Specializations - Biotechnology

Specializations

Four specializations are defined in the MSc. Eng education, differentiating in their lists of programme specific courses, but sharing a common list general competence courses.

It is possible to become MSc Eng without a specialization, offering free choice of programme specific courses among the lists from the four specializations. 

Short description of the specializations:

Microbiome Engineering (ME):

• Microbiome engineers contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society by intelligent interference with complex microbiological systems within health, biomanufacturing, and environmental ecology.
• Within this specialization, you will obtain competences in analysis, modeling, and altering the regulatory and competitive interactions between cells in cultures, consortia or microbial-host interactions.
• Focus areas include optimization of cellular interactions using techniques and knowledge from systems biology, microbial physiology, regulatory networks, ecology, genetics, natural product chemistry, omics technologies, probiotics, microbial pathogenecity, consortia, biofilm performance, biocontrol, adaptive evolution, and immunology.

Cell Factory Engineering (CFE):

• Cell Factory engineers contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society by supplying genetically engineered cell factories for fermentation-based production of proteins or biochemicals.
• Within this specialization, you will obtain competences in designing, constructing, and optimizing cell factories using either bacterial, yeast, molds, plant or animal cell cultures.
• Focus areas include optimization of cellular performance using techniques and knowledge from synthetic biology, genetic engineering, secondary metabolites, cell physiology, and regulatory networks.

Protein Engineering (PE):

• Protein engineers contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society by optimizing enzyme-based production and degradation of various substances, thereby outcompeting current environmentally damaging solutions.
• Within this specialization, you will obtain competences in analysis and prediction of how the 3D structure of a protein is related to its specific function; and to evaluate how specific proteins should be produced, purified, analyzed, and utilized in industrial processes.
• Focus areas include optimization of protein performance and production using techniques and knowledge from protein design and optimization, protein purification, quality control, crystal structure determination, 3D structure prediction, physical properties, enzyme specificity and  kinetics, assay design, and complex enzyme reactions.

Fermentation Based Biomanufacturing (FBM):

• Fermentation Bio-engineers contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society by optimizing cell factory based production of proteins and biochemicals thereby outcompeting environmentally damaging production methods.
• Within this specialization you will obtain competences in designing, implementing, and operating fermentation processes by combining cell factory engineering and process technology.
• Focus areas include optimization of fermentation processes using techniques and knowledge from genetic engineering, cell physiology, bioreactor design, downstream processing, waste handling, and life cycle analysis.