Course description
Biochemical engineering harnesses living cells as miniature chemical reactors, enabling the production of designer molecules ranging from pharmaceuticals to plastics to biofuels. Live cells possess unique capabilities to manufacture complex chemical entities, yet living cells also introduce unique challenges and tradeoffs. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of biochemical engineering, including its biological underpinnings, the flow of genetic information within biological systems, the building blocks of living cells, and cellular pathways and control mechanisms. The course then describes the sub-disciplines of genetic engineering and metabolic engineering, along with applications in specialty chemicals, nutrition, global health, environmental remediation, and sustainability. Finally, the course describes emerging areas of biochemical engineering, including synthetic biology, which enables engineers to create entirely new cells from scratch. The visionary J. Craig Venter has called DNA the software of life, and has proposed that synthetic cells will be part of the solution to meeting global demands. The course discusses the potential and pitfalls of synthetic life.
