What is Industrial Biotechnology?

Industrial biotechnology is the application of biotechnology to industrial processes, products, and services. It includes the use of living organisms and their metabolic machinery; it also includes non-living technologies that are based on biological systems or make use of them as catalysts (e.g., enzymes).

Industrial biotechnology has been defined as: "the application of new or emerging technologies to improve production processes in order to create value-added products with higher quality, lower costs and less environmental impact than conventional methods."

What Areas of Research are Being Explored?

Metabolic engineering: This area of research focuses on the metabolic pathways of organisms, and how they can be manipulated to produce desired products.

Protein engineering: This area of research involves the design and synthesis of proteins that have specific functions, such as antibodies or enzymes.