IMPACTS OF BIOENGINEERING ON BIOTECHNOLOGY


such substances as tissue plasminogen activator, therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies, and viral surface antigen vaccines) which require the use of
living mammalian cells for their synthesis, and must be recovered in ex-
ceedingly high purity. Technology for the industrial-scale generation and
purification of such products is today at best rudimentary, and in many
cases non-existent. Succeeding generations of bioproducts-agrichemicals
such as herbicides, pesticides, and plant growth regulators; nutritional
chemicals such as amino acids and vitamins; food additives such as sweet-
eners, flavors, fragrances, single-cell protein, fats and oils; industrial or-
ganic chemicals such as solvents, pharmaceutical intermediates, plastics,
plasticizers, and lubricants; and liquid and gaseous fuels-will require
development of bioreactors of unprecedented size and efficiency, of prod-
uct recovery techniques of extraordinary selectivity and energy-economy,
and of novel waste-reprocessing and pollution abatement systems dwarf-
ing in capacity and sophistication those in use at present. While some of
these emerging needs will probably be met by improvement of (or imagi-
native combination of) existing process technologies, most will require de-
velopment of entirely new devices and systems calling on the creative ge-
nius of the life scientist and the engineer in concert.
 The industrial progress of biotechnology will obviously be paced by the
rate at which we can solve these formidable problems in bioprocess engi-
neering. Neither our existing educational institutions, nor our current re-
serve of scientific and engineering talent, are equipped to perform this
task, let alone to provide the numbers of qualified experts which the indus-
try must employ to accomplish its objectives. Today, the industrial demand
for bioengineers is actually having a negative impact on their future avail-
ability, as biotechnology companies compete for and lure away from aca-
demia those individuals best qualified to train the next generation of spe-
cialists in the field.
 Nor can we expect the biotechnology industry itself to be the nation's
source of the talent-pool in bioprocess engineering, or of a publicly-accessi-
ble knowledge base in this important technology. The dynamics of a free-
market economy militate against sharing of proprietary knowledge, and
unimpeded movement of specialists between competing organizations.
 As our industrial, academic, and governmental planners and adminis-
trators ponder this problem, events beyond our control, but within our
awareness, have begun to threaten our early leadership in the promising
field, and to raise the specter of America's reversion to a second-or third-
rate player in the global biotechnology game. Our technologically-ad-
vanced global trading partners, principally Japan and West Germany, are
now marshalling their intellectual, human, and financial resources very