Primarily intended for biotechnology graduates, this handbook provides an overview of the requirements, opportunities and drawbacks of Biotech Entrepreneurship, while also presenting valuable training materials tailored to the industrial and market reality in the European Biotech Business. Potential investors and business consultants will find essential information on the benefits and potential risks involved in supporting biotech businesses. Further, the book addresses a broad range of Biotechnology fields, e.g. food biotech, industrial biotech, bioinformatics, animal and human health. Readers will learn the essentials of creating innovations, founding a biotech start-up, business management strategies, and European funding sources. In addition, the book discusses topics such as intellectual property management and innovation transfer. The book offers a comparative analysis of different countries' perspectives and reviews the status quo in Western and Eastern European regions, also in comparison with other leading biotech countries such as the USA and Canada. A long list of potentially profitable biotech start-up ideas and a collection of success stories involving European companies are also included. The book is based on the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project "Supporting biotechnology students oriented towards an entrepreneurial path" (www.supbioent.usamv.ro), which involved the collaboration of Life Sciences and Economics departments at higher education institutions throughout Western and Eastern Europe.

The second part of Bioenergy: Principles and Technologies continues the discussion of biomass energy technologies covering fuel ethanol production, pyrolysis, biomass-based hydrogen production and fuel synthesis, biodiesel, municipal solid water treatment and microbial fuel cells. With a combination of theories, experiments and case studies, it is an essential reference for bioenergy researchers, industrial chemists and chemical engineers.

The book focuses on the principles and practices of tropical maize improvement with special emphasis on early and extra-early maize to feed the increasing population in Sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights the similarities and differences between results obtained in temperate regions of the world and WCA in terms of corroboration or refutation of genetic principles and theory of maize breeding. The book is expected to be of great interest to maize breeders, advanced undergraduates, graduate students, professors and research scientists in the national and international research institutes all over the world, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. It will also serve as a useful reference for agricultural extension and technology transfer systems, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), seed companies and community-based seed enterprises, policy makers, and all those who are interested in generating wealth from agriculture and alleviating hunger and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The food, feed, ?ber, and fuel needs of the changing world pose the challenge of doubling or tripling of world food, feed, and ?ber production by the year 2050 to meet the needs of a 11 billion global population. In addition, the dramatic changes in food prices in the recent years further warrant that production and productivity need to be enhanced to ensure adequate supplies. Biotechnology can make a signi?cant contribution to this effort as demonstrated by cotton and other crops; the new advances in biotechnology have made it possible to develop plants that contain genes that were not possible to be developed by sexual means. Cotton has been a leader in the use of biotechnology. With the introduction of Bt cotton, followed by stacked cotton products (insect and herbicide tolerance) and extensive use of molecular breeding tools, cotton cultivation has been much improved. The contributions in this book illustrate the scienti?c advances that are going on in cotton and the impact they continue to deliver for all cotton growers. Twelve percent of the global cotton area is now under biotech products at 15. 5 million ha. The primary bene?ts from using genetically engineered cotton include reduced insecticide use, lower production costs, improved yields, lower farming risks, and increased opportunities to grow cotton in areas of severe pest infestation.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain stood at the forefront of science and statistics and had a long and respected tradition of social investigation and reform. But it still did not yet have a 'science of society.' When, in the early 1900s, a small band of enthusiasts got together to address this situation, the scene was set for a grand synthesis. No such synthesis ever took place and, instead, British sociology has followed a resolutely non-statistical path. Sociology and Statistics in Britain, 1833-1979 investigates how this curious situation came about and attempts to explain it from an historical perspective. It uncovers the prevalence of a deep and instinctive distrust within British sociology of the statistical methodology and mindset, resulting in a mix of quiet indifference and active hostility, which has persisted from its beginnings right up to the present day. While British sociology has thrived institutionally since the post-war expansion of higher education, this book asks whether or not it is poorer for having failed to recognise that statistics provides the foundations for the scientific study of society and for having missed opportunities to build upon those foundations. Ultimately, this important, revealing and timely book is about British sociology's refusal to come to grips with a modern scientific way of thinking which no discipline that aspires to an effective study of society can afford to ignore.

The environment is prone to suffer pollution and toxic insult from generations of nanomaterials as well from accidental releases during production, transportation, and disposal operations. The NMs could interact with and cause adverse biological effects at cellular, subcellular, and molecular levels. Assessing potential environmental/ecological risks requires quality information on transport and fate of nanoparticles in the environment, exposures and vulnerabilities of organisms to the nanomaterials and standard methods for assessing toxicity for aquatic or terrestrial organisms and human health. The systematic risk characterization and evaluation of the safety of nanomaterials require a multidisciplinary approach and convergence of knowledge and efforts from researchers and experts from toxicology, biotechnology, materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and other branches of life sciences. Although studies are beginning to appear in the literature addressing the toxicity of various nanomaterials and their potential for exposure, at this stage definitive statements regarding the impacts of nanomaterials on human health and the environment remain sketchy requiring an increased level of precautions with regard to nanomaterials, as has happened with other emerging contaminants and technologies (e.g., biotechnology). The need for an increased level of understanding the perception of risk and of benefits will vary and is likely to influence public, regulatory, and non-governmental activities regarding risk and benefit evaluations. Systematic identification and assessment of the risks posed by any new technology are essential. A prudent, integrated, and holistic approach is required to develop best practices based on the scientific understanding about what we know and what we don't know but need to know. Nanomaterials addresses key issues of ecotoxicological actions and effects of nanomaterials on life and environment, their threats, vulnerability, risks, and public perception. The readers learn to read bad news objectively and think about and search for ecological 'green' solutions to current environmental and ecological problems with blue, grey, brown, and red shades for building a sustainable ecosystem. It shows how this molecular terrain is a common ground for interdisciplinary research and education that will be an essential component of science, engineering and technology in the future. The book is divided into three sections. Section I includes general topics related to ecotoxicity of nanomaterials to microbes, plants, human and environment. Section 2 incorporates risks generated by the use of nanomaterials. Section 3 discusss safety issues and the public.

This book presents a collection of studies on state-of-art techniques for converting biomass to chemical products by means of pyrolysis, which are widely applicable to the valorization of biomass. In addition to discussing the fundamentals and mechanisms for producing bio-oils, chemicals, gases and biochar using pyrolysis, it outlines key reaction parameters and reactor configurations for various types of biomass. Written by leading experts and providing a broad range of perspectives on cutting-edge applications, the book is a comprehensive reference guide for academic researchers and industrial engineers in the fields of natural renewable materials, biorefinery of lignocellulose, biofuels, and environmental engineering, and a valuable resource for university students in the fields of chemical engineering, material science and environmental engineering.

This thesis reports on the development of a fully integrated and automated microsystem consisting of low-cost, disposable plastic chips for DNA extraction and PCR amplification, combined with a reusable glass capillary array electrophoresis chip, which can be employed in a modular-based format for genetic analysis. In the thesis, DNA extraction is performed by adopting a filter paper-based method, followed by an "in-situ" PCR carried out directly in the same reaction chamber of the chip without elution. PCR products are then co-injected with sizing standards into separation channels for detection using a novel injection electrode. The entire process is automatically carried out by a custom-made compact control and detection instrument. The author thoroughly tests the system's performance and reliability by conducting rapid genetic screening of mutations on congenital hearing loss and pharmacogenetic typing of multiple warfarin-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The successful development and operation of this microsystem establishes the feasibility of rapid "sample-in-answer-out" testing in routine clinical practice.

Agriculture and industry are the two most important economic sectors for various countries around the globe, providing millions of jobs as well as being the main source of income for these countries. Nevertheless, with the increasing demand for agricultural and industrial produce, huge amounts of waste are also being produced. Without proper management, this waste (both liquid and solid) poses a serious threat to overall environmental quality, mainly due to its toxicity and slow degradation processes. Current approaches are effective but would normally require huge capital investments, are labour intensive and generate potential hazardous by-products. As such, there is a need for alternative approaches that are cheaper, easier-to-handle and have a minimum potential impact on environmental quality. This book presents up-to-date approaches using biological techniques to manage the abundance of waste generated from agricultural and industrial activities. It discusses techniques such as bioconversion, biodegradation, biotransformation, and biomonitoring as well as the utilization of these wastes. A number of chapters also include individual case studies to enhance readers' understanding of the topics. This comprehensive book is a useful resource for anyone involved in agricultural and industrial waste management, green chemistry or biotechnology. It is also recommended as a reference work for graduate students and all agriculture and biotechnology libraries.

Bacterial infections cause substantial morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. These infections always remained enigmatic due to initial reluctance of cancer researchers in understanding their etiologic potential. Etiological association of bacteria with cancer gained credibility after discovery of carcinogenic potential of Helicobacter pylori. Moreover, other suspected associations including Salmonella typhi and gallbladder cancer, Streptococcus bovis and colon cancer, Chlamydia psittaci and ocular adnexal lymphoma and Chlamydia pneumoniae with lung cancer, etc. are looking for a legitimate appraisal to unravel their etiologic potential without prejudice. In contrary, bacteria also show protective role in certain types of cancer. Certain agents derived from bacteria are successfully in practice for the management of cancer. The integrate association of bacteria and cancer is evident in both positive and negative aspects. The role of bacteria in cancer etiology and treatment is vigorously studied since last few years. Present book tries to provide current status of research undergoing in above direction, with the glimpses of future possibility for using microbiological knowledge in the management of this deadly killer. This book will interest specialists dealing with cancer associated infectious complications, researchers working in the field of cancer biology, teachers and scientists in the field of microbiology, biotechnology, medicine and oncology. The unique coverage of bacteriology and cancer association in both positive and negative way can usher into development of novel thrust area for microbiology students and experts.

There is hardly a technical library in the world in which the volumes of the Chemical Formulary (Volumes 1-34) do not occupy a prominent place. Chemists both experienced and beginner, continually refer to them. It does not duplicate any of the formulas included in previous volumes, but lists a wide array of modern and salable products from all branches of the chemical industries. An excellent reference for formulation problems. -CONTENTS - I. Introduction - II. Adhesives - III. Coatings - IV. Cosmetics - V. Detergents and Disinfectants - VI. Drug Products - VII. Elastomers, Plastics and Resins - VIII. Foods and Beverages - IX. Polishes - X. Textile Specialties - XI. Miscellaneous - Appendix - Index - PREFACE - Chemistry, as taught in our schools and colleges, concerns chiefly synthesis, analysis, and engineering-and properly so. It is part of the right foundation for the education of the chemist. Many a chemist entering an Industry soon finds that most of the products manufactured by his concern are not synthetic or definite complex compounds, but are mixtures, blends, or highly complex compounds of which he knows little or nothing. The literature in this field, if any, may be meager, scattered, or obsolete. Even chemists with years of experience In one or more Industries spend considerable time and effort in acquainting themselves with any new field which they may enter. Consulting chemists similarly have to solve problems brought to them from industries foreign to them. There was a definite need for an up-to-date compilation of formulae for chemical compounding and treatment. Since the fields to be covered are many and varied, an editorial board of chemists and engineers engaged in many industries was formed. Many publications, laboratories, manufacturing firms, and Individuals have been consulted to obtain the latest and best information. It is felt that the formulas given in this volume will save chemists and allied workers much time and effort. Manufacturers and sellers of chemicals will find, In these formulae, new uses for their products. Non-chemical executives, professional men, and Interested laymen will make through this volume a "speaking acquaintance" with products which they may be using, trying or selling. It often happens that two Individuals using the same Ingredients in the same formula get different results. This may be due to slight deviations in the raw materials or unfamiliarity with the intricacies of a new technique. Accordingly, repeated experiments may be necessary to get the best results. Although many of the formulas given are being used commercially, many have been taken from the literature and may be subject to various errors and omissions. This should be taken into consideration. Wherever possible, it is advisable to consult with other chemists or technical workers regarding commercial production.

Acknowledgements - Introduction - Contents - Part One- Natural Rubber - 1. THE STORY OF NATURAL RUBBER - The early history - The beginnings of the rubber industry - Goodyear and vulcanization - Plantation rubber - 2. THE NATURE OF NATURAL RUBBER - The physical properties of natural rubber- Tensile properties - Dynamic properties - Hardness - Abrasion - Electrical properties - The chemistry of natural rubber - Atoms and molecules - The formula of natural rubber - The elasticity of natural rubber - Part Two-Synthetic Rubber - 3. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO SYNTHETIC RUBBER - The beginnings of synthetic rubber production - Synthetic rubber in the First World War - Progress between the wars - The American contribution - Developments after the Second World War - 4. THE MANUFACTURE OF GENERAL PURPOSE SYNTHETIC RUBBER - Butadiene: Petroleum - Butadiene and cracking - Styrene Production of the polymer: Emulsion polymerization - The polymerization formula - The synthetic rubber plant - 5. THE PROCESSING OF GENERAL PURPOSE SYNTHETIC RUBBER - Processing machinery: The bale-cutting machine - The mill - The internal mixer - The calendar - The spreading machine - The extruder Compounding: Plasticizers and softeners - Tack - Extenders - Reclaimed rubber - Fillers - Colouring materials - The ageing of rubber - Antioxidants - Vulcanization Accelerators - Vulcanization activators - Summary of compounding 6. SPECIAL PURPOSE RUBBERS - Nitrile rubber - Butyl rubber - Neoprene - Thiokol - Silicone rubbers - Polyurethanes - Hard rubber - 7. THE MANUFACTURE OF RUBBER ARTICLES - Mechanicals: Soles and heels - Bathing caps - Hot water bottles - Extruded articles - Wires and cables - Hose: Plain hose - Wrapped hose - Moulded hose - Armouring - Belting: Conveyor belts - Transmission belting - Rubber balls: Gold balls - Tyres: The cover - The bead - The casing - The tread and sidewalls - Cover building - Vulcanizing the cover - Inner tubes - Goods from latex: Compounding latex - Dipped goods - Latex thread - Latex foam - Part Three-The Future of Rubber - 8. MODERN DEVELOPMENTS - Polymerization: Condensation polymerization - Addition polymerization - Initiators - The arrangement of atoms in a chain - Synthetic natural rubber - cis Polybutadiene - Radiation and rubber: Polymerization - Cross-linking - Looking ahead - Bibliography - Glossary - Index - Plates - The object of this book is to explain what these various rubbers are, how they behave, and why they behave as they do. As synthetic rubbers are now being made in this country and will play an important part in the future of the rubber industry, most of this book is devoted to them. How they are made and how they compare with natural rubber is discussed in the appropriate place.- To enable a reasonable comparison to be made between natural rubber and the various synthetic rubbers the subject has been treated from a scientific standpoint, and to keep the size of the book between reasonable limits much technological information has been omitted. Because of the comparison between natural and synthetic rubbers the first section of this book is devoted to natural rubber. In this section the fundamentals of rubber science are introduced, to be developed later in connection with the synthetic rubbers. This book is intended as an introduction to a complex subject, and as a surveyor report for non-technical readers who wish to know something about rubber. The reader who requires further information on a particular point or topic should consult the bibliography at the end of the book.-

This volume offers an analysis of the scale and nature of the immunological issues facing regenerative medicine, drawing on the expertise of laboratories around the world who have taken up the challenge of applying their expertise in immunology to the vagaries of stem cell biology. In Part I, we explore the extent to which the principles of allograft rejection, learned over several decades from our experiences of whole organ transplantation, apply within the unique context of cell replacement therapy. Part II discusses various innovative ways of addressing the issues of immunogenicity, while, in Part III, we focus exclusively on the induction of immunological tolerance through a variety of novel approaches. It is our hope that this systematic analysis of the current state of the field will galvanise efforts to solve an issue which has so far remained intractable.

Sustainable Biotechnology; Sources of Renewable Energy draws on the vast body of knowledge about renewable resources for biofuel research, with the aim to bridge the technology gap and focus on critical aspects of lignocellulosic biomolecules and the respective mechanisms regulating their bioconversion to liquid fuels and other value-added products. This book is a collection of outstanding research reports and reviews elucidating several broad-ranging areas of progress and challenges in the utilization of sustainable resources of renewable energy, especially in biofuels.

The Fast Pyrolysis Handbook Volume 2 is an edited version of the final report of the European Commission and IEA Bioenergy sponsored Pyrolysis Network that officially finished in 2001. It provides a companion volume to the first handbook published in 1999 and it is again intended that this will provide a useful guide both to newcomers to the subject area as well as those already involved in research, development and implementation. A significant feature of this second volume is the greater attention paid to addressing commercial issues such as marketability, transportation and safety. Fast pyrolysis is a high temperature process in which biomass is rapidly heated in the absence of oxygen. As a result it decomposes to generate mostly vapours and aerosols and some charcoal. After cooling and condensation, a dark brown mobile liquid is formed which has a heating value about half that of conventional fuel oil. While it is related to the traditional pyrolysis processes for making charcoal, fast pyrolysis is an advanced process that is carefully controlled to give high yields of liquid. The essential features of a fast pyrolysis process are: very high heating and heat transfer rates, which usually requires a finely ground biomass feed; carefully controlled pyrolysis reaction temperature of around 500C in the vapour phase, with short vapour residence times of typically less than 2 seconds; rapid cooling of the pyrolysis vapours to give the main product - bio-oil.

DNA nanotechnology: From structure to function presents an overview of various facets of DNA nanotechnology, with a particular focus on their promising applications. This book is composed of three parts. Part I, Elements of DNA Nanotechnology, provides extensive basic information on DNA nanotechnology. Part II, Static and Dynamic DNA Nanotechnology, describes the design and fabrication of static and dynamic DNA nanostructures. Recent advances in DNA origami, DNA walkers and DNA nanodevices are all covered in this part. Part III, Applications of DNA Nanotechnology, introduces a variety of applications of DNA nanotechnology, including biosensing, computation, drug delivery, etc. Together these provide a comprehensive overview of this emerging area and its broad impact on biological and medical sciences. This book is intended for post-graduates, post-doctoral researchers and research scientists who are interested in expanding their knowledge of DNA nanotechnology. It provides readers an impression of the latest developments in this exciting filed.

Animal cell technology is a growing discipline of cell biology which aims not only to understand the structure, function and behavior of differentiated animal cells, but also to ascertain their ability to be used for industrial and medical purposes. Some of the major goals of animal cell technology include: the clonal expansion of differentiated cells, the optimization of their culture conditions, modulation of their ability for the production of medically and pharmaceutically important proteins and the application of animal cells to gene therapy, artificial organs and functional foods. This volume gives the readers a complete review of the present state-of-the-art research in Japan and other countries where this field is well advanced. The Proceedings will be useful to cell biologists, biochemists, molecular biologists, immunologists, biochemical engineers and to those working in either academic environments or in the biotechnology and pharmacy industries related to animal cell culture.

Bacterial polysaccharides represent a diverse range of macromolecules that include peptidoglycan, lipopolysaccharides, capsules, and exopolysaccharides - compounds whose functions range from structural cell-wall components (e.g. peptidoglycan) - and important virulence factors (e.g. Poly-N-acetylglucosamine in S. aureus) to permitting the bacterium to survive in harsh environments (e.g. Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the human lung). Polysaccharide biosynthesis is a tightly-regulated, energy-intensive process. Understanding the subtle interplay between the regulation and energy conservation, the polymer modification and synthesis, and the external ecological functions is a huge area of research. The potential benefits are enormous and should enable, for example, the development of novel antibacterial strategies (e.g. new antibiotics and vaccines) and the commercial exploitation to develop novel applications. In this timely book, experienced and authoritative experts review the most important innovations in the research and biotechnological applications of bacterial polysaccharides. The book takes an interdisciplinary view that examines this fascinating subject area in detail from molecular biology, genome-, transcriptome-, and proteome-wide perspectives, and looks at the ecological aspects and systems biology approaches. It provides a sound basis for future research directions, including high efficiency applications of bacterial polysaccharides in medicine, the food industry, and renewable energy production. Topics include: peptidoglycan, lipopolysaccharide, arabinogalactan, capsule gene expression in Escherichia coli, immune response to polysaccharides, polysaccharides from periodontopathic bacteria, role in dental plaque, biofilms, levan, amylovoran, and much more.

This book addresses the important clinical problem of accurately diagnosing osteoporosis, and analyzes how Bone Turnover Markers (BTMs) can improve osteoporosis detection. In her research, the author integrated microfluidic technology with electrochemical sensing to embody a reaction/detection chamber to measure serum levels of different biomarkers, creating a microfluidic proteomic platform that can easily be translated into a biomarker diagnostic. The Osteokit System, a result of the integration of electrochemical system and microfluidic chips, is a unique design that offers the potential for greater sensitivity. The implementation, feasibility, and specificity of the Osteokit platform is demonstrated in this book, which is appropriate for researchers working on bone biology and mechanics, as well as clinicians.

The entire range of the developmental processes in plants is regulated by a shift in the hormonal concentration, tissue sensitivity and their interaction with the factors operating around them. Out of the recognized hormones, attention has largely been focused on five - Auxins, Gibberellins, Cytokinin, Abscisic acid and Ethylene. However, the information about the most recent group of phytohormone (Brassinosteroids) has been incorporated in this book. This volume includes a selection of newly written, integrated, illustrated reviews describing our knowledge of Brassinosteroids and aims to describe them at the present time. Various chapters incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects and may serve as baseline information for future researches through which significant developments are possible. This book will be useful to the students, teachers and researchers, both in universities and research institutes, especially in relation to biological and agricultural sciences.

Light Microscopic Analysis of Mitochondrial Heterogeneity in Cell Populations and Within Single Cells, by S. Jakobs, S. Stoldt, and D. Neumann
*

Advanced Microscopy of Microbial Cells, by J. A. J. Haagensen, B. Regenberg, and C. Sternberg

*

Algebraic and Geometric Understanding of Cells, Epigenetic Inheritance of Phenotypes Between Generations, by K. Yasuda

*

Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Single Microbial Cells, by C. R. Thomas, J. D. Stenson, and Z. Zhang
*

Single Cell Analytics: Pushing the Limits of the Doable,
by H. Kortmann, L.M. Blank, and A. Schmid

*
Cultivation-Independent Assessment of Bacterial Viability, by F. Hammes, M. Berney, and T. Egli
*

Resolution of Natural Microbial Community Dynamics by Community Fingerprinting, Flow Cytometry and Trend Interpretation Analysis, by P. Bombach, T. Hubschmann, I. Fetzer, S. Kleinsteuber, R. Geyer, H. Harms, and S. Muller
*Multivariate Data Analysis Methods for the Interpretation of Microbial Flow Cytometric Data, by

H.M. Davey, and C.L. Davey

*

From Single Cells to Microbial Population Dynamics:

Modelling in Biotechnology Based on Measurements of Individual Cells, by T. Bley"