(286d) Introduction to Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering - a Course for the Chemical Engineering Curriculum

Since the first gene was cloned in 1973, and a foreign gene expressed in a different bacteria species a year later, tremendous growth and interest in biotechnology have occurred. Advances in genetics and molecular biology have led to many new pharmaceutical, chemical, and agricultural products of micro-organisms and cultured plants, animal and insect cells. The industrial production of these products will depend on bioprocessing strategies to enable commercially viable biomanufacturing. These strategies will include new engineering initiatives in the development of high throughput bioreactors, efficient separation and purification for bioproducts, and computer-interfaced instrumentation for optimal bioprocess control. The importance of biotechnology in today's world and the need to meet the above challenges have resulted in biochemical engineering being introduced into almost all syllabi for chemical engineering studies. However, a factor which has contributed to the neglect of biochemical engineering courses in some chemical engineering departments is the assumption of a significant prior background in the biological sciences. Although many chemical engineering students have not studied biochemistry and microbiology, a working familiarity with both fields is necessary in biochemical engineering. In order to prepare students at Prairie View A & M University (PVAMU) for careers in the growing biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, a new course titled ?Introduction to Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering? has been introduced in our Department of Chemical Engineering this semester (Spring 2002). The course has been designed to provide training and hands-on skills for senior non-engineering biological sciences and chemistry, and chemical engineering students in the areas of biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology and chemical engineering with an interdisciplinary approach.