Annual Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Congress September 17-18, 2018 San Diego, California, USA

Fermentation is the process involving the biochemical activity of organisms, during their growth, devel­opment, reproduction, even senescence and death. Fermentation technology is the use of organisms to produce food, pharmaceuticals and alcoholic beverages on a large scale industrial basis.

The basic principle involved in the industrial fermentation technology is that organisms are grown under suitable conditions, by providing raw materials meeting all the necessary requirements such as carbon, nitrogen, salts, trace elements and vitamins.

The end products formed as a result of their metab­olism during their life span are released into the media, which are extracted for use by human being and that have a high commercial value. The major products of fermentation technology produced econom­ically on a large scale industrial basis are wine, beer, cider, vinegar, ethanol, cheese, hormones, antibiotics, complete proteins, enzymes and other useful products.

A bio-based material is a material intentionally made from substances derived from living (or once-living) organisms. These materials are sometimes referred to as biomaterials, but this word also has another meaning. Strictly the definition could include many common materials such as wood and leather, but it typically refers to modern materials that have undergone more extensive processing. Unprocessed materials may be called biotic material. Bio-based materials or biomaterials fall under the broader category of bioproducts or bio-based products which includes materials, chemicals, and energy derived from renewable biological resources.

These are the polymers that are biodegradable. The raw materials used for the synthesis of bio polymers will be either renewable, i.e. based on plant or animal products. Bio polymers have several properties based on the material, e.g. barrier capacity. It is a renewable, greener and smart option to avoid usage of materials like polyethylene. In addition to this it plays a crucial role in managing the waste process.

Biosensors are used for the detection of biological analyte like enzyme, antibodies, cell receptors, organelles etc. The different types of biosensors with few modifications can be used to for the detection of glucose level in body, microbial invasion in body and food, heavy metals detection in soil, water and air-borne microbes, pesticides in water and soil and various harmful chemicals produced by body.

Genetic engineering is revolutionizing the biotech industry and is increasingly applied in previously unthought-of markets. Recently, a lot of commercial and near-commercial cases have been seen within industrial biotechnology, where genetic engineering principles and tools are applied in microbe-based products. Genetic engineering has significantly expanded the range of chemical products which can now be synthesized biologically.

Genome editing and the utilization of CRISPR primarily based technologies are expected to revolutionize the assembly of the next generation of bioproducts. DCB12 can focus on the most recent developments within the use of CRISPR/Cas9 and alternative CRISPR primarily based technologies in reference to the development and production of biopharmaceuticals, biochemicals, agricultural crops, and travel applications.

Protein Engineering is one of the key tools for industrial biotechnology. Using a wild-type enzyme which is discovered in nature is not acceptable for an industrial process. It has to be engineered and optimized in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability. Some enzymes may have a high demand for industrial use, but due to its chemical properties it may loose its importance. Therefore these enzymes are modified so that it can withstand harsh conditions. These properties will comprise to maximize the yield.

Biochemistry is the branch of science that explores the chemical processes within and related to living organisms. It is a laboratory based science that brings together biology and chemistry. By using chemical knowledge and techniques, biochemists can understand and solve biological problems. Biochemistry focuses on processes happening at a molecular level. It focuses on what’s happening inside our cells, studying components like proteins, lipids and organelles. It also looks at how cells communicate with each other, for example during growth or fighting illness. Biochemists need to understand how the structure of a molecule relates to its function, allowing them to predict how molecules will interact.

Enzymes are the substances which are used to speed up the reaction, and enzyme production is the one of the main sector of industrial biotechnology. Due to the advancements in biotechnology, these are extracted from specific microorganisms by the process of fermentation, provided with favorable conditions. Microbial enzymes have gained interest for their widespread application in industries and medicines.

Drug discovery is the process through which potential new medicines are recognized and comprises an extensive range of scientific disciplines, including biology, chemistry and pharmacology. The integration of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic parameters in non-clinical pharmacology studies is a key characteristic in drug discovery for efficacy and safety assessment, in the particular for the translation from the non-clinical to  clinical field and process of drug discovery include  the identification of candidates, synthesis, characterization, screening, and assays for therapeutic efficacy where as modern drug discovery involves the identification of screening hits, medicinal chemistry and optimization of those hits to increase the affinity, selectivity, efficacy/potency, metabolic stability, and oral bioavailability. The "final product" of drug discovery is a patent on the potential drug.

A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of an analyte, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element (e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc.) is a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts (binds or recognizes) with the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element (works in a physicochemical way; optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, etc.) transforms the signal resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element into another signal (i.e., transduces) that can be more easily measured and quantified.

Biorobotics is a term that loosely covers the fields of cybernetics, bionics and even genetic engineering as a collective study. Biorobotics is often used to refer to a real subfield of robotics: studying how to make robots that emulate or simulate living biological organisms mechanically or even chemically. The term is also used in a reverse definition: making biological organisms as manipulatable and functional as robots, or making biological organisms as components of robots. In the latter sense, biorobotics can be referred to as a theoretical discipline of comprehensive genetic engineering in which organisms are created and designed by artificial means. The creation of life from non-living matter for example, would be biorobotics. The field is in its infancy and is sometimes known as synthetic biology or bionanotechnology.

Biomarkers that are used in clinical trials include those that are used as study endpoints, as well as those that are merely exploratory biomarkers. Exploratory biomarkers are used with the goal of arriving at a suitable panel that can subsequently be tested and validated, for use as endpoint in future clinical trials.

Industrial biotechnology is a set of practices that use living cells (such as bacteria, yeast, algae) or component of cells like enzymes, to generate industrial products and processes. Industrial biotechnology can be used to: Create new products, such as plant-based biodegradable plastics; Replace petroleum-based feedstock’s by processing biomass in bio refineries to produce electricity, transport fuels or chemicals; Modify and develop new industrial processes, such as by using enzymes to reduce the amount of harsh chemicals used the textile or pulp and paper industries; Reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing; for example by treating industrial wastewater onsite using biological mediums such as microbes; Industrial biotechnology is one of the most promising new approaches to pollution prevention, resource conservation, and cost reduction. It is often referred to as the third wave in biotechnology. If developed to its full potential, industrial biotechnology may have a larger impact on the world than health care and agricultural biotechnology. It offers businesses a way to reduce costs and create new markets while protecting the environment. Also, since many of its products do not require the lengthy review times that drug products must undergo, it's a quicker, easier pathway to the market. Today, new industrial processes can be taken from lab study to commercial application in two to five years, compared to up to a decade for drugs.

The world of animal medicine has witnessed drastic technological advances in the last 20 years. Many of the new procedures and tools have been adopted from human medical practice. The advances have not only led to better treatments, but also faster and accurate diagnosis. From Ultrasounds and MRIs to the Amplatz Canine Ductal Occluder, there are many new technologies that furnish veterinarians with the ability to diagnose and ultimately save sick animals. MRI technology has been extremely instrumental in the advancement of human neuroscience. Vets are now using the imaging technology peek into the brains of pets and wild animals. On the other hand, ultrasounds have the advantage of not requiring anesthesia and comparatively cheap to perform. Laparoscopic procedures use a small camera and light source that can be incorporated into the abdominal or thoracic cavity for a peek inside the body. This is yet another example of adaptation of human medicine technology to the animal kingdom. With the development of new veterinary technology comes the necessity for those with specialized training. Veterinary technology promises a rewarding career for anyone who has a passion for animals

Marine biotechnology, sometimes referred to as “blue biotechnology”, exploits the diversity found in marine environments in terms of the form, structure, physiology and chemistry of marine organisms, many of which have no  equivalenton land, in ways which enable new materials to be realised. Marine Biotechnology that involve marine bioresources, either as the source or the target of biotechnology applications. In many cases this means that the living organisms which are used to develop products or services are derived from marine sources. At the same time, if terrestrial organisms are used to develop a biosensor which is used in the marine environment to assess the ecosystem health then it also falls within the sphere of Marine Biotechnology.

In this study the micro-organisms used to supply products such as bread, beer and wine. Then in the second phase of traditional microbial biotechnology it resulted in the development of acetone-butanol and glycerol fermentations which follows the processes yielding, for example like citric acid, vitamins and antibiotics. Earlier traditional industrial microbiology was merged with molecular biology to yield more than 40 biopharmaceutical products, such as erythropoietin, human growth hormone and Interferons. So now microbiology is a major part in the global industries.

Food technology as a broad spectrum includes many segregations and these are Food microbiology, Food safety, Food biotechnology, Dairy technology, Food chemistry, Engineering properties of foods etc. All this aims in making the food products safe, wholesome and nutritious. Now we have a wide range of products with lot of advancement and longer shelf life as Ready to Eat, Ready to serve, instant mixes, instant drink powders.

Now the growth of food and its related industries are skyscraping all over the world, making huge profits. All this is possible with the technological advancement and increasing demands among the consumers. 

Biotechnology is used in many ways in agriculture. Agricultural biotechnology deals with the tools to increase the yield of plant as well as animal products, while reducing the costs of production. Agricultural biotechnology can also include production of plants such as orchids for ornamental purposes and plants that can be used for fuel production (biofuels). Agricultural biotechnology is an area of science involving the use of different scientific tools and latest techniques, including genetic engineering, molecular markers, molecular diagnostics, vaccines, and tissue culture, to modify living organisms: plants, animals, and microorganisms and many more. Crop Biotechnology is one part of Agricultural Biotechnology which has been greatly developed upon in recent days.

Industrial biotechnology plays an essential role in the production of value added chemicals. When these chemicals are synthesized using renewable raw materials, these are “Green chemicals”. One of the value added chemical which is in the limelight is the by-product of biodiesel production, glycerol. The conversion of glycerol into high value added chemicals like glycerol carbonates, glycerol esters, etc. These basic chemicals act as building blocks for the synthesis of other chemicals.

Synthetic biotechnology involves the manipulation of biological compounds like integration of synthetic aminoacids into proteins, DNA synthesis and manipulation using synthetic sequences, oligonucleotide synthesis, protein modification using synthetic compounds etc. the compounds produced synthetically are orthogonally integrated into cells which are chosen to provide suitable experimental strategy.

Synthetic biology represents a convergence of advances in chemistry, biology, computer science, and engineering. systematic methods for increasing the speed, scale, and precision with which we engineer biological systems. In a sense, synthetic biology can be thought of as the development of a biology-based “toolkit” that enables improved products across many industries, including medicine, energy and the environment.The manipulations in the wild type system by the engineered systems are studied varying their efficiency.

Biotechnology is defined as the application of the life sciences to chemical synthesis. It discusses its increasingly important role in the directproduction of speciality chemicals via fermentation, such as citric acid, lactic acid, propane-1,3-diol and some amino acids.

Other uses of biotechnology are, for example the production of biofuels(bioethanol and biodiesel), the production of basic feedstocks such as synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) from biomass and the production of biodegradable polymers such as the poly(hydroxyalkanoates).

Environmental biotechnology is used to study the natural environment. Environmental biotechnology could also imply that one tries to harness biological process for commercial uses and exploitation. Molecular biotechnology is the use of laboratory techniques to study and modify nucleic acids and proteins for applications in areas such as human and animal health, agriculture, and the environment. Molecular biotechnology results from the convergence of many areas of research, such as molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, genetics, and cell biology.

Biomanufacturing is a type of manufacturing or biotechnology that utilizes biological systems to produce commercially important biomaterials and biomolecules for use in medicines, food and beverage processing, and industrial applications. Biomanufacturing products are recovered from natural sources, such as blood, or from cultures of microbes, animal cells, or plant cells grown in specialized equipment. The cells used during the production may have been naturally occurring or derived using genetic engineering techniques.

Biorefining is the efficient processing of biomass into a wide range of marketable products and energy. By means of co-producing relatively (high) value chemicals (e.g. fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers) the production costs of secondary energy carriers potentially could become market competitors, especially when biorefining is integrated into the existing chemical, material and power industries. Industrial biorefineries have been identified as the novel route to the creation of a new domestic biobased industry. By producing multiple products; a biorefinery can take advantage of the differences in biomass components and intermediates and maximize the value derived from the biomass feedstock.

Advanced biofuels are fuels that can be processed from numerous types of biomass. First generation biofuels are processed from the sugars and vegetable oils formed in arable crops, which can be smoothly extracted applying conventional technology. In comparison, advanced biofuels are made from lignocellulosic biomass or woody crops, agricultural residues or waste, which makes it tougher to extract the requisite fuel. Advanced biofuel technologies have been devised because first generation biofuels manufacture has major limitations. First generation biofuel processes are convenient but restrained in most cases:

 

NanoBiotechnology is science, building, and innovation directed at the nanoscale, which is around 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the review and utilization of amazingly little things and can be utilized in the various science fields, for example, chemical science, polymer science, physical science, materials science, and engineering. Today's researchers and engineers are finding a wide range of approaches to intentionally make materials at the nanoscale to exploit their upgraded properties, for example, higher quality, lighter weight, expanded control of light range, and more chemical reactivity than their bigger scale counterparts.

A bioprocess is a specific process that uses complete living cells or their components (e.g., bacteria, enzymes, chloroplasts) to obtain desired products.Transport of energy and mass is fundamental to many biological and environmental processes. Areas, from food processing to thermal design of building to biomedical devices to pollution control and global warming, require knowledge of how energy and mass can be transported through materials (mass, momentum, heat transfer).

Molecular biology is the branch of biological science that deals with a molecular basis of biological activity including the interactions between the different types of DNA, RNA and proteins and their biosynthesis, and studies how these interactions are regulated. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. It has many applications such as gene searching, molecular mechanisms of diseases and its therapeutic approaches by cloning, expression, and regulation of the gene. Research area includes gene expression, epigenetics and structure, and function of chromatin, RNA processing, functions of non-coding RNAs, transcription. Recently, most advanced researches are going on these topics: Molecular biology, structural mechanism of DNA replication, repair and recombination, Transcription, RNA processing, Post-translational modification, proteomics, Genetic Mutation, Site-directed mutagenesis, Epigenetics, Molecular mechanisms of diseases.