Biochemical Engineering Science-Sustainable Processes and Economies.

Abstract

This Special Issue highlights the scientific advances in the biochemical engineering area by selecting a pool of topics and research articles presented at the 11th symposium of the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences, the ESBES 2018, organized in Lisbon, Portugal, from September 9 to 12, 2018 under the umbrella of the ESBES. Three hundred and thirty delegates attended the conference, with a broad split of academics (40%), industrialists (15%), and students (46%). A total of 380 papers were accepted for presentation as 157 lectures and 223 posters. The selected articles give the readers of the Biotechnology Journal an overview of modern biochemical engineering challenges and future trends and the main contributions to sustainable processes and economies. The potential that artificial intelligence techniques, heavily based on machine learning approaches, have created on the possibility to analyze large volumes of data in many domains in ways that were inaccessible until now is highlighted in the perspective article “Biotechnology, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence” (see article 1800613). Modern bioengineering depends heavily, if not totally, on data-based approaches that are able to uncover the knowledge hidden in the large amounts of data generated by genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other “omics.” Thus a combination of Big Data with Bioengineering can be a perfect marriage, allowing the application of artificial intelligence to extract knowledge from biological data and to direct bioengineering research. Bioconomy for Sustainable Development (see articles 1800638 and 1800598) is a new paradigm of managing the biological resources of the planet that is at the same time sustainable, economically viable, and generating new jobs. The global challenges faced by humanity, such as population growth, food safety and quality, climate change, and possible ways of adapting to it or mitigating its effects, the degradation of the environment or the reduction of energy dependence on fossil resources, among others, require a decisive, coordinated, and effective response, and are reviewed here. The challenges of a transition toward the postpetroleum world shed light on biocatalysis as the most sustainable way for the valorization of bio-based raw materials. The review article “The Promises and the Challenges of Biotransformations in Microflow” (see article 1800580) highlights the implementation of microfluidic devices in various stages of a biocatalytic process, accelerating biocatalyst screening and engineering, as well as process design, integration, and intensification. Biocatalysis using enzymes and whole-cell biocatalysts (see articles 1800615, 1800571, and 1800724), cell culture process developments (see article 1800624), including stem cells for tissue engineering applications and cell-based therapies (see articles 1800725, 1800716, and 1800563), and the establishment of scalable and cost-effective culture platforms for its manufacture, as well as plasmid production using lactic acid bacteria, a safer and economically viable alternative as DNA vaccines producers, are also highlighted (see article 1800587). A simple system for the visual detection of nucleic acids was set up by combining cellulose microparticles with biomoleculars, and with this methodology, diverse analytical applications can be envisaged based on “reader-free” testing (see article 1800590). Downstream processing of biopharmaceuticals, including a cross-interaction chromatography-based QSAR model for antibodies screening (see article 1800696), and better design, flow microcalorimetry for a better understanding of the thermodynamics of antibody adsorption in the protein A column (see article 1800632), a membrane-based approach to purify influenza virus-like particles (see article 1800570), and a continuous virus inactivation moving biopharma industry toward continuous manufacture (see article 1800646), are some of the examples explored here. High-throughput screening tools to perform a rapid empirical optimization of operating conditions in microfluidic aqueous two-phase extraction devices are also investigated (see article 1800640).