A coherent set of laboratory experiments is developed that demonstrates the application of chemical engineering principles in biotechnology. This program is used in the undergraduate Chemical Engineering laboratory course to provide a core set of experiments that introduces Chemical Engineering students to biotechnology, and provides in-depth exposure for students in the newly instituted Engineering Biology Certificate Program. The laboratory experiments center around the production, isolation and purification of alkaline phosphatases from bacterial fermentations using either E. coli or Bacillus subtilis. The experiments follow the processes that would be used in the commercial production of the enzyme. They include: 1) a fermentation experiment, demonstrating microbial growth and product formation as well as O2 mass transfer; 2) an extraction experiment, demonstrating cell lysis and membrane permeabilization; 3) a cell harvesting experiment, comparing ultrafiltration and centrifugation and emphasizing scale-up considerations; 4) a purification experiment, demonstrating chromatographic and electrophoretic methods for isolation and characterization of proteins; and 5) an enzyme kinetics experiment, demonstrating methods for testing enzyme mechanisms by analysis of the kinetics of product inhibition.
