Industrial Biotechnology

Journal vision: To provide a forum for the community of scientists, engineers, and business leaders, working in industry, academics, government labs and non-profit organizations toward the common purpose of advancing the role of biotechnology processes in chemical product and fuels development. This vision is driven by the promise of biotechnology to provide a platform for revolutionary chemical synthetic methods that are less polluting, require lower energy inputs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enable the world to pivot from fossil-derived carbon to sustainable chemical manufacturing that can contribute to an evolving circular economy.   

Industrial Biotechnology is the authoritative, peer-reviewed, bimonthly research journal focused on the rapidly emerging field of ‘White Biotechnology’. Advancements in White Biotechnology are fueled by continuously evolving biotechnological tools to mine microbial and enzyme diversity such as metagenomics and genomics. Furthermore, strategies such as rational, semi-rational and random directed evolution including machine learning algorithms are allowing scientists and engineers to realize major improvements in enzyme function. These engineered enzymes can be incorporated into cells that are metabolically engineered by systems-level approaches using increasingly diverse and sophisticated tools. These exciting developments are changing the landscape and potential for developing cost-effective bioprocesses that will revolutionize the chemical industry. 

Industrial Biotechnology publishes fundamental and applied perspectives, articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and Communications to the Editor. While the journal focuses on the publication of applied and fundamental advances in White Biotechnology, it also seeks to connect these developments with contributions focusing on new commercialized technologies, perspectives on the policy landscapes that influence commercial development, and life cycle and technoeconomic assessments.  

Examples of bioconversion research topics published by Industrial Biotechnology: lignocellulose, plant engineering as bio factories to produce chemicals or to change lignin content/composition, lignin, develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses, carbon capture, biobased building blocks/applications, fuels, agricultural products, peptides, polymers (e.g., thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers), nanoparticles, biosensors, lubricants, biopesticides, bio-actives (e.g. antimicrobials, chiral intermediates), nutraceuticals (e.g. bioflavonoids, omega 3 fatty acids, anti-oxidants), prebiotics (galacto-oligiosaccharides, fructo-oligosaccharides) natural material networks (e.g., fungal mycelia, bacterial cellulose), cell plastics, living materials, cell and materials that are responsive to environmental cues, the built environment,  cells/materials engineered to respond to environmental cues such as the presence of toxins, bioremediation, filtration and much more.

Industrial Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary journal that is inclusive of contributions that focus on the following to advance the objectives of the above research topics:

• Microbiology and microbial physiology
• Biochemistry 
• Fermentation engineering
• Cell metabolism, and energetics
• Protein engineering  
• Plant physiology
• Metabolic engineering
• Process engineering inclusive of downstream processing
• Computational and systems biology, including bioinformatics and genomic/proteomic studies
• Food science/engineering
• Biofilms 
• Plant-cell biotechnology
• Spectroscopic and other analytical techniques for biotechnological applications
• Life-cycle and techno-economic analyses 

Areas outside the scope of Industrial Biotechnology includes: 

Most aspects of Medical biotechnology, often referred to as “Red Biotechnology”. Examples include the study and production of biologics (e.g. hormones, blood products, cytokines, growth factors, vaccines, gene and cellular therapies, fusion proteins, insulin, interferon, and monoclonal antibody (mAb) products), vaccines, regenerative therapies including the use of stem cells, tissue engineering, drug delivery, diagnostics kits for disease detection, SiRNA. One exception is the use of biocatalysis in combination with other chemical methods to synthesize low molecular weight pharmaceutical drugs and chiral intermediates.

Aspects of Agricultural biotechnology outside the scope of this journal include design of transgenic plants to modify the quality, flavor, or food productivity of crops, to increase their resistance to pests and diseases, or for enhanced growth in adverse weather conditions. Exceptions that are inclusive to the journal’s scope are modifications in the plant genome to enhance the production of specific chemicals such as nutraceuticals, produce non-natural products such as polyhydroxyalkanoate, and control the structure (e.g. branching, molecular weight of polymeric products such as natural rubber).

Industrial Biotechnology is under the editorial leadership of Editor-in-Chief Richard A. Gross, PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and other leading investigators. View the entire editorial board.

Audience: Biochemists; biologists; chemists; microbiologists; synthetic biologists; chemical manufacturers; chemical, environmental, and agricultural engineers; agronomists; marine and extreme environment scientists; among others