In March, Silicon Prairie News covered Metro Community College’s new initiative, which launches this fall, to train students to be bioscience lab technicians. 

The move came from a realization that Nebraska, despite hosting a variety of biotech companies, doesn’t have enough of a workforce — a common problem across industries in the state.

Back then, the program’s new biotech lab was still under construction at MCC’s Elkhorn Valley Campus. But ahead of its official October 1 unveiling, Silicon Prairie News was invited back by MCC for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the completed facility.

Here’s what we saw, how Nebraska’s biotech industry reacted and why this matters to workforce development in the state.