The CSU helps power the state’s global biotech leadership by providing a critical talent pipeline for the state’s industry and by conducting critical translational research.
Undergraduate Talent Pipelines
- Cal State San Marcos offers a standalone baccalaureate in biotechnology that combines upper-division lab rotations with a required industry internship.
- CSUN and CSU Bakersfield embed full biotech course blocks within their undergraduate biology degree programs. This provides molecular-technique depth yet preserves broad biological training.
- Cal State Fullerton lets students specialize early through the molecular biology & biotechnology concentration in its undergraduate biological science program.
CSU Graduate Training
- CSU Channel Islands pioneered an applied master’s in biotechnology & bioinformatics that mixes regulatory affairs, project management and wet-lab courses.
- Sacramento State layers a stem-cell practicum onto its master’s degree program in biotechnology, preparing graduates for GMP cell therapy facilities.
- Fresno State and San José State both run biotechnology master’s programs similar to a Professional Science Master’s one that pair advanced molecular coursework with business or engineering electives.
- San Francisco State awards a master’s in biomedical science: Biotechnology, leveraging partnerships with Bay-Area startups for thesis projects in gene-editing, biosensors and biomanufacturing.
MULTICAMPUS COLLABORATION: CSUBIOTECH
Since its launch in 1987, California State University Biotechnology (CSUBIOTECH, formerly CSUPERB) has become the connective tissue for biotechnology across all CSU campuses: awarding research funding, hosting an annual industry symposium and strengthening campus-based
biotech activities. CSUBIOTECH has strategically invested $18 million in competitive seed, curriculum, and student-support grants, helping the CSU to attract significant additional outside funding. Over the last 25 years, CSUBIOTECH has supported nearly 2,500 faculty and students with research and education grants, leading to over 360 peer-reviewed publications and more than 1,000
presentations. In 2023-24 alone, CSUBIOTECH turned a $150,000 outlay on 10 research projects into nearly $5.8 million in external NIH/NSF awards—a 39-to-1 return on investment—and accelerating research programs from cancer-protein analytics to next-gen heartassist devices.
By converting small seed grants into multimillion-dollar awards, convening a 500-person-strong
annual symposium, and embedding students in paid, industry-aligned research, CSUBIOTECH multiplies the impact of every state dollar and cements the CSU's role as a decentralized but unified powerhouse feeding California's $400 billion biotech economy.