Welcome
Division of Biotechnology is a research unit at
IFM. Focus is on monitoring, optimisation and control of biological
systems. Course curricula cover industrial biotechnology, bioprocess
engineering and modelling of biosystems.
Summary
The research and education at the division of biotechnology focus on industrial applications of biotechnology. In essence, industrial biotechnology means the integration of engineering with biosciences for production purposes. The scientific breakthroughs of the seventies and eighties in molecular genetics resulted in the industrial production of recombinant proteins in micro-organisms and animal cell cultures are now furthered by new developments. A number of bioengineering tools are currently exploited within genetic-, protein-, metabolic-, physiological- and organ engineering in order to produce foreign proteins, modified proteins, metabolites, host cells with new properties and artificial organs. It is a prime task for the current biotechnology research to integrate and develop these tools in order to achieve and optimize new and better industrial applications.
The biotechnology division at IFM is contributing to this by inventing and developing novel analytical means that could provide better insight into the biology of industrial production systems in relation to the engineering problems. The cross-disciplinary environment of Linköping University furnishes unique opportunities for this. The combination of sensor technology, mathematical computation methods and production design, allow new approaches to the understanding and optimization of the bio-industrial production systems. The integration of these topics in the curricula of the Engineering Biology program forms an important link between education and research at the division. Our PhD-study program in biotechnology is directly connected to the research of the division and is a part of the research highlights described below
