Systems biotechnology: A new paradigm in biotechnology development

Conclusion: Modeling and simulation of cellular process are invaluable for organizing and integrating available metabolic knowledge and designing the right experiments. Simulation of biological systems through metabolic modeling can provide crucial information concerning cellular behavior under various genetic and environmental conditions, thus suggesting various strategies for the development of efficient biotechnology processes. The current predictive power of biological simulation is, however, limited by insufficient knowledge of global regulation and kinetic information, and thus in silico design-based process development might seem to be unrealistic. However, considering the fact that the currently widespread simulation of electrical circuits and aircraft design had also been criticized for similar reasons in their emerging days, it is expected that increased accuracy and validity of biological simulation will be achieved in the near future; the accumulation of large amounts of global scale data from genomics advances in simulation methods will make this true. Systems biotechnology is the way biotechnology should be developed and practiced from now hence. Upstream (strain, cell, and organism development), midstream (fermentation and other unit operations) and down-stream processes of biotechnology will benefit significantly from adapting systems biotechnological approaches. The cases of mid-to down-stream bioprocesses resemble the systems engineering approach that has been successfully applied in chemical industries (the core subject of chemical engineering). Now it is time to adapt systems biotechnological approaches 6 Systems Biotechnology: a New Paradigm in Biotechnology Development 171 for developing upstream processes such as strain development, which will ultimately lead to successful biotechnology development when combined with systems engineering of mid-to down-stream processes. This is Systems Biotechnology!