The biotechnology industry has a need for business-savvy scientists; however, this is not the way scientists are traditionally trained at universities and colleges. To address this need, universities have developed Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree programs that offer advanced training in a technical field along with professional skills development through team-based projects and internships. Nearly ten years ago, the Department of Microbiology at NCSU started a PSM program in Microbial Biotechnology (MMB). This article provides an overview of the MMB program, and shares some of the lessons that we have learned.

Silaffins are involved in the formation of the cell walls of diatoms. It is known that silaffins can precipitate silica in vitro, forming nano- and micro-particles in the shape of spheres and plates containing many pores. It is important to note that the deposition of silica and the particle morphology in the presence of silaffins affects chemical and physical agents (e.g., peptides, polyamines, phosphate, nitrogen, and the mechanical changes of the reaction mixture). It is believed that silaffins act as an organic matrix for silica-genesis and that silica pore size should reflect the pattern of a matrix. Here, biotechnology related to silaffins is discussed in the context of “a hypothesis of silaffin matrix” and “the LCPA-phosphate model”. We discuss the most promising area of silaffin biotechnology—the development of production methods for silicon structures with desired shapes and nanostructural properties that can be used to create biocompatible materials.

Almost any process in life is accompanied by heat changes which can be monitored by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Both techniques are now established tools in fundamental research but over the last decade a clear tendency towards more problem‐driven applications is noted. This review aims at summarizing these problem‐oriented applications of microcalorimetry and the solutions both techniques can provide to problems in biotechnology. The biotechnological issues to which microcalorimetry has been successfully applied are as diverse as rational drug design, overcoming drug resistance, optimization of long‐term stability of proteins, estimation of the bioavailability of drugs, control of complex pharmaceutical products or the optimization of gene delivery efficiency. The main limitation of microcalorimetry, which is the relatively large amounts of sample necessary for analysis, is less important in the biotechnology sector which frequently uses large‐scale produced bulk products for analysis. The recently developed high‐throughput DSC and ITC microcalorimeters will additionally reduce the labour intensity of these techniques. Due to the precision of microcalorimetric analyses and the versatility of processes which can be studied...

We have developed a cooperative-learning, case studies project model that has teams of students working with biotechnology professionals on company-specific problems. These semester-long, team-based projects can be used effectively to provide students with valuable skills in an industry environment and experience addressing real issues faced by biotechnology companies. Using peer-evaluations, we have seen improvement in students’ professional skills such as time-management, quality of work, and level of contribution over multiple semesters. This model of team-based, industry-sponsored projects could be implemented in other college and university courses/programs to promote professional skills and expose students to an industry setting.

Enriched cultures of microorganisms are an essential step in the production of inoculum of these organisms for biotechnology and bioengineering. The potential application of methanotrophic microorganisms for removal of methane produced from landfills and coal mines as well as biodegradation of toxic compounds has been widely studied. Therefore, searching for new sources of methanotrophs can contribute to increasing the possibilities of biotechnology and bioengineering.

Contextual data collected concurrently with molecular samples are critical to the use of metagenomics in the fields of marine biodiversity, bioinformatics and biotechnology. We present here Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (M2B3) standards for “Reporting” and “Serving” data. The M2B3 Reporting Standard (1) describes minimal mandatory and recommended contextual information for a marine microbial sample obtained in the epipelagic zone, (2) includes meaningful information for researchers in the oceanographic, biodiversity and molecular disciplines, and (3) can easily be adopted by any marine laboratory with minimum sampling resources. The M2B3 Service Standard defines a software interface through which these data can be discovered and explored in data repositories. The M2B3 Standards were developed by the European project Micro B3, funded under 7th Framework Programme “Ocean of Tomorrow”, and were first used with the Ocean Sampling Day initiative. We believe that these standards have value in broader marine science.

A wide gap exists between the rapid acceptance of genetically modified (GM) crops for cultivation by farmers in many countries and in the global markets for food and feed, and the often-limited acceptance by consumers. This review contrasts the advances of practical applications of agricultural biotechnology with the divergent paths—also affecting the development of virus resistant transgenic crops—of political and regulatory frameworks for GM crops and food in different parts of the world. These have also shaped the different opinions of consumers. Important factors influencing consumer’s attitudes are the perception of risks and benefits, knowledge and trust, and personal values. Recent political and societal developments show a hardening of the negative environment for agricultural biotechnology in Europe, a growing discussion—including calls for labeling of GM food—in the USA, and a careful development in China towards a possible authorization of GM rice that takes the societal discussions into account. New breeding techniques address some consumers’ concerns with transgenic crops, but it is not clear yet how consumers’ attitudes towards them will develop. Discussions about agriculture would be more productive, if they would focus less on technologies...

Science and innovation have always been the key forces behind agricultural growth in particular and economic transformation in general. More specifically, the ability to add value to agricultural production via the application of scientific knowledge to entrepreneurial activities stands out as one of the most important lessons of economic history. The Green Revolution played a critical role in helping to overcome chronic food shortages in Latin America and Asia. The Green Revolution was a result of both the creation of new institutional arrangements aimed at using existing technology to improve agricultural productivity, as well as new scientific breakthroughs leading to superior agricultural inputs, particularly improved strains of wheat and rice. In the wake of the recent global economic crisis and continually high food prices, the international community is reviewing its outlook on human welfare and prosperity. Much of the current concern on how to foster development and prosperity in developing countries reflects the consequences of recent neglect of sustainable agriculture and infrastructure as drivers of development. But all is not lost. Instead, those developing countries that have not yet fully embraced agricultural technology now have the chance to benefit from preexisting scientific advances in agriculture...

The debate over whether to label milk and other dairy products as coming from cows injected with the milk production hormone bovine somatotropin (BST or rBGH--recombinant bovine growth hormone) pits consumers, like Darlene Lynwood, who see milk as that wholesome and pure liquid you give your children against biotechnology entrepreneurs who want to move the United States into the Twenty-first Century. As one of the first agricultural biotechnology products to come to market, BST milk is seen as a test case for bioengineered foods. The outcome of the labeling debate and the degree of public acceptance of the product will send a message to the developers of a range of other genetically engineered foods (including vegetables, pork, and poultry) waiting in the wings.

With the sequencing of the human genome, biomedical science has entered what is likely to be an era of remarkable progress. This progress will bring tremendous improvements to human life, but it also raises difficult ethical questions. Many of these questions are ones on which reasonable people can, and do, differ. The public outcry over recent events, from the cloning of Dolly the sheep to the debate over embryonic stem cell research, demonstrates how divisive bioethical issues can be. As biotechnology continues to advance at a rapid pace, the need to address bioethical issues in a proactive, thoughtful way is more urgent than ever before. This paper proposes a permanent government institution, called the Agency for the Genetic Technologies Community (AGTC), which would be dedicated to this purpose. It is designed to facilitate the formulation and implementation of consensus-based bioethics policies. Although regulating biotechnology will be very challenging, establishing a process for the development of bioethics policy is a critical first step toward doing so successfully.

About 40% of the earth is occupied by tropical and subtropical forests, including 42% of dry forests, where there is Caatinga Bioma, contemplating tree forests and shrubs, with xerophytic characteristics. Study and conservations of Caatinga biologic diversity is one of the greatest challenges of Brazilian science because those are, proportionally, the less studied among natural areas, with most of the scientific effort centered in very few points around the main cities in the area and also because it is the less protected natural Brazilian area. The environmental degradation is constantly increasing and has its rhythm accelerated by the men appropriation to meet or not their own needs. Therefore, species conservation should be based in three principles: the use of natural resources by present generation, waste prevention and use of the natural resources to benefit the majority of the citizens. Among the strategies to species conservation, we can mention the ex situ conservation , in which the conservation of genetic resources may be realized outside of the natural environment in which the species occur, and in situ conservation , or, in other words, in the places where the species occur. In ex situ conservation, the germplasm collections are maintained in the field and/or in laboratories (conservation chambers)...

A construção da cidadania tem sido uma preocupação vigente nos documentos oficiais que se referem ao Ensino de Ciências. Este tipo de formação, enfatizada pela abordagem Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CT&S), envolve um conhecimento tanto das benesses quanto das implicações sociais e ambientais que os avanços científicos e tecnológicos acabam por produzir na vida das pessoas. Neste trabalho optou-se pela temática Biotecnologia na tentativa de se analisar o processo de reelaboração discursiva com a inserção de textos informativos científicos nos livros didáticos de Ciências. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo documental de três livros, melhores indicados pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD) de 2011 dentre os melhores livros de Ciências, objetivando-se o estudo de suas características em termos composicionais, de estilo e conteúdo temático, bem como as reelaborações discursivas por que passam estes aspectos ao serem inseridos nos livros didáticos. Especialmente no tocante ao conteúdo temático, foi identificada a presença e/ou ausência de uma abordagem Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CT&S) que corroborasse para a construção da cidadania. O estudo revelou que os textos informativos científicos originais buscam...

Les considérations éthiques concernant le développement de technologies font maintenant partie du champ de la bioéthique, concentrées en grande partie sur les interactions entre la science et le gouvernement pour établir le bien social. Depuis l’avènement des différentes formes de biotechnologies, l’analyse scientifique des risques a fait l’objet de diverses lignes de questionnement par rapport au rôle que la science quantitative joue dans la surveillance gouvernementale. Cela est d’autant plus important dans le débat actuel sur l’acceptabilité des nanotechnologies. Dans cet article, nous précisons d’abord les points forts et les limites de l’analyse scientifique de l’acceptabilité sociale des risques de la nanotechnologie. Ensuite, nous montrons les limites de l’adoption d’une approche empirique dans les sciences sociales et humaines pour prédire l’acceptabilité sociale d’une technologie. Nous soutenons que la reconnaissance des hypothèses sous-jacentes de ces deux approches quantitatives doit ouvrir une route à des approches plus réflexives par les sciences sociales et les sciences humaines.; Ethical considerations regarding the development of technologies are now a standard part of the field of bioethics...

Includes bibliography; The innovation cycle in Amazon countries is considered regarding the exploration of biodiversity biotechnological products, a system of technological evaluation and prospecting as initial activities in the innovation cycle is proposed. In this paper, it is assumed that biotechnology may be considered as a distinctive sector of National Innovation Systems in all Amazon countries and an important technology system to be explored. There are 304 biotechnology firms in Brazil, but only one in the Northern region, where the Brazilian Amazon lies. Many of these firms work with Amazon products. The data, however, indicate that the region itself is not prepared for the burden of exploring its own biodiversity and carrying out bioprospecting to a high level. Data from other countries indicate that the innovative activity is not growing and that Latin America as a whole is unprepared for the commercialisation of its biodiversity derived goods. In this paper we will examine the innovation cycle and where Technological evaluation and prospecting may help foster the activity in the region.

Throughout two decades of development activity, reports on the "crisis" of desertification, food scarcity, and economic inefficiency have been challenged by local counter-narratives which show local people uniquely engaging in their environment in ways that deny the relevance of economic incentives (Lansing 1995; Leach and Mearns 1996; Appadurai 1990). Recently, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) characterized plant genetic resources as the "heritage of mankind" (Cullet 2001) in order to globalize conservation of them. Likewise, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) legislation has enabled biotechnology companies to enclose aspects of this heritage within intellectual property rights (IPR) in ways that primarily fuel international industry. As a result, the local cultural practices related to biological resources have been dismissed as inefficient or discussed as barriers to development. This may begin with the fact that the relationship between territorial cultural practices...

This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6750/9/85; BMC Biotechnology 2009, 9:85 doi:10.1186/1472-6750-9-85

Investigates the potential of the zebrafish Danio rerio to provide a convenient, fecund and cost efficient piscine model for biotechnology. The technical and biological limitations of the model are identified and ways of overcoming or circumventing these limitations explored in three areas of biotechnology: transgenesis; partial genome manipulation; and, entire genome manipulatiion.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 1996?; Bibliography: leaves 150-178.; xxii, 178 leaves, [17] leaves of plates : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm.; Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.

This research was performed over 10 months as part of a Masters in Biotechnology (Plant Biotechnology). The literature review was previously assessed and the research focus has not changed. Although the research manuscript contained herein will provide the first draft of a future publication in the Plant Journal, due to time constraint, all data relevant to that publication has not been collected. However, additional data were collected and provided within the appendices. The research manuscript presents the cloning of five COBRA genes and a study of the features of COBRA family genes. It also reports root hair phenotype observation of Arabidopsis AtCOBRA mutant lines. The appendices contain all the collected ESTs sequences for a future reference by people continuing the work.; Thesis (M.Bio (PB)) - University of Adelaide,School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, 2008

Bio-nanotechnology is a new interdisciplinary R&D area that integrates engineering and physical science with biology through the development of multifunctional devices and systems, focusing biology inspired processes or their applications, in particular in medical biotechnology. DNA based nanotechnology, in many ways, has been one of the most intensively studied fields in recent years that involves the use and the creation of bio-inspired materials and their technologies for highly selective biosensing, nanoarchitecture engineering and nanoelectronics. Increasing researches have been offered to a fundamental understanding how the interactions between the nanoparticles and DNA molecules could alter DNA molecular structure and its biochemical activities. This minor review describes the mechanisms of the nanoparticle-DNA binding and molecular interactions. We present recent discoveries and research progresses how the nanoparticle-DNA binding could vary DNA molecular structure, DNA detection, and gene therapy. We report a few case studies associated with the application of the nanoparticle-DNA binding devices in medical detection and biotechnology. The potential impacts of the nanoparticles via DNA binding on toxicity of the microorganisms are briefly discussed. The nanoparticle-DNA interactions and their impact on molecular and microbial functionalities have only drown attention in recent a few years. The information presented in this review can provide useful references for further studies on biomedical science and technology.; Hongjie An...

As with any rapid technological developments, the biotechnology revolution is putting great strains on the law and its ability to adapt to new realities and challenges. One particularly pressing need is to assess the role that international law and especially international human rights have in developing a generally acceptable framework of regulation in this area. This paper aims at identifying principles and norms of international law that can support this task. It shows that control over genetic resources cannot be linked to a single normative model but depends on the nature and location of the resources; it highlights the notion of the common interest of humankind in the access to and utilization of genetic resources. It concludes with an inventory of the relevant human rights that should guide states and the international community in developing regulatory schemes that may be capable of reconciling the legitimate goal of scientific and technological innovation with the safeguard of human dignity. This paper will be published as the introductory chapter in Francesco Francioni (ed.) "Biotechnology and international human rights"