It's not very often, I think, that you see higher ed officials put pride and bureaucracy to the side to work together on a project that is beneficial to students and the community.

In this case, I'm talking about the Life Sciences Institute, which opened its doors at the University of Maryland's BioPark on the west side of Baltimore.

The LSI is run by the Baltimore City Community College, though its new home is in the University of Maryland Baltimore's research park.

UMB wants to make the BioPark a "one-stop shop" for the biotech industry. Bringing in a program such as BCCC's LSI that could train a workforce of biotech workers was instrumental to UMB's long-term goal of offering it all -- from startup companies to research labs to students in training -- under one large roof.

On a recent tour, I saw earnest students working in labs and sitting in lectures in classrooms on the floor of the LSI.

There are jobs to be had in this field, and companies and research facilities are constantly soaking up trained and competent workers in the region, I was told by the LSI's director, Dr. Kathleen Kennedy Norris.

For more, check out my story today on the program and some of the people in it.