generation using CRISPR/Cas9 technologies - creating edits in a cell's genome at a specific locus in order to knock out a desired gene of interest.
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| What was the best thing about working at abm as a co-op student? | |
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I liked the training I was given at abm. When I came to abm as a co-op, I had absolutely no experience in any lab, school or otherwise.
abm trained me from the ground up in so many different techniques and areas as a co-op, as well as providing completely new training when I became a full time employee. I learned pretty much every practical technique I know today because of abm. |
| What are a few unique advantages abm offers to our co-ops compared to other co-op employers? | |
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After my co-op term ended at abm, I knew I wanted to continue a career in biology. The experience I had and the knowledge I gained just made me thirsty to learn more and more about everything biology related. I realized that since abm had already trained me and that I have learned so much here, it would be a great place to learn even more!
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| How did your co-op experience at abm shape your study and career development? | |
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In my opinion, the best thing about abm is that this company gives you a CHANCE. Other companies always ask for more experience than anyone in school would ever have, but abm gave me a co-op job offer with little/no experience under my belt. I will always appreciate this, as it helped me get my foot in the door in biology and allowed me to discover my passion for science.
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Interested in a co-op or internship position at abm? Check out our available opportunities to start exploring the perfect career path for you.