Bio-Engineering

Abstract

Introduction to fundamentals of biochemistry, metabolism (principles of energy and mass transfer, biocatalysis and enyzmes, respiration), protein synthesis, regulation), cell biology (structure and functions of cells, tranport processes throug cell membranes, growth and replication of cells), molecular genetics, and tools of bio-engineering.

Objective

Modern biology is increasingly used in industrial production processes. The goal of this class is to provide an understanding of the biological processes to the engineering student. By introducing the student into the fundamentals of the modern applied biology, we aim at enabling interdisciplinary communication with biologists/biotechnologists with respect to vocabulary and way of thinking. Through detailing the structure and functions of the cell, the fundamental unit of life, we want to illustrate how engineers and their specific expertise are required for modern biology. The class is supposed to provide the the fundamentals for a master course in a biologically oriented engineering discipline, such as biochemcial engineering, biomedical engineering, bio-engineering, etc.

Content

Biological cells are the fundamental units of life, which makes them the starting point for considering biology for technical applications. In this class, we will study cellular structures and functions in microorganisms and higher cellular systems at molecular level. Topics include: Fundamentals of biochemistry, cellular metabolism (principles of energy and mass transfer, biocatalysis and enzymes, respiration, metabolic regulation), protein synthesis, cell biology (cellular structures, transport processes, growth, proliferation of cells), introiduction into molecular genetics and bio-engineering

Resources