Bioprocess engineering

Abstract

As we approach the 21st Century, biotechnology has emerged as one of the most innovative, vigorous and promising scientific disciplines in both academic and industrial settings. This vitality has been the result of the exciting new applications of what is considered to be `modern biotechnology', together with the consolidation of `traditional biotechnology'. It is in this area that bioprocess engineering has played a key role, helping to bring the exciting new discoveries of molecular and cellular biology into the applied sphere, and maintaining the established processes, some centuries old, that are both efficient and essential for today's industry. It was with all this in mind that a recent conference was organized 1The 2nd International Symposium on Bioprocess Engineering and the 7th Mexican Congress on Biotechnology and Bioengineering were organized by the Institute of Biotechnology of the National University of México and the Mexican Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, and held at Mazatlán, México, 8–12 September 1997. 1 The 2nd International Symposium on Bioprocess Engineering and the 7th Mexican Congress on Biotechnology and Bioengineering were organized by the Institute of Biotechnology of the National University of México and the Mexican Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, and held at Mazatlán, México, 8–12 September 1997. .