Genentech Internship Journal

Name: Tylin Burton

Internship Site: HIllsboro Genentech West Coast Distributing Center
Fill Finish (HFF) Facility
Genentech, Inc.
4625 NW Brookwood Parkway
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Dates: Friday, April 22, 2016 and Friday, April 29, 2016
Total # of hours worked for week: 12

4/22 10am-2pm Career Development Focus Topics

10-10:30 - Security Check in, Welcome, DNA team overview,
Agenda overview
All seven interns were met by Stacy Long, the internship coordinator, and Lisa Klingsporn, a
representative of the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, in the lobby of the main Genentech building.
Once everyone arrived and brief introductions were made we boarded a shuttle that took us to a
conference room in a smaller Genentech building.

10:30-11 What are the different jobs at HTO?

This first session was led by Darlene Hill, and administrative staff member. We were welcomed
to the company and given a brief overview of the companys history, culture, and objectives.
The presentation then goes on to describe the Genentech Hillsboro location, and the main
functions of the site, including acting as a commercial biologics manufacturing and distribution center.
The campus is known as Hillsboro Technical Operations or HTO, is found on 75 acres and became
operational in late 2009. The building is new, but is quite essential to the entire company of Genentech
because it has become the North American Tank Management Center (TMC) in addition to its normal
responsibilities of manufacturing and filling product. This essentially means that all freeze-thaw tanks that
are used to store and transport product are cleaned and distributed to sites throughout around the world. It
is important to note that the Hillsboro plant manufactures Rituxan, Avastin and Herceptin among others.

11-12 - Panel Discussion - Six employees of different status and

role discuss their career and education paths, and describe a
typical day in their lives.
The Genentech culture fosters innovation through fabricating a tolerant, diverse workforce, and
one way they do this is through a division known as Diversity Networking Associations (DNA teams),
where employee groups are created to encourage inclusion and respect of all backgrounds. The internship
program was hosted by one of these groups, the Genentech Women Professionals, and from 11-12 the
internship sat in on a panel discussion from five women from this group. The first presentation was given
by Jennifer Tang, who worked within packaging and development, and had spent the last year with
Genentechs parent company, Roche, in Switzerland. The next speaker went by Shazia and worked in
process managing, with a background in industrial engineering, but found her passion in process
managing. Pauline Lohr is head of inspections manufacturing and has been in the company for 19 years,
her current job is leading 55 people in insuring that all outgoing product is safe, and that the processes are
up to code.

12-12:30 - Lunch with a presentation of a career lab topic /

presentation
Following the panel discussion, the interns boarded the shuttle and went back to the main
building for lunch (courtesy of the Genentech cafeteria). A presentation by Leila Smith and Pam deLoa
gave the interns honest and helpful advice about deciding on a career pathway. They stressed, when
interviewing for a job, it is important to decide whether the job would be a good fit for you, and not just
you being a good fit for the job.

12:30-2 - Resume Building Workshop

Immediately following the career informational presentation, more employees of genentech came
to lead a resume building workshop. All the interns were instructed to bring our current resumes, but in
addition we received several handouts from the employees. The general topics of the seminar were
organization, formatting, power words and how to tailor our resumes to the qualifications of each job we
were applying for.

4/29 - 8:30am-4:30pm 8 hours- Genentech

Operations Tour and Biotechnology Overview
8:30 - 9:00 Security Check in and welcome, GWP overview,
Internship program
This second Friday began similarly to the first, however we went straight into a large conference
room for breakfast and were given a quick overview of the days activities. During this time, an informal
discussion between the interns and several staff members took place regarding job interview techniques
and tips.

9:00 - 10:00 Site Tours

The interns were given a tour of the Hillsboro Facility which runs 24/7, employing approximately
600 people. Our tour began with a window tour overlooking the filling process. Here we learned that the
product is thawed and prepared on the third floor and then transported through tubes to the second floor
where it is stoppered into vials. During this process, glass vials must be washed, put through a
deoxygenation heating, filled and then capped. The interns were shown the filling portion and told that
each step required a different level of gowning (lab protective gear). In most biomedical filling processes,
lab workers have to completely suit up to enter a sterile environment, at Genentech, the entire process is
contained in a enclosed machinery line, the only way lab workers can access the product line is through
special gloves built into the insulated container. After being sterilized and filled, the vials enter another
room on a conveyer belt to be trayed, inspected and sent to full packaging.
From this point our tour deviates from its chronological order as we are led to the warehouse to
learn about the receiving and distribution process. In the receiving portion of the warehouse (building 4),
all incoming materials are brought by trucks to be labeled, stored or sent to the proper sect of Genentech.
Here we see the cryogenic vessels, which store the product at a freezing 20 degrees Celsius. These tanks
are either stored in one of several giant freezers (each at a different temperature) or sent to cleaning
stations. The warehouse also serves as the distribution center, full of complex measuring machines that
package the vials and fill the boxed with packing peanuts

10:00- 11:00 - Inspection overview, particulate lab tour

In this portion of the lab tour, the interns and advisors suit up into lab coats and protective
goggles to enter the areas where Genentech employees examine various specimens of product and vials to
evaluate their condition. The tour guide tells us that there has been no major mistakes from the Hillsboro
campus, only minor ones come from human recording error because the interior inspection process is not
automated. We are led by an analyst through the Microlabs where they prep assays and test the air and
water quality of the facility. We are also shown the Bioburden lab, where they check for microorganisms,
and the chemistry lab where materials from other companies must be analyzed and validated. The next lab
we are shown is a fairly new forensic lab, where particulates are identified through physical testing of the

rejects in the process. It is amazing to see all of the seemingly redundant checking processes, and to later
learn that each process is necessary. We learn that Genentech takes great pride in assuring that their
product is of the best quality.

11:30-12:15 lunch and discussion

We return to our first conference room where we are joined by a guest speaker from the
San Francisco Genentech campus, who is the head of the Diversity Task Force. We learn that this
group works to assure that Genentech is a fair and unbiased company that provides opportunities
for qualified individuals from every background. While we eat, we have a relatively informal
discussion about unconscious biases, and each shared stories where we had bias personally
directed at us, or when we ourselves were unconsciously biased.

12:15 12:45 Patient / Employee Experience

We had the exclusive chance to talk to an employee, Adriana Venegas, who has had her life
changed by the Genentech medication, Rituxan. She tells her inspiring story of living with progressing
rheumatoid arthritis, which hindered her ability to move and work here at Genentech, and to be able to be
a good mother. She explained to us that all other treatment options failed, but once she took Rituxin, she
was finally able to walk without extreme pain. The connection to the product she helps create makes this
work even more rewarding for her and the rest of the employees at Genentech, because they know that
they are changing peoples lives for the better. The presenters appreciate the reminder of how their
products actually change peoples lives for the better, and stress that it is necessary to remember the
positive impact they are making when going through such a thorough product testing process.

12:45- 1:15 Genentechs role with the FDA and other regulatory
agencies
Another presenter shows us a slideshow shown in the many training courses employees must take
to work at Genentech, specifically focusing on regulatory agencies. We learn about the history of the
FDA, and that most legislature for regulatory agencies are a result of tragedy. There are four types of
inspections from the FDA, the cGMP or unannounced, the pre-license, the pre-approval inspection (for
specific products) and the directed inspection, usually due to complaints. Our internship was postponed
two weeks because the FDA arrived for an extensive cGMP inspection, which required all hands on deck.

1:15 - 2:15 molecule to vial presentation

This presentation detailed the entire drug manufacturing process, and included the steps of drug
development. The process can take up to 12 weeks.
1. Drug substance production
2. Transport to HTO
3. Freeze tanks arrive in warehouse

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Drug formulation (thawing, mixing, test for contaminants)

Filling
Inspection
Packaging
Distribution Center
Doctors and Patients.

2:15 - 4:15 I want so much to live - Herceptin Movie and follow

up discussion
We were shown the documentary I want so much to live which concerned the scientific and
political history of Genentechs big name drug Herceptin. Herceptin treats breast cancer of the HER2
type, and was the first of its kind to use antibodies developed in a lab. In this documentary we learned that
one in eight women will get breast cancer, and that most deaths from breast cancer occur because the
cancer spreads to other body systems. The documentary looked at the drug discovery, development, and
clinical trial processes and the political tension that resulted from all the red tape that prevented the drug
from being released. The final clinical study found that Herceptin increases HER2 breast cancer patients
chances of survival by 50%. This documentary gave my internship context, and really connected what
Genentech does to the real world. It is crazy to think that Herceptin is from Hillsboro, and has saved
millions of lives worldwide since its approval.

4:15-4:30 - Wrap Up - Q/A, Surveys

In this last portion the interns took a survey from Genentech, and we thanked all the wonderful
volunteers who gave us a peek into the biotechnology field.