Track 10. Automated Bio-Technology

Automation in the life sciences is always associated with interdisciplinary cooperation: experts from the most diverse disciplines need to maintain a constant dialogue to be able to work together successfully – engineers and technicians from the fields of systems and mechanical engineering with life sciences experts, and if the particular product under development requires, medical professionals can also become involved. Life sciences experts and medical professionals bring in the know-how on how to deal correctly with biomaterials and living systems. An example relating to the bioproduction of fine chemicals clearly shows how important this sharing of knowledge and cooperation between experts is. Large-scale industrial production can only become competitive through the implementation of automated production processes, which is however only possible with organisms that can be adapted to large-scale production. This in turn requires experts with highly specialised knowledge about the metabolism of the production organisms used and the tools that allow processes to be adapted to the industrial scale.