From Biochemical Engineering to Synthetic Biology: A Short History of Engineering Impacts on Biotechnology | AIChE

From Biochemical Engineering to Synthetic Biology: A Short History of Engineering Impacts on Biotechnology

Harvey Blanch’s webinar will focus on how biochemical engineering developed in response to the need for large-scale production of antibiotics in the 1940s and 50s, even though fermentation provided a route to many industrial organic chemicals prior to their production from petroleum. He will review the growth and impact of biochemical engineering over the past 70 years, with a focus on the role of genetic engineering and molecular biology in expanding industrial biotechnology. 

The Society for Biological Engineering presents the Bailey Award each year to an individual who has had an important impact on bioengineering and whose achievements have advanced the profession. Professor Jay Bailey, for whom the award is named, left an educational legacy that touched many modern biochemical and biological engineers in the profession today. The award has been endowed by Cytos Biotechnology and recipients include Terry Papoutsakis, Chaitan Khosla, Harvey Blanch, James Liao, James Swartz, George Georgiou, Robert Langer, Nicholas Peppas, Edwin Lightfoot, and Michael Shuler.

The Bailey Webinar Series hosts lectures from each of these award recipients. Dr. Harvey Blanch of UC Berkeley will discuss the role of genetic engineering and molecular biology in expanding industrial biotechnology. 


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  • Source:
    SBE - Society for Biological Engineering
  • Language:
    English
  • Skill Level:
    Intermediate
  • Duration:
    1 hour
  • PDHs:
    1.00