Concepts in Biotechnology: History, Science and Business - Softcover

Buchholz, Klaus; Collins, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 352731766X ISBN 13: 9783527317660

Publisher: Wiley-VCH, 2011

Synopsis

Adopting a unique approach, this novel textbook integrates science and business for an inside view on the biotech industry. Peering behind the scenes, it provides a thorough analysis of the foundations of the present day industry for students and professionals alike: its history, its tools and processes, its markets and products. The authors, themselves close witnesses of the emergence of modern biotechnology from its very beginnings in the 1980s, clearly separate facts from fiction, looking behind the exaggerated claims made by start-up companies trying to attract investors. Essential reading for every student and junior researcher looking for a career in the biotech sector.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The authors present a systematic, yet concise, overview of the field, science and application, of biotechnology and how it developed. This
includes some history, with roots going back several thousand years, highlighting great achievements in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
It illustrates how progress actually occurs, driven by ideas and human activity with individuals playing decisive roles. The traditional fields of biochemical engineering and industrial biotechnology, as well the most recent progress in biosystems engineering, modern pharmaceutical and plant biotechnology are covered.

The recent dramatic explosion in knowledge from genetics and cell biology have revolutionized biotechnology causing fundemental changes in related medical fields: e.g., from intervention to preventive and regenerative medicine. How this occurred, the prime movers, the principle developments, the concepts, science and applications are described. As the application of biotechnology impacts on society relevant questions in the area of economics, ethics and patenting are adressed in dedicated chapters.

The involvement of the authors each with some 40 years as scientists and contemporary witnesses of these events gives the text an historical
authenticity which the reader may find make the more recent events come to life.

The book should be an introductory guide for students as well as scientists and engineers engaged in, or intending to work in biotechnology.

About the Author

Born in 1941, Klaus Buchholz studied chemistry at the universities of Saarbrücken und Heidelberg (Germany), graduating in 1967. In 1969 he received his PhD from the Technical University of Munich, after which he worked as a researcher with a group on biocatalysis at Dechema e.V. in Frankfurt/Main. In 1981 he received his Habilitation at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he then became department head at the Institute for Agricultural Technology and Sugar Industry. In 1991 he became Professor at the Institute for Chemical Engineering. His main research areas include biocatalysts, enzymatic synthesis of carbohydrates, and environmental biotechnology. He is also the author of a
well-known textbook on biocatalysts and an advisory board member of several journals.

Born in 1945, John Collins studied Microbiology (B.Sc.) at University College, London University, and a doctorate (Ph.D.; 1971) at the University of Leicester, UK. Postdoctoral work was carried out at UCSD, La Jolla 1971-4 with Don Helinski at the time DNA cloning was developed in collaboration with the Cohen and Boyer labs.
He brought this technology to the University of Copenhagen, developing gene cloning methods to isolate and study bacterial and eukaryotic genes and how they are regulated. In 1975 he joined the German National Center for Biotechnological Research (GBF; now HZI) in Braunschweig initiating some of the first experiments to apply gene technology to biotechnological projects (Penicillin acylase, interferon ß; Cytomegalovirus; mutein design of protease inhibitors). In 1987 he accepted a joint appointment as section Head for Cell Biology and Genetics at the GBF and as Professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig. He has worked as international adviser to a number of governments and institutes and lectures on biotechnology, intellectual property, genetics and evolution. He is an elected EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) member and was a founding member of the Human Genome Organistion (HUGO). In 1997 he founded a Biotech Company which was acquired by a Californian Company in 2002. His current work is directed at the development of Inhibitors
of Hepatitis C virus using combinatorial biology as well as trying to explain the impact of scientific developments to the informed public.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 352731766X
• ISBN 13: 9783527317660
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 498