Basic biotechnology books free download

Figure 1. Biotechnology-based industries will not be labour intensive, and although they will create valuable new employment the need will be more for brains than muscle. Much of modern biotechnology has been devel- oped and utilised by large companies and corporations. Must manage regulatory authorities, public perception; issues of health and safety; risk assessment. Business climate characterised by rapid change and considerable risk — one biotechnology innovation may quickly supersede another.

Biotechnology business growth highly dependent on venture capital — usually needs exceptionally high level of funding before profit sales return. Knowledge of biotechnology innovations must be translated through to all sectors of industry.

Many new, high-technology biotech companies have arisen from entrepreneurs from academia who are often dominant, charismatic indi- viduals whose primary aim has been to develop a new technology. New biotechnology companies have certain features not often seen in others Table 1. The position of new biotechnology at the interface between academia and industry creates a unique need for abstracting information from a wide range of sources, and companies spend large sums on infor- mation management.

Biotechnology is high-technology par excellence. Translating research into application is neither easy nor inevitable and requires a unique investigator and also a unique environment. Truly, new biotechnology has come of age.

For biotechnology to be commercially successful and exploited there is a need both to recruit a specialist workforce and also for the tech- nology to be understood and applied by practitioners in a wide range of other areas including law, patents, medicine, agriculture, engineer- ing, etc.

Also many already employed in biotechnology-based industries must regularly have means of updating their knowledge or even retraining. Such programmes are designed not only for the needs of students but also for company training activities and are written in the user-friendly style of good, open-learning materials.

The currency of biotechnology throughout the world will be an educated, skilled workforce with ready access to the ever-widening knowledge and resource base. In the majority of examples developed to date, the most effective, sta- ble and convenient form for the catalyst for a biotechnological process is a whole organism, and it is for this reason that so much of biotechnol- ogy revolves around microbial processes.

This does not exclude the use of higher organisms; in particular, plant and animal cell culture will play an increasingly important role in biotechnology. Furthermore, microorganisms can possess extremely rapid growth rates far in excess of any of the higher organisms such as plants and animals.

Thus immense quantities can be produced under the right environmental conditions in short time periods. These new techniques have largely arisen from fundamental achievements in molec- ular biology over the last two decades. These manipulated and improved organisms must be maintained in substantially unchanged form and this involves another spectrum of tech- niques for the preservation of organisms, for retaining essential features during industrial processes and, above all, retaining long-term vigour and viability.

The second part of the core of biotechnology encompasses all aspects of the containment system or bioreactor within which the catalysts must func- tion Fig. Here the combined specialist knowledge of the bioscientist and bioprocess engineer will interact, providing the design and instrumen- tation for the maintenance and control of the physico-chemical environ- ment, such as temperature, aeration, pH, etc.

Having achieved the required endpoint of the biotechnological process within the bioreactor, e. Processing will usually involve more than one stage. Downstream processing costs as approximate proportions of selling prices of fermen- tation products vary considerably, e. Successful involvement in a biotechnological process must draw heavily upon more than one of the input disciplines. The main areas of application of biotechnology are shown in Table 1. Novel fermenter designs to optimise productivity.

Enzyme technology Used for the catalysis of extremely specific chemical reactions; immobilisation of enzymes; to create specific molecular converters bioreactors. Products formed include L-amino acids, high fructose syrup, semi-synthetic penicillins, starch and cellulose hydrolysis, etc. Enzyme probes for bioassays. Waste technology Long historical importance but more emphasis is now being placed on coupling these processes with the conservation and recycling of resources; foods and fertilizers, biological fuels.

Environmental technology Great scope exists for the application of biotechnological concepts for solving many environmental problems pollution control, removing toxic wastes ; recovery of metals from mining wastes and low-grade ores.

Renewable resources technology The use of renewable energy sources, in particular lignocellulose, to generate new sources of chemical raw materials and energy — ethanol, methane and hydrogen. Total utilisation of plant and animal material. Clean technology, sustainable technology. Plant and animal agriculture Genetically engineered plants to improve nutrition, disease resistance, maintain quality, and improve yields and stress tolerance will become increasingly commercially available. Improved productivity etc.

Improved food quality, flavour, taste and microbial safety. Healthcare New drugs and better treatment for delivering medicines to diseased parts. Improved disease diagnosis, understanding of the human genome — genomics and proteomics, information technology. Biotechnology offers a great deal of hope for solving many of the problems that the world faces! In practice, such barriers come from the costs of testing products to meet regulatory standards, possible delays and uncer- tainties in regulatory approval, and even outright disapproval of new prod- ucts on grounds of safety.

Concern has been expressed in the USA that over-zealous and perhaps unrealistic regulatory requirements are damaging the future industrial development of some areas of biotechnology and, consequently, they are systematically reassessing their regulatory requirements. The use of recombinant DNA technology has created the greatest areas of possible safety concern. Public attitudes to biotechnology are most often related to matters of perceived or imaginary dangers in the techniques of genetic manipulation.

The implementation of the new techniques will be dependent upon their acceptance by consumers. Associated with genetic manipulation are diverse questions of safety, ethics and welfare. Public understanding of these new technologies could well has- ten public acceptance. Consequently, it is conceivable and indeed the case that a small number of activists might argue the case against genetic engi- neering in such emotive and ill-reasoned ways that both the public and the politicians are misled.

The biotechnology community needs to sit up and take notice of, and work with, the public. Most compa- nies, however, neglected certain essential marketing questions such as, who will be buying the new products and what do these people need to under- stand?

What biotechnology needs with the public is dialogue! In the developed world agricultural sciences are well developed producing an abundance of high-quality products. Worldwide there will be enough food for all, but will it always continue to be disproportionately distributed? Sadly, there is a growing gap between biotechnology in highly industrialised countries and the biotechnology-based needs of developing countries. The ability of developing nations to avail themselves of the many promises of new biotechnology will to a large extent depend on their capac- ity to integrate modern developments of biotechnology within their own research and innovation systems, in accordance with their own needs and priorities.

The United Nations Millenium Development Goal for has targeted poverty alleviation, improved education and health, together with environ- mental sustainability. The main areas of biotechnology that can contribute to these aims are listed in Table 1. In the following chapters some of the most important areas of biotechnology are considered with a view to achieving a broad overall understanding of the existing achievements and future aims of this new area of technology.

Biotechnology is just now entering this golden period. A spectacular future lies ahead. Chapter 2 Biomass: a biotechnology substrate? Many traditional agricultural products may well be further exploited with the increasing awareness of biotechnology.

Biomass agriculture, aquaculture and forestry may hold great economic potential for many national economies particularly in tropical and subtrop- ical regions Fig.

Indeed, the development of biotechnological processes in developing areas where plant growth excels could well bring about a change in the balance of economic power.

It should be noted that the non-renewable energy and petrochemical feedstocks on which modern society is so dependent oil, gas and coal were derived from ancient types of biomass. Modern industrialised nations have come to rely heavily on fossil reserves for both energy and as feedstocks for a wide range of production processes. In little over a century the industri- alised world has drawn heavily on fossil fuels that took millions of years to form beneath the beds of the oceans or in the depths of the earth.

Further- more, it is a very unequal pattern of usage. Table 2. The answer to these problems must be the use of photosyn- thetically derived biomass for energy and industrial feedstocks. Currently more than ten times more energy is generated annually by photosynthe- sis than is consumed by mankind.

At present, large-scale exploitation of biomass for fuel and chemical feedstocks is restricted by the cost of fossil alternatives, the heterogeneous nature of biomass sources and their diffuse distribution. The use of biomass directly as a source of energy has long been practised in the less industrialised nations such as Latin America, China, India and Africa.

In developed nations, biomass derived from agriculture and forestry has largely been directed to industrial and food uses Table 2.

At present biomass is used to derive many products of industrial and commercial importance Table 2. These are mainly carbohydrates of varying chemical complexity, and include sugar, starch, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The wide range of by- products obtained from raw materials that are of use in biotechnological processes is shown in Table 2. Sugar-bearing raw materials such as sugar beet, sugar cane and sugar millet are the most suitable and available to serve as feedstocks for biotech- nological processing.

Many tropical economies would collapse if the markets for sugar were to be removed. Already cane sugar serves as the substrate for the Brazilian gasohol programme, and many other nations are rapidly seeing the immense potential of these new technologies.

A slight disadvantage of starch is that it must usually be degraded to monosaccharides or oligosaccharides by digestion or hydrolysis before fermentation. However, many biotechnolog- ical processes using starch are being developed, including fuel production. There can be little doubt that cellulose, both from agriculture and forestry sources, must contribute a major source of feedstock for biotech- nological processes such as fuels and chemicals. However, cellulose is a very complex chemical and invariably occurs in nature in close association with lignin.

The ability of lignocellulose complexes to withstand the biodegrada- tive forces of nature is witnessed by the longevity of trees, which are mainly composed of lignocellulose. Lignocellulose is the most abundant and renewable natural resource available to man throughout the world.

At present, expensive energy-demanding pre-treatment processes are required to open up this complex structure to wide micro- bial degradation. Pure cellulose can be degraded by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis to soluble sugars, which can be fermented to form ethanol, butanol, acetone, single cell protein SCP , methane and many other prod- ucts.

It has been realistically calculated that approximately 3. On a worldwide basis land plants produce 24 tonnes of cellulose per person per year. Time will surely show that lignocellulose will be the most useful carbon source for biotechnological developments. Agricul- tural and forestry wastes come in many diverse types: cereal straws, corn husks and cobs, soy wastes, coconut shells, rice husks, coffee bean husks, wheat bran, sugar cane bagasse and forestry wastes including trimmings, sawdust, bark, etc.

Only a modest fraction of these wastes is utilised on a large scale due primarily to economic and logistical factors. A primary objective of biotechnology is to improve the management and utilisation of the vast volumes of agricultural, industrial and domestic waste organic materials to be found throughout the world.

The biotechno- logical utilisation of these wastes will eliminate a source of pollution, in particular water pollution, and convert some of these wastes into useful by-products. Not all processes will involve biosystems. Reverse osmosis is a method of concentrating liquid solutions in which a porous membrane allows water to pass through but not the salts dissolved in it.

Waste materials are frequently important for economic and environ- mental reasons. For example, many by-products of the food industry are of low economic value and are often discharged into waterways, creating serious environmental pollution problems. An attractive feature of carbo- hydrate waste as a raw material is that, if its low cost can be coupled with suitable low handling costs, an economic process may be obtained.

However, the composition or dilu- tion of the waste may be so dispersed that transport to a production centre may be prohibitive. On these occasions biotechnology may only serve to reduce a pollution hazard. Each waste material must be assessed for its suitability for biotechno- logical processing. Only when a waste is available in large quantities and preferably over a prolonged period of time can a suitable method of utili- sation be considered Table 2.

Upgrade the food-waste quality to make it suitable for human consumption. Feed the food waste directly or after processing to poultry, pigs, fish or other single-stomach animals that can utilise it directly. Feed the food waste to cattle, or other ruminants, if unsuitable for single-stomach animals because of high fibre content, toxins or other reasons.

Production of biogas methane and other fermentation products if unsuitable for feeding without expensive pre-treatments. Selective other purposes such as direct use as fuel, building materials, chemical extraction, etc. Initial separation of non-starch components may be required Lignocellulosic materials Corn cobs, oat hulls, straw, bagasse, wood Normally requires complex pre-treatment wastes, sulphite liquor, paper wastes involving reduction in particle size followed by various chemical or enzymic hydrolyses.

Energy intensive and costly acids and commercial yeasts for baking, and is directly used in animal feed- ing. Whey, obtained during the production of cheese, could also become a major fermentation feedstock.

More complex wastes such as straw and bagasse are widely available and will be increasingly used as improved processes for lignocellulose break- down become available Table 2. However, where intensive animal rearing is undertaken, serious pollution problems do arise. Future biotechnological processes will increasingly make use of organic materials that are renewable in nature or occur as low-value wastes that may presently cause environmental pollution. In the s there was a worldwide glut of chemical and petrochemical feedstocks and alternative uses were being actively pursued.

At this time also there was concern that there would be a worldwide shortage of protein. The energy companies producing these excess feedstocks were then drawn into the concept of using them as fermentation substrates to produce bacte- rial protein — single-cell protein or SCP. While massive fermentation programmes were initiated and operated in the developed nations e. Europe, USA and Russia full commercialisation was never achieved, due in part to the change in oil prices in the s and to the lack of appearance of a worldwide protein shortage.

However, escalating oil prices in the ls created profound reappraisals of these processes, and as the price of crude oil approached that of some major cereal products there was a reawakening of interest in many fermentation processes for the production of ethanol and related products.

However, the decrease in oil prices in l again widened the gap and left uncertainty in the minds of industrial planners. However, once again, oil prices have escalated and it is doubtful if they will ever again decrease. The most important criteria that will determine the selection of a raw material for a biotechnological process will include price, availability, com- position, form and oxidation state of the carbon source.

At present the most widely used and of commercial value are corn starch, molasses and raw sugar. There is little doubt that cereal crops, particularly maize, rice and wheat, will be the main short- and medium-term raw materials for biotech- nological processes. It is hoped that this can be achieved without seri- ously disturbing human and animal food supplies. Throughout the world there is an uneven distribution of cereal production capacity and demand. Although much attention has been given to the uses of wastes in biotechnology there are many major obstacles to be overcome.

For instance, availability of agricultural wastes is seasonal and geographical availabil- ity problematic; they are also often dilute and may contain toxic wastes. However, their build-up in the environment can present serious pollu- tion problems and therefore their utilisation in biotechnological processes, albeit at little economic gain, can have overall community value.

Biotechnology will have profound effects on agriculture and forestry by enabling production costs to be decreased, quality and consistency of products to be increased, and novel products generated.

Wood is extensively harvested to provide fuel, materials for construc- tion and to supply pulp for paper manufacture. There may also be an increased non-food use of many agriculturally derived substances such as sugars, starches, oils and fats. Supplies in excess of food needs could allow new industries to develop and reduce poverty. Devel- opment of disease-resistant cotton plants by new molecular methods could have major economical and environmental impact. How successful will biomass be as a crucial raw material for biotechnol- ogy?

Chapter 3 Genetics and biotechnology 3. There are two broad categories of genes — structural and regulatory. Struc- tural genes encode for amino acid sequences of proteins, which, as enzymes, determine the biochemical capabilities of the organism by catalysing par- ticular synthetic or catabolic reactions or, alternatively, play more static roles as components of cellular structures.

In contrast, the regulatory genes control the expression of the structural genes by determining the rate of production of their protein products in response to intra- or extracellular signals. The derivation of these principles has been achieved using well known genetic techniques, which will not be considered further here. The seminal studies of Watson and Crick and others in the early s led to the construction of the double-helix model depicting the molecular structure of DNA, and subsequent hypotheses on its implications for the understanding of gene replication.

Since then there has been a spectacu- lar unravelling of the complex interactions required to express the coded chemical information of the DNA molecule into cellular and organismal expression.

Changes in the DNA molecule making up the genetic comple- ment of an organism are the means by which organisms evolve and adapt themselves to new environments. The precise role of DNA is to act as a reser- voir of genetic information.

In nature, changes in the DNA of an organism can occur in two ways: 1 by mutation, which is a chemical deletion or addition of one or more of the chemical parts of the DNA molecule 2 by the interchange of genetic information or DNA between like organ- isms normally by sexual reproduction, and by horizontal transfer in bacteria. In eukaryotes, sexual reproduction is achieved by a process of conju- gation in which there is a donor, called male, and a recipient, called female.

Often these are determined physiologically and not morphologi- cally. Bacterial conjugation involves the transfer of DNA from a donor to a recipient cell. Transduction is the transfer of DNA mediated by a bacte- rial virus bacteriophage or phage and cells that have received transducing DNA are referred to as transductants. Genetic trans- fer by this way in bacteria is a natural characteristic of a wide variety of bacterial genera such a Campylobacter, Neisseria and Streptomyces.

Strains of bacteria not naturally transformable can be induced to take up isolated DNA by chemical treatment or by electroporation. Classical genetics was, until recently, the only way in which heredity could be studied and manipulated. However, in recent years, new tech- niques have permitted unprecedented alterations in the genetic make-up of organisms even allowing exchange in the laboratory of DNA between unlike organisms.

Organismal manipulation Genetic manipulation of whole organisms has been happening naturally by sexual reproduction since the beginning of time. The evolutionary progress of almost all living creatures has involved active interaction between their genomes and the environment. Active control of sexual reproduction has been practised in agriculture for decades — even centuries. In more recent times it has been used with several industrial microorganisms, e.

It involves selection, mutation, sexual crosses, hybridisation, etc. However, it is a very random process and can take a long time to achieve desired results — if at all in some cases.

Cellular manipulation Cellular manipulations of DNA have been used for over two decades, and involve either cell fusion or the culture of cells and the regeneration of whole plants from these cells. Successful biotechnological examples of these methods include monoclonal antibodies see later and the cloning of many important plant species.

This is the much publicised area of genetic engineering or recombinant DNA technol- ogy, which is now bringing dramatic changes to biotechnology. Current industrial ventures are concerned with the production of new types of organism, and of numerous compounds ranging from phar- maceuticals to commodity chemicals; these are discussed in more detail in later chapters. The success of strain selection and improvement programmes practised by all biologically based industries e. The task of improving yields of some primary metabolites and macromolecules e.

Advances have been achieved in this area by using screening and selection techniques to obtain better organisms. In a selection system all rare or novel strains grow while the rest do not; in a screening system all strains grow, but cer- tain strains or cultures are chosen because they show the desired qualities required by the industry in question. How- ever, such methods normally lead only to the loss of undesired character- istics or increased production due to loss of control functions.

It has rarely led to the appearance of a new function or property. Thus, an organism with a desired feature will be selected from the natural environment, prop- agated and subjected to a mutational programme, then screened to select the best progeny. In particular, this has been the case in antibiotic-producing microorganisms; this has meant that the only way to change the genome with a view to enhancing produc- tivity has been to indulge in massive mutational programmes followed by screening and selection to detect the new variants that might arise.

Once a high-producing strain has been found, great care is required in maintaining the strain. Strain or culture instability is a constant problem in industrial utilisation of microorganisms and mammalian cells. Industry has always placed great emphasis on strain viability and productivity potential of the preserved biological material. Most industrially important microorganisms can be stored for long periods, for example in liquid nitrogen, by lyophili- sation freeze-drying or under oil, and still retain their desired biological properties.

However, despite elaborate preservation and propagation methods, a strain has generally to be grown in a large production bioreactor in which the chances of genetic changes through spontaneous mutation and selec- tion are very high. The chance of a high rate of spontaneous mutation is probably greater when the industrial strains in use have resulted from many years of mutagen treatment.

Great secrecy surrounds the use of indus- trial microorganisms and immense care is taken to ensure that they do not unwittingly pass to outside agencies. There is now a growing movement away from the extreme empiricism that characterised the early days of the fermentation industries. Fundamen- tal studies of the genetics of microorganisms now provide a background of knowledge for the experimental solution of industrial problems, and increasingly contribute to progress in industrial strain selection.

In recent years, industrial genetics has come to depend increasingly on two new ways of manipulating DNA — protoplast and cell fusion, and recombinant DNA technology. These are now important additions to the technical repertoire of the geneticists involved with biotechnological indus- tries.

A brief examination of these techniques will attempt to show their increasingly indispensable relevance to modern biotechnology. Immediately within the cell wall is the living membrane, or plasma membrane, retaining all the cellular components such as nuclei, mitochon- dria, vesicles, etc. For some years now it has been possible, using special techniques in particular, hydrolytic enzymes , to remove the cell wall, releasing spherical membrane-bound structures known as protoplasts.

These protoplasts are extremely fragile but can be maintained in isolation for vari- able periods of time. In practice, it is the cell wall that largely hinders the sexual conjugation of unlike organisms.

Only with completely sexually compatible strains does the wall degenerate allowing protoplasmic interchange. Thus natural sexual-mating barriers in microorganisms may, in part, be due to cell wall limitations, and by removing this cell wall, the likelihood of cellular fusions may increase. Protoplasts from different strains can sometimes be persuaded to fuse and so overcome the natural sexual-mating barriers. However, the range of protoplast fusions is severely limited by the need for DNA compatibility between the strains concerned.

Fusion of proto- plasts can be enhanced by treatment with the chemical polyethylene glycol, which, under optimum conditions, can lead to extremely high frequencies of recombinant formation that can be increased still further by ultraviolet irradiation of the parental protoplast preparations. Protoplast fusion can also occur with human or animal cell types.

Protoplast fusion has obvious empirical applications in yield improve- ment of antibiotics by combining yield-enhancing mutations from different strains or even species. Protoplasts will also be an important part of genetic engineering, in facilitating recombinant DNA transfer.

Fusion may provide a method of re-assorting whole groups of genes between different strains of macro- and microorganisms. One of the most exciting and commercially rewarding areas of biotech- nology involves a form of mammalian cell fusion leading to the formation of monoclonal antibodies.

It has long been recognised that certain cells B-lymphocytes within the bodies of vertebrates have the ability to secrete antibodies that can inactivate contaminating or foreign molecules the antigen within the animal system. It has been calculated that a mammalian species can generate up to million different antibodies thereby ensuring that most invading foreign antigens will be bound by some antibody.

For the mammalian system they are the major defence against disease-causing organisms and other toxic molecules. It is now known that individual B-lymphocyte cells produce single antibody types. However, in George Kohler and Cesar Milstein successfully demonstrated the production of pure or monoclonal antibodies from the fusion product hybridoma of B-lymphocytes antibody- producing cells and myeloma tumour cells.

Stage 3: the Survive in special medium specific antibody-producing STAGE 2 hybridoma is selected and propagated in culture vessels in Cloned on agar and selected vitro or in animal in vivo and monoclonal antibodies harvested. Single hybrid cells can then be selected and grown as clones or pure cultures of the hybridomas. Monoclonal antibody formation is performed by injecting a mouse or rabbit with the antigen, later removing the spleen and then allowing fusion of individual spleen cells with individual myeloma cells.

Techniques are available to identify the right antibody-secreting hybridoma cell, cloning or propa- gating that cell into large populations with subsequent large formation of the desired antibody. These cells may be frozen and later re-used. By means of suit- able standards and controls the detection system can quantify the selected antigen in the system by selectively labelling the antibody with a marker that can be quantitatively determined.

Figure 3. Nor- mally a coloured product is produced, which can be monitored using a spectrophotometer. Monoclonal antibodies may also be used in the future as antibody therapy to carry cytotoxic drugs to the site of Fig. In the fermentation industry they are already widely used as procedure. The monoclonal antibody market antigen is then washed away.

In a second step, an enzyme-labelled is expected to continue to grow at a very high rate and in healthcare alone antibody specific to a second site the anticipated annual world market could be several billion US dollars on the antigen is added. Again the within the next few years. It is undoubtedly one of the most commercially excess labelled antibody, which successful and useful areas of modern biotechnology and will be expanded does not bind to the antigen, is on later in several chapters.

Finally, a substrate is added and the conversion of this by the enzyme is 3. Because DNA using a spectrophotometer. Genetic recombination, as occurs during normal sexual reproduction, consists of the breakage and rejoining of the DNA molecules of the chro- mosomes, and is of fundamental importance to living organisms for the re- assortment of genetic material.

Genetic manipulation has been performed for centuries by selective breeding of plants and animals superimposed on natural variation. The potential for genetic variation has, thus, been limited to close taxonomic relatives. In contrast, recombinant DNA techniques, popularly termed gene cloning or genetic engineering, offer potentially unlimited opportunities for creating new combinations of genes that at the moment do not exist under natural conditions.

Source: Harwood and Wipat, Genes may be viewed as the biological software and are the programs that drive the growth, development and functioning of an organism. By changing the software in a precise and controlled manner, it becomes possible to produce desired changes in the characteristics of the organism. These techniques allow the splicing of DNA molecules of quite diverse origin, and, when combined with techniques of genetic transformation etc.

The foreign DNA or gene construct is introduced into the genome of the recipient organism host in such a way that the total genome of the host is unchanged except for the manipulated gene s. Thus DNA can be isolated from cells of plants, animals or microorgan- isms the donors and can be fragmented into groups of one or more genes.

Such passenger DNA fragments can then be coupled to another piece of DNA the vector and then passed into the host or recipient cell, becom- ing part of the genetic complement of the new host Fig.

The host cell can then be propagated in mass to form novel genetic properties and chemical abilities that were unattainable by conventional ways of selective breeding or mutation. Genetic engineering will now enable the breeder to select the particular gene required for a desired characteristic and modify only that gene. Although much work to date has involved bacteria, the techniques are evolving at an astonishing rate and ways have been developed for intro- ducing DNA into other organisms such as yeasts and plant and animal cell cultures.

Provided that the genetic material transferred in this manner can replicate and be expressed in the new cell type, there are virtually no lim- its to the range of organisms with new properties that could be produced by genetic engineering.

Biotechnology is a field that encompasses both basic science and engineering. There are currently few, if any, biotechnology textbooks that adequately address both areas. Engineering books are equation-heavy and are written in a manner that is very difficult for the non-engineer to understand. Numerous other attempts to present biotechnology are written in a flowery manner with little substance. The author holds one of the first PhDs granted in both biosciences and bioengineering.

Having made the assertion that there is no acceptable text for teaching a course to introduce biotechnology to both scientists and engineers, the author committed himself to resolving the issue by writing his own. The book is of interest to a wide audience because it includes the necessary background for understanding how a technology works. Engineering principles are addressed, but in such a way that an instructor can skip the sections without hurting course content The author has been involved with many biotechnologies through his own direct research experiences.

The text is more than a compendium of information - it is an integrated work written by an author who has experienced first-hand the nuances associated with many of the major biotechnologies of general interest today. This accessible introduction to common laboratory techniques focuses on the basics, helping even readers with good math skills to practice the most frequently encountered types of problems.

Discusses very common laboratory problems, all applied to real situations. Explores multiple strategies for solving problems for a better understanding of the underlying math. The book provides state-of-the-art and integrative views of translational biotechnology by covering topics from basic concepts to novel methodologies. Topics discussed include biotechnology-based therapeutics, pathway and target discovery, biological therapeutic modalities, translational bioinformatics, and system and synthetic biology.

Additional sections cover drug discovery, precision medicine and the socioeconomic impact of translational biotechnology. This book is valuable for bioinformaticians, biotechnologists, and members of the biomedical field who are interested in learning more about this promising field. Explains biotechnology in a different light by using an application-oriented approach Discusses practical approaches in the development of precision medicine tools, systems and dynamical medicine approaches Promotes research in the field of biotechnology that is translational in nature, cost-effective and readily available to the community.

Biotechnology Author : David P. Carbohydrate Polymers 25 61 ' Elsevier Science Limited. Printed in Great Britain. Download PDF. Recommend Documents. Welcome to CRCPress. Please choose www. Your GarlandScience. The student resources previously accessed via GarlandScience. Resources to the following titles can be found at www. For Instructors Request Inspection Copy.

An Introduction to Biotechnology is a biotechnology textbook aimed at undergraduates. It covers the basics of cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and introduces laboratory techniques specific to the technologies addressed in the book; it addresses specific biotechnologies at both the theoretical and application levels.

Biotechnology is a field that encompasses both basic science and engineering.