title: Teaching bioprocess engineering to undergraduates: Multidisciplinary hands-on training in a one-week practical course.
abstract: Bioprocess engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field of study which is strongly benefited by practical courses where students can actively experience the interconnection between biology, engineering, and physical sciences. This work describes a lab course developed for 2nd year undergraduate students of bioprocess engineering and related disciplines, where students are challenged with a real-life bioprocess-engineering application, the production of recombinant protein in a fed-batch process. The lab course was designed to introduce students to the subject of operating and supervising an experiment in a bioreactor, along with the analysis of collected data and a final critical evaluation of the experiment. To provide visual feedback of the experimental outcome, the organism used during class was Escherichia coli which carried a plasmid to recombinantly produce enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) upon induction. This can easily be visualized in both the bioreactor and samples by using ultraviolet light. The lab course is performed with bioreactors of the simplest design, and is therefore highly flexible, robust and easy to reproduce. As part of this work the implementation and framework, the results, the evaluation and assessment of student learning combined with opinion surveys are presented, which provides a basis for instructors intending to implement a similar lab course at their respective institution.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, Department of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Henkel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zwick
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, Department of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Janina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beuker
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Willenbacher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemical Engineering, University of Stuttgart, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siemann-Herzberg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Syldatk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, Department of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hausmann
mesh_terms: D001671:Biochemistry / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods; D019149:Bioreactors; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: bioprocess engineering; bioreactor; biotechnology; laboratory exercise
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