Industrial Biotechnology

Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have been society's primary source of energy. These fuels are the primary source of energy for many products we use every day, such as pharmaceuticals, foods, drinks, personal care, and plastics. We need to find better, safer and more reliable ways of making chemicals.

The industrial biotechnology revolution is changing the way we make chemicals and other materials. It also provides us with renewable energy. This technology is at the heart of sustainable manufacturing and offers an alternative to conventional manufacturing technologies. It allows for commercially advanced and transformed priority industrial sectors, which in turn yields more viable solutions to our environmental problems.

The course covers the essential enabling technologies for biotechnology research, including systems and synthetic biology, enzyme discovery and engineering and biochemical process engineering. Lectures will cover a lot of the material. This is to give you a strong foundation in these important areas. The wider issue of sustainable manufacturing, including ethical research and innovation, will be discussed.

The second portion of this course will examine how technology can be applied in real-world applications that benefit society and improve our daily lives. Our industry partners and colleagues working in the chemical, pharmaceutical and biofuels sectors will be part of this discussion.

You will have the ability to:

1. Learn about enzymatic functions and catalysis.

2. Describe the technology and methods that underpin synthetic biology and other systems.

3. Explain the diversity of synthetic biology application and discuss the different ethical and regulatory/governance challenges involved in this research.

4. Learn the basics and roles of industrial biotechnology's bioprocessing and Biochemical Engineering.

5. Discuss the key technologies that underpin industrial biotechnology research and have an open discussion

6. Give specific examples of how industrial biotechnology products can be used in agriculture, healthcare, food, energy, and the environment.