An emerging discipline [biotechnology]

Biotechnology for Biomedical Engineers is a subject that is near and dear to the author´s heart. The author started research and teaching in biomedical engineering as early as 1962, thus feels one of the pioneers in this field. Also, the author became very interested, not too long after becoming involved with biomedical engineering, in bioprocess engineering. This presentation focuses more directly on engineering rather than science. The term biotechnology is generally associated with science, and the author believes that the United States is so focused on science that once again they might find their selves in the same situation with biotechnology, relative to other countries, as they find their selves today in electronics and automobiles. Somehow, the USA must recognize that process engineering is critical to the development of this industry to be effective in international competition for the manufacture of high molecular weight therapeutic proteins. It is the author´s purpose to tie bioprocess engineering together with biomedical engineering. Since this is a biomedical engineering journal, it is the author´s inclination to introduce to biomedical engineers, who are not familiar with bioprocess engineering, how these two subdisciplines are coming together