Biochemical Engineering

The Biochemical Engineering (BCE) Program deals with research and education associated with 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 BCE program supports primarily Individual Investigator Awards (IIA) and emphasizes 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 technologies and practical applications.

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 research projects in the BCE program.

Projects supported through the BCE program 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.