Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology (BEB)

The Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology programs deal with problems involved in economic processing and manufacturing of products of economic importance by effectively utilizing renewable resources of biological origin and bioinformatics originating from genomic and proteomic information. The BEB programs support research projects involving single investigators as well as interdisciplinary projects involving multiple investigators consisting of closely collaborating engineers and biological scientists. The BEB programs emphasize basic engineering research that advances the fundamental engineering knowledge base that contributes to better understanding of biomolecular processes (in vivo, in vitro, and/or ex vivo) and eventually to the development of generic enabling technology and practical application. Quantitative assessments of bioprocesses and their rates at the levels of gene regulation and expression, signal transduction pathways, posttranslational protein processing, enzymes in reaction systems, metabolic pathways, cells and tissues in cultivation, biological systems including animal, plant, microbial and insect cells, etc. are considered vital to the successful research projects in the BEB program areas. Research projects supported through the BEB programs include, but are not limited to, fermentation technology, enzyme technology, recombinant DNA technology, cell culture technology, ex vivo and therapeutic stem cell culture technology, metabolic pathway engineering, biosensor development, bioreactor design and bioprocess optimization, bioseparation and purification processes, bioprocess optimization and integration, monitoring and control of bioprocesses, food processing with special focus on the safety of the nation's food supply, tissue engineering, information technology relevant to biotechnology including bioinformatics, nanobiotechnology and biomimetics, and quantitative systems biotechnology.