1 R. Levy: Types of Filtration.- 2 T. Meltzer: Modus of Filtration.- 3 O.W. Reif: Microfiltration Membranes: Characteristics and Manufacturing.- 4 M. Jornitz: Filter Constructions and Design.- 5 R. Madsen: Filter Validation.- 6 M. Jornitz: Integrity Testing.-

It is our pleasure to present this special volume on tissue engineering in the series Advances in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Thisvolume re?ects the emergence of tissue engineering as a core discipline of modern biomedical engineering, and recognizes the growing synergies between the technological developments in biotechnology and biomedicine. Along this vein, the focusof thisvolume istoprovide abiotechnology driven perspective on cell engineering fundamentals while highlighting their signi?cance in p- ducing functional tissues. Our aim is to present an overview of the state of...

Dealing with microbial production of L-amino acids, this volume presents five comprehensive review articles on the modern production of amino acids by application of biotechnologically optimized micro-organisms. This includes not only the modern techniques of enzyme, metabolic and transport engineering but also sophisticated analytical methods such as metabolic flux analysis and subsequent pathway modeling. A general review about industrial processes of amino acid production provides a comprehensive overview about recent strain development as well as fermentation technologies. The authors...

The environmental clean up industry has been estimated as having an annual turnover of $50 billion globally. With new regulations being written on addi tional chemicals that are just, now, becoming understood from a toxicological and environmental risk standpoint, this industry could expand even further. This is particularly true as more nations become industrialized. Typical conta minants that are of concern include agricultural byproducts, municipal wastes, industrial solvents, petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pesticides, radioac tive wastes, munitions, and other man made products. In...

This volume reports advances in the science and technology related to the conversion of lignocellulosics. A portion of the text is devoted to molecular biology of the enzymes and the microbes involved in the conversion. Hydrolysis of cellulose continues to be of prime importance in the overall conversion scheme. Reaction kinetics and mechanisms of cellulases as well as the state-of-the-art methods of cellulase production by submerged fermentation and also by solid state fermentation are included in the book. The advances made in dilute acid hydrolysis of cellulose are described. Finally, some...

The biotechnology business in India with an increase from USD 500 million in 1997 and reaching an estimated USD 1 billion next year health related prod ucts accounting for 60%, agro and veterinary products together 15%, and con tract R&D, reagents, devices and supplies adding up to the remaining 25% of which the diagnostics share was about 10% of the total surely presented an encouraging picture even five years ago. While volumes have increased, the pat tern has not. According to a report, prepared by McKinsey & Co, India's Phar maceutical industry including domestic and export sales and...

Metabolic engineering is a rapidly evolving field that is being applied for the optimization of many different industrial processes. In this issue of Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, developments in different areas of metabolic engineering are reviewed. The contributions discuss the application of metabolic engineering in the improvement of yield and productivity - illustrated by amino acid production and the production of novel compounds - in the production of polyketides and extension of the substrate range - and in the engineering of S. cerevisiae...

Anaerobic digestion is a major field for the treatment of waste and wastewater. Lately the focus has been on the quality of the effluent setting new demands for pathogen removal and for successful removal of unwanted chemicals during the anaerobic process. The two volumes on Biomethanation are devoted to presenting the state of art within the science and application of anaerobic digestion. They describe the basic microbiolgical knowledge of importance for understanding the processes of anaerobic bioreactors along with the newest molecular techniques for examining these...

Hui-Lei Yu, Jian-He Xu, Wen-Ya Lu, and Guo-Qiang Lin: Discovery and Utilization of Biocatalysts for Chiral Synthesis: An Overview of Chinese Scientists Research and Development.- Jing Chen, Ren-Chao Zheng, Yu-Guo Zheng, and Yin-Chu Shen: Microbial Transformation of Nitriles to High-Value Acids or Amides.- Jian-Jiang Zhong, and Jian-Hui Xiao: Secondary Metabolites from Higher Fungi: Discovery, Bioactivity, and Bioproduction.- Kee-Yoeup Paek, Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy, Eun-Joo Hahn, and Jian-Jiang Zhong: Large Scale Culture of Ginseng Adventitious Roots for Production of Ginsenosides.-...