Biochemical engineering, also known as bioprocess engineering, is a field of study with roots stemming from chemical engineering and biological engineering. It mainly deals with the design, construction, and advancement of unit processes that involve biological organisms (such as fermentation) or organic molecules (often enzymes) and has various applications in areas of interest such as biofuels, food, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and water treatment processes. [1] [2] The role of a biochemical engineer is to take findings developed by biologists and chemists in a laboratory and translate that to a large-scale manufacturing process.
For hundreds of years, humans have made use of the chemical reactions of biological organisms in order to create goods. In the mid-1800s, Louis Pasteur was one of the first people to look into the role of these organisms when he researched fermentation. His work also contributed to the use of pasteurization, which is still used to this day. By the early 1900s, the use of microorganisms had expanded, and was used to make industrial products. Up to this point, biochemical engineering hadn't developed as a field yet. It wasn't until 1928 when Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin that the field of biochemical engineering was established. After this discovery, samples were gathered from around the world in order to continue research into the characteristics of microbes from places such as soils, gardens, forests, rivers, and streams. Today, biochemical engineers can be found working in a variety of industries, from food to pharmaceuticals. This is due to the increasing need for efficiency and production which requires knowledge of how biological systems and chemical reactions interact with each other and how they can be used to meet these needs.
Biotechnology and biochemical engineering are closely related to each other as biochemical engineering can be considered a sub-branch of biotechnology. One of the primary focuses of biotechnology is in the medical field, where biochemical engineers work to design pharmaceuticals, artificial organs, biomedical devices, chemical sensors, and drug delivery systems. [3] Biochemical engineers use their knowledge of chemical processes in biological systems in order to create tangible products that improve people's health. Specific areas of studies include metabolic, enzyme, and tissue engineering. The study of cell cultures is widely used in biochemical engineering and biotechnology due to its many applications in developing natural fuels, improving the efficiency in producing drugs and pharmaceutical processes, and also creating cures for disease. [4] Other medical applications of biochemical engineering within biotechnology are genetics testing and pharmacogenomics.
Biochemical engineers primarily focus on designing systems that will improve the production, processing, packaging, storage, and distribution of food. [1] Some commonly processed foods include wheat, fruits, and milk which undergo processes such as milling, dehydration, and pasteurization in order to become products that can be sold. There are three levels of food processing: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary food processing involves turning agricultural products into other products that can be turned into food, secondary food processing is the making of food from readily available ingredients, and tertiary food processing is commercial production of ready-to eat or heat-and-serve foods. Drying, pickling, salting, and fermenting foods were some of the oldest food processing techniques used to preserve food by preventing yeasts, molds, and bacteria to cause spoiling. [5] Methods for preserving food have evolved to meet current standards of food safety but still use the same processes as the past. Biochemical engineers also work to improve the nutritional value of food products, such as in golden rice, which was developed to prevent vitamin A deficiency in certain areas where this was an issue. Efforts to advance preserving technologies can also ensure lasting retention of nutrients as foods are stored. Packaging plays a key role in preserving as well as ensuring the safety of the food by protecting the product from contamination, physical damage, and tampering. [5] Packaging can also make it easier to transport and serve food. A common job for biochemical engineers working in the food industry is to design ways to perform all these processes on a large scale in order to meet the demands of the population. Responsibilities for this career path include designing and performing experiments, optimizing processes, consulting with groups to develop new technologies, and preparing project plans for equipment and facilities. [5]
Biochemical engineering is not a major offered by many universities and is instead an area of interest under the chemical engineering. The following universities are known to offer degrees in biochemical engineering:
Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services.
Paper engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the usage of physical science and life sciences in conjunction with mathematics as applied to the converting of raw materials into useful paper products and co-products. The field applies various principles in process engineering and unit operations to the manufacture of paper, chemicals, energy and related materials. The following timeline shows some of the key steps in the development of the science of chemical and bioprocess engineering:
A bioreactor is any manufactured device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. This process can either be aerobic or anaerobic. These bioreactors are commonly cylindrical, ranging in size from litres to cubic metres, and are often made of stainless steel. It may also refer to a device or system designed to grow cells or tissues in the context of cell culture. These devices are being developed for use in tissue engineering or biochemical/bioprocess engineering.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers.
This page provides an alphabetical list of articles and other pages about biotechnology.
Jay D. Keasling is a professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also associate laboratory director for biosciences at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and chief executive officer of the Joint BioEnergy Institute. He is considered one of the foremost authorities in synthetic biology, especially in the field of metabolic engineering.
Marco Antonio Rito Palomares is a Mexican biochemist and chemical engineer. He graduated in 1987 with a BSc in Food-Biochemical Engineering at Instituto Tecnológico de La Paz, B.C.S. In 1989, he also earned an MSc in Chemical Engineering at Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to biotechnology:
Jonathan S. Dordick is an institute professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and holds joint appointments in the departments of biomedical engineering and biological sciences. In 2008 he became director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. In 2012 Dordick became the vice president for research at RPI. He became Special Advisor to the RPI President for Strategic Initiatives in 2018,
Biological systems engineering or biosystems engineering is a broad-based engineering discipline with particular emphasis on non-medical biology. It can be thought of as a subset of the broader notion of biological engineering or bio-technology though not in the respects that pertain to biomedical engineering as biosystems engineering tends to focus less on medical applications than on agriculture, ecosystems, and food science. The discipline focuses broadly on environmentally sound and sustainable engineering solutions to meet societies' ecologically related needs. Biosystems engineering integrates the expertise of fundamental engineering fields with expertise from non-engineering disciplines.
Daniel I-Chyau Wang was a Chinese-American chemical engineer. He was an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was known for founding the MIT Biotechnology Process Engineering Center and the expansion of the field of biochemical engineering.
Biomolecular engineering is the application of engineering principles and practices to the purposeful manipulation of molecules of biological origin. Biomolecular engineers integrate knowledge of biological processes with the core knowledge of chemical engineering in order to focus on molecular level solutions to issues and problems in the life sciences related to the environment, agriculture, energy, industry, food production, biotechnology and medicine.
Bioproducts or bio-based products are materials, chemicals and energy derived from renewable biological material.
Elmer L. Gaden Jr. has been described as "the father of biochemical engineering". A graduate of Columbia University, he wrote a dissertation that quantified the amount of oxygen necessary to fuel the fermentation process used to produce penicillin. Gaden established Columbia's program in biochemical engineering. He remained at Columbia for 26 years as a teacher, researcher, and department chair, before becoming dean of the college of engineering, mathematics, and business administration at the University of Vermont in 1974. In 1979, he joined the engineering faculty at the University of Virginia as the Wills Johnson Professor of Chemical Engineering. In 1994 he retired from Virginia, becoming Wills Johnson Professor Emeritus. He died in 2012.
Samir Mitragotri is an Indian American professor at Harvard University, an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a researcher in the fields of drug delivery and biomaterials. He is currently the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Prior to 2017, he was the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Bioproducts engineering or bioprocess engineering refers to engineering of bio-products from renewable bioresources. This pertains to the design and development of processes and technologies for the sustainable manufacture of bioproducts from renewable biological resources.
Wei-Shou Hu is a Taiwanese-American chemical engineer. He earned his B.S. in agricultural chemistry from National Taiwan University in 1974 and his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Daniel I.C. Wang in 1983. He has been a professor with the University of Minnesota since 1983. Dr. Hu has long impacted the field of cell culture bioprocessing since its infancy by steadfastly introducing quantitative and systematic analysis into this field. His work, which covers areas such as modeling and controlling cell metabolism, modulating glycosylation, and process data mining, has helped shape the advances of biopharmaceutical process technology. He recently led an industrial consortium to embark on genomic research on Chinese hamster ovary cells, the main workhorse of biomanufacturing, and to promote post-genomic research in cell bioprocessing. His research focuses on the field of cell culture bioprocessing, particularly metabolic control of the physiological state of the cell. In addition to his work with Chinese hamster ovary cells, his work has enabled the use of process engineering for cell therapy, especially with liver cells. Dr.Hu has written four different biotechnology books. Also, one of his articles is cited by 63.
Greg N. Stephanopoulos is an American chemical engineer and the Willard Henry Dow Professor in the department of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked at MIT, Caltech, and the University of Minnesota in the areas of biotechnology, bioinformatics, and metabolic engineering especially in the areas of bioprocessing for biochemical and biofuel production. Stephanopoulos is the author of over 400 scientific publications with more than 35,000 citations as of April 2018. In addition, Greg has supervised more than 70 graduate students and 50 post-docs whose research has led to more than 50 patents. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2003), and received the ENI Prize on Renewable Energy 2011.
Christopher P. Marquis is a bioprocess engineer and academic at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. His research covers the development of biotechnology products through the lens of a bioprocess engineer, focusing on Recombinant protein production and other bioproducts, including nucleic acids and bacteriophage. He is the academic director of the UNSW Recombinant Products Facility (RPF). He is the co-author of over 75 refereed journal articles. He also actively engages with industry.