Instruments By Glory Basumata (MSc Applied Genetics) 2011

 Bioreactors  Biofuels  Biochips  Biosensors  Bioremediation

 A device(vessel) that supports biologically active environment  A bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biologically active substances  This process can either be aerobic or anaerobic  These bioreactors are commonly cylindrical, ranging in size from liters to cubic meters, and are often made of stainless steel  These devices are being developed for use in tissue engineering or biochemical engineering

 Biofuels are a wide range of fuels which are in some way derived from biomass  The term covers solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases  Biofuels are gaining increased public and scientific attention, driven by factors such as - Oil price hikes - the need for increased energy security - concern over greenhouse emission from fossils fuels  Bioethanol is an alcohol made by fermenting the sugar components of plant materials and it is made mostly from sugar and starch crops

 Biodiesel is made from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled greases

 With advanced technology being developed, cellulosic biomass, such as trees and grasses, are also used as feedstocks for ethanol production  Ethanol can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its pure form  Bioethanol is widely used in the USA and in Brazil

 The development of biochips is a major thrust of the rapidly growing biotechnology industry, which encompasses a very diverse range of research efforts including genomics, proteomics, and pharmaceuticals, among other activities  Advances in these areas are giving scientists new methods for unravelling the complex biochemical processes occurring inside cells, with the larger goal of understanding and treating human diseases  At the same time, the semiconductor industry has been steadily perfecting the science of micro-miniaturization  The merging of these two fields in recent years has enabled biotechnologists to begin packing their traditionally bulky sensing tools into smaller and smaller spaces, onto so-called biochips

 These chips are essentially miniaturized laboratories that can perform hundreds or thousands of simultaneous biochemical reactions.

 A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector component  It consists of 3 parts: a) the sensitive biological element (biological material (e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc.), a biologically derived material or biomimic) The sensitive elements can be created by biological engineering b) the transducer or the detector element (works in a physicochemical way; optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, etc.) that transforms the signal resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element into another signal (i.e., transducers) that can be more easily measured and quantified

 Associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element

 Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants  Can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ  In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated elsewhere  Some examples of bioremediation technologies are phytoremediation, bioventing, bioleaching, landfarming, bioreactor, composting, bioaugmentation, rhizofiltration, and biostimulation  Bioremediation can occur on its own (natural attenuation or intrinsic bioremediation) or can be spurred on via the addition of fertilizers to increase the bioavailability within the medium (biostimulation)

 Microorganisms used to perform the function of bioremediation are known as bioremediators