Faculty Involved: Androulakis, Buettner, Constantinides, Ierapetritou, Moghe, Pedersen, Roth, Wang

Research involves developing fundamental physicochemical understanding of biological processes and translating the understanding into efficient design of therapeutically and industrial important products and processes. This is accomplished by interweaving the fields of molecular cellular biology with principles of physical chemistry and process engineering. Projects carried out in the recent past and of current interest include: genetic optimization of industrial microbes; large scale cell culture; dynamics of protein production in microorganisms; optimization and control of fermentation; bioreactor design; plant biotechnology; biochemical and biomedical sensor design; analysis and design of biopolymers and biocatalysts; applied immunology; cell and tissue engineering; and bioseparation.