Industrial systems biology

Aspergillus: Biology and Industrial Applications

Systems biology and the biology of systems.

When I sit down to write an editorial for Physiology, I flatter myself that the two or three people who will ultimately read it want to hear my thoughts on a “big” topic. It strikes me that, within the rarefied realm of academic biology, there few bigger topics, or at least few topics more all encompassing in their scope, than Systems Biology. Perhaps it is the ambiguity inherent in its name th...

Systems biology reveals biology of systems

In the last decades, genomic and postgenomic technologies obtained a great amount of information on molecular bases of cell physiology and organization. In spite of this, the knowledge of cells and living organisms in their entirety, is far from being achieved. In order to deal with biological complexity, Systems Biology uses a new approach to overcome this inadequacy. Despite different definit...

Synthetic biology applications in industrial microbiology

With the ability to perform a multitude of unique and complex chemical transformations, microorganisms have long been the “workhorses” of many industrial processes. However, in addition to exploiting the utility of naturally evolved phenotypes, the principles, strategies, and tools of synthetic biology are now being applied to facilitate the engineering of tailor-mademicrobes capable of tacklin...

Cooperative learning in industrial-sized biology classes.

This study examined the impact of cooperative learning activities on student achievement and attitudes in large-enrollment (>250) introductory biology classes. We found that students taught using a cooperative learning approach showed greater improvement in their knowledge of course material compared with students taught using a traditional lecture format. In addition, students viewed cooperati...