Commercial Aspects of Biotechnological Processes

Biotechnology has gained a lot of importance in a wide range of commercial processes and technologies recently including waste treatment and management, agriculture, pulp and paper industry, fermentation and brewing, pharmaceuticals, information technology, drug development and surfactant industry. This book focuses on various aspects of commercial biotechnology beginning from the advent of classical biotechnology and its journey towards modern day biotechnology. Classical Biotechnology relied mostly on the principles of plant and animal biology. Most of the biomolecules that we know about today were either not discovered or not characterized back then. Soon after the discovery of double helical structure of DNA and invention of PCR by Kary Mullis, a massive shift in was witnessed in biological research. In the book, the articles have been included which discuss about processes like fermentation, cell culture, Genetically Modified Organisms, biofuels, nanobiotechnology, enzyme technology and plant biotechnology. There are articles that talk about the commercial success and challenges faced by companies based on biotechnology. I hope it will be insightful for the readers and help them understand the subject in depth.