To provide students with a broad-based introduction to the field of industrial biotechnology. The course aims to provide fundamental insights to exploit enzymes and microbes for the manufacturing of products which have a huge industrial significance. It uniquely blends the science and engineering with various biochemical processes to obtain products of diverse fields such as chemicals, food, bioenergy etc. The course introduces bioreactors, its types, operation methods and provides an experimental demonstration of the same. Strategies to obtain higher yields, design of the reactors and production of biofuels from microbes are thoroughly explained. Students of various disciplines such as biotechnology, chemical engineering, food engineering, and pharmaceutical industries can be benefitted from the course as it discusses the existing bioprocess applications such as wine and cheese making, antibiotics and vaccines etc. The course majorly focusses on the applications and allows students to gain practical knowledge rather than mere theory. Major bottlenecks for the operation of biochemical industries will be discussed

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Design common microbial cultivation techniques such as batch-, fed-batch and chemostat cultures

2. Design strategies for development of microbial cell factories suitable for industrial applications

3. Choose suitable cultivation techniques and cell systems for various manufacturing and research purposes and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various possibilities

4. Design metabolically based control strategies for cultivation of different cell systems such as bacteria, yeast, filamentous fungi and higher eukaryotes.

5. Formulate and communicate a proposal for a biotechnological research or development project, including choice of model organism, cultivation techniques, and analytical techniques.

6. Show awareness of important industrial applications of microbiology

Text Book

Waites, et al., 2001. Industrial Microbiology: An Introduction. Blackwell Science Ltd

Watson et al. 2016. Industrial Biotechnology, Vol 1 & 2

Assesment Criteria

Sessional: 15

Midterm exam: 15

Practical: 25

Final exam: 45