US College Lab Provides Training

Richard Sullivan may have a head start on some of his classmates starting a Ph.D. program in molecular biology because of skills he gained - at a community college.

He took a class at Community College of Aurora that taught him how to manipulate DNA in ways most people only see on TV shows such as "CSI."

"I had no other access to learning those techniques and using those kinds of machines," Sullivan said. "The experience was incredibly unique and certainly got me jobs in labs and into graduate school."

For the past 13 years, Community College of Aurora has been offering hands-on training in what it's like to work in a professional laboratory. The community college has built a biotechnology laboratory. That rivals some four-year schools' and is similar to lab setups found at national research centers and startup companies. Students rarely get to see, let alone work in, labs with such advanced equipment, such as a DNA sequencer, so early in their academic careers.