Biotechnology and its Applications

Biotechnology and its Applications: Using Cells to Change the World, Second Edition introduces students to the world of biotechnology in a way that runs deeper than a mere survey. Sections cover basic science, introduce cells, explain how they behave, what they are made of, demonstrate the biotechnological application of scientific principles in the laboratory, and present biotechnologies “in the real world.” Examples include recombinant proteins available to millions of patients, plants that have been engineered to produce food for people around the world, and regenerative medicine that may someday allow patients to receive organs that have been grown from their own cells.

The updated edition has been expanded with the most current information available, with new chapters on gene editing, bioremediation, vaccines and immunotherapy, and processing and manufacturing, thus resulting in a modern, robust, yet highly readable applications-oriented introduction to biotechnology.

• Takes an integrated approach from first principles, integrating cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and health science
• Presents side topics of interest throughout (“gee whiz” topics) to give students quick mental breaks while still extending their knowledge in a practical sense
• Contains a greatly improved, robust teaching pedagogy to aid student learning
• Features new chapter learning objectives, chapter summaries, highlighted key terms, more end-of-chapter questions, and a new glossary

First- or second-year undergraduate biology students taking an introductory course in biotechnology

Unit 1 – The Cell
1.  Membranes
1.1  Membrane Lipids 
1.2  Cholesterol  
1.3  Membrane Proteins

2.  Proteins      
2.1  Amino Acids
2.2  Protein Structure
2.3  The hydrophobic effect
2.4  A return to membranes

3.  Cellular Transport      
3.1  Membrane Transporters
3.2  Vesicular Transporters: Endocytosis
3.3  Receptor Fates
3.4  Lysosomes are for degradation, but are they safe?

4.  Genes – The Blueprints for Proteins      
4.1 Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids
4.2 From Genes to Proteins 
4.2.1  Introduction to the Genetic Code 
4.2.2  Genes 
4.2.3  Transcription 
4.2.4  Translation

5.  Cell Growth      
5.1  The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle
5.2  Growth Curves and Their Phases
5.3  Mathematics of the Growth Curve
5.4  Counting Cell Numbers
5.5  Counting Cell Mass
5.6  Scale-up

Unit 2 – Biotechnology in the Laboratory
6.  Microbial Killing      
6.1  The Gram Stain
6.2  Microbial Resistance to Killing
6.3  Sterilization, disinfection, and Sanitization
6.4  Microbial Cell Death

7.  Cell Culture and the Eukaryotic Cells Used in Biotechnology  
7.1  Adherent cells versus non-adherent cells 
7.2  Primary Cells, Cancer Cells, Cell Lines
 
8.  Fluorescence      
8.1  Stokes’ experiments
8.2  Fluorophore properties
8.3  Fluorescence detection
8.4  FRET 

9.  Locating Transcriptional Control Regions – Deletion Analysis      
9.1  An example of deletion analysis

10.  Agarose Gels   
10.1  Application of agarose gels: gel shift
10.2  Application of agarose gels: DNA Footprinting
10.3  Application of agarose gels: Restriction analysis

11.  The polymerase chain reaction (PCR)   
11.1  Melt 
11.2  Anneal
11.3  Extend
11.4  PCR Loops
11.5  An Application of Traditional PCR
11.6  Traditional versus real-time PCR
11.7  Real-time PCR

12.  Genetic Engineering   
12.1  Plasmid Architecture
12.2  Molecular Cloning
12.3  A single plasmid is not enough
12.4  Spectrophotometry
12.5  What we have learned so far

Unit 3 – Biotechnology in the “Real World”
13.  Gene Delivery    
13.1  Gene Delivery Vehicles – an Overview
13.2  Gene Methods in Greater Detail 
13.2.1  Viral Delivery Methods 
13.2.2  Physical Delivery Methods 
13.2.3  Chemical Delivery Methods
 
14.  RNAi    
14.1  Co-suppression
14.2  RNA Interference 
14.3  miRNA

15.  Gene Editing
15.1 CRISPR/Cas9
15.2  TALENs
15.3  ZNFs.

16. DNA Fingerprinting    
16.1  Older DNA Fingerprinting Uses RFLPs
16.2  Newer DNA Fingerprinting Uses STRs
 
17.  Fermentation, Beer, and Biofuels    
17.1  Glycolysis
17.2  Fermentation
17.3  The production of beer
17.4  Fermentation to Produce Biofuels 

18.  Stem cells and tissue engineering    
18.1  Potential
18.2  An Alternate View of Stem Cells
18.3  Using Stem Cells 
18.4  Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
18.5  Bioreactors
18.6  Polymeric Scaffolds 
18.7  Bringing it all together: A tissue engineering application

19.  Transgenics    
19.1  Ice minus bacteria  
19.2  Bt plants 
19.3  Herbicide resistance 
19.4  Tomatoes
19.5  Rice
19.6  Terminators and Traitors

20.  Patents and Licenses    
20.1  Types of Patents
20.2  Licenses
20.3  After a license is granted