Introduction - Bioprocess Engineering: Kinetics, Biosystems, Sustainability and Reactor Design - page 11

For practitioners working in the bioprocess engineering, some of the journals and period-
icals provide the latest developments in the field. Here, we name a few:

Biochemical Engineering Journal
Journal of Biological Engineering
Journal of Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
Journal of Bioprocess Engineering and Biorefinery
Journal of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering
Journal of Biotechnology
Journal of Biotechnology Advances
Journal of Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering

1.6. MATHEMATICS, BIOLOGY, AND ENGINEERI NG

Mathematical modeling holds the key for engineers. Physics at its fundamental level
examines forces and motion; one can view it as applied mathematics. In turn, chemistry
examines molecules and their interactions. Since physics examines the motions of atoms,
nuclei, and electrons, at the basis of molecules, one can view chemistry as applied physics.
This directly connects chemistry to mathematics at a fundamental level. Indeed, most phys-
icists and chemists rely extensively on mathematical modeling. While one can view biology
as applied chemistry through the connection of chemicals and molecules, the fundamental
trainings of biologists today and engineers are distinctly different. In the development of
knowledge in the life sciences, unlike chemistry and physics, mathematical theories and
quantitative methods (except statistics) have played a secondary role. Most progress has
been due to improvements in experimental tools. Results are qualitative and descriptive
models are formulated and tested. Consequently, biologists often have incomplete back-
grounds in mathematics but are very strong with respect to laboratory tools and, more impor-
tantly, with respect to the interpretation of laboratory data from complex systems.
Engineers usually possess a very good background in the physical and mathematical
sciences. Often a theory leads to mathematical formulations, and the validity of the theory
is tested by comparing predicted responses to those in experiments. Quantitative models
and approaches, even to complex systems, are strengths. Biologists are usually better at
the formation of testable hypotheses, experimental design, and data interpretation from
complex systems. At the dawn of the biotechnology era, engineers were typically unfamiliar
with the experimental techniques and strategies used by life scientists. However, today bio-
process engineers have entered even more sophisticated experimental techniques and strat-
egies in life sciences (than biologists) due to the understanding and progress in the prediction
and modeling of living cells.
The well groundedness in mathematical modeling gives bioprocess engineers an edge and
responsibility in enforcing sustainability demands. In practice, the sustainable (or steady)
state can be different from what we know today or when no human interruption is imposed.
The sustainable state could even be fluctuating with a noticeable degree. Engineers hold great
responsibility to convincing environmentalists and the public what to expect by accurately
predicting the dynamic outcomes without speculating on the potential dramatic

changes ahead.