The module will explore the impact biotechnology has on human health. Development of industrial processes will be discussed and appropriate strategies for large scale production of biopharmaceuticals will be evaluated. An overview of the history of antibiotic production will be given and compared to current research and development. The development of recombinant strategies for producing healthcare product (e.g. vaccines, blood products, monoclonal antibodies, hormones) will be considered. In addition to directly produced cell products, the role of biotransformations will be investigated and the advantages of biological specificity discussed.

Material will be delivered by twelve, two-hour tutor led lectures. The lecture programme will highlight the major themes within the module.

Lecture material will be reinforced by a series of student centred tasks involving various texts, reviews, research papers and material available electronically.

Students will be required to complete two pieces of summative assessment.

1. Time constrained test (one hour). Students will be provided with three titles, one of which will be used for the test. Weighting 50%. Outcomes 1 and 2.

2. Essay (2000 words). This will cover material not discussed in detail in the lectures. Weighting 50%. Outcome 2.

Students will be provided with formative assessment and feedback via:
Students will be given details about assessments at the beginning of the semester and will be given the opportunity to submit work for formative feedback before the class test/deadline for the essay.

Lecture theatre, networked computers to access web based material, appropriate texts in library.

Level 1 Genes and Genomes

Glick, B.R. and Pasternak, J.J. (1999). Molecular Biotechnology (2nd Ed). Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA. ASM Press.
Ratledge, C. and Kristiansen, B. (2001). Basic Biotechnology. Cambridge University Press
Walsh, G. (1998). Biopharmaceuticals:Biochemistry and Biotechnology. John Wiley