From Beer to Molecular Biology
The Evolution of Industrial Biotechnology
Tor-Magnus Enari
120 pages, numerous illustrations, 1999 
Discount price EUR 4.95 
Order-No: 0770

Biotechnology does not form a discipline of its own but rather consists of a set of biological techniques which are applied in research in the life sciences, in the production of food and beverage products and pharmaceuticals, and in agriculture, forestry and waste management.
The focus in this presentation is on industrial biotechnology and on the ideas and patterns of thinking that over the years have propelled it forward. For literally thousands of years biotechnology progressed through trial and error. Only during the nineteenth century did microbiology and biochemistry become sciences in their own right. Fermentation processes used in the preparation of beer and wine were essential catalysts for this development. Microbiology and biochemistry arose out of the need to understand and control production processes. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, biotechnology has rested on a scientific basis, while at the same time building on older traditions. Biotechnology has responded to pressing needs of society. Environmental concerns, in turn, have provided the incentive for enzyme technology. Biotechnology is a product of society, but it is also contributing in an essential way to social advance and human welfare.
During the 1970s, genetic engineering evolved out of the infant science of molecular biology. The first applications were in the basic sciences, where the new methods helped us to understand biotechnology processes on the molecular level. Medical and pharmaceutical applications are already numerous. Ironically perhaps, the traditional biotechnology industry, the food and beverage industry, is hesitant to adopt the new genetic methods in production as long as the consumer is not convinced of their safety and advantages.
This book does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of biotechnology. Rather it suggests the lines along which biotechnology has developed and how it is currently evolving as part of industrial progress. All those working in traditional biotechnology establishments need to know and understand the wider implications of their activities. But equally those working with new products, such as recombinant DNA based pharmaceuticals, would do well to familiarise themselves with the origins of their science.