Industrial Biotechnology

HERE you can find the right Master for the degree programme!

Study overview

Would you like to gain a broad insight into all aspects of biotechnology?
Are you looking for a practical degree course with interesting research projects?
Do you want to work in small groups with personal supervision and study a technology of the future with excellent career prospects?

If so, then the Industrial Biotechnology course at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences is the perfect choice. We offer you:

Excellent supervision with a good ratio of professors to students
Constant adjustment of the course content to reflect new developments in company practice
Working in small groups

High level of practical orientation through a practical semester, project work, collaboration in research projects, equipment sponsorships, lecture-related internships and practical application exercises throughout the course.

International perspective with the potential for studying abroad and many opportunities to study languages
Enhancement of social skills through presentation and communication techniques and individual job application training
A vibrant campus life with inter-faculty activities in sport, music and theatre

Biotechnology is an innovative key technology that creates secure jobs. Many challenges of our time can no longer be solved without modern biotechnology. Whether it is the nutrition of a constantly growing population, the conversion of chemical processes to environmentally compatible and resource-saving technologies (white biotechnology), the production of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics, or flavouring substances and starter cultures for the food industry, all require excellently trained specialists.

IBT is the only course in Germany with such a wide-ranging orientation in life sciences. This interdisciplinary and practice-oriented course provides a thorough grounding in natural sciences and engineering, business administration as well as legal and ethical aspects. The core modules of bioprocess engineering, biocatalysis, molecular biology, bioanalytics as well as food and pharmaceutical products form the main course of study. New laboratories equipped with modern measuring and analysis equipment are available for this purpose.

Short form	IBT
Type of study	Full time
Duration	7 semesters
Award	Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)
Start of studies	Winter semester
Admission restrictions	None
Lecture location	Ansbach
Language of instruction	German
Course management	Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anke Knoblauch
Student advisory service	Prof. Dr. Sibylle Gaisser
Student Services	studierendenservice.ibt(at)hs-ansbach.de

Course flyer (German)

Study and examination regulations

Study structure

Biotechnology sees itself as a melting pot of the various scientific and engineering disciplines. Modern techniques from the fields of molecular and microbiology have given biotechnology an enormous boost worldwide in recent years. In order to meet the demands of research and industry on biotechnologists, the aim of this course is to train students as comprehensively and practically as possible. The Bachelor's programme provides intensive practical training in these core biotechnological subjects; internships and placements account for approximately half of the total course hours.

The course prepares students for work in a variety of professional fields in biotechnology and applied biosciences. The programme is geared towards learning scientific basics and methods and leads to a vocational and practice-oriented degree that will enable graduates to work independently in the field of applied research, development, production or administration.

The most important study goals are:

the acquisition of sound knowledge of scientific and engineering fundamentals and knowledge of methods in theory and practice
professional competences in all areas of life sciences and specialisation in your fields of interest
Basic knowledge of communication techniques, law, business administration and technology assessment (ELSA)

The programme is module-based throughout and comprises 210 ECTS credits. In the first two semesters, students mainly learn the basics of science and technology. The third to seventh semesters include topic-specific courses on technical and scientific applications and the practical semester.

Key fields in the application of biotechnology are represented in the design of the core modules of the Industrial Biotechnology course.

The structure of curriculum is shown in the following table. The rectangles indicate individual core modules and all the courses affiliated with these modules are highlighted in the same colour.

Essential application areas of biotechnology can be found in the conception of the core modules of the Industrial Biotechnology course.

The concrete curriculum is shown in the following table. The rectangles indicate individual courses of the modules, the affiliation to the module groups is indicated by the corresponding colours.

Laboratories

Biotechnology / Biotechnikum

To the laboratory

Bioprocess Engineering

To the laboratory

Chemistry

To the laboratory

Electrical measurement, control and regulation technology

To the laboratory

Food Technology

To the laboratory

Molecular biology / Applied bioanalytics

To the laboratory

Process engineering / Bulk material analysis

To the laboratory

Physics

To the laboratory

Raw materials and environmental metrology / Combustion technology

To the laboratory

Simulation / Data processing

To the laboratory

Further Information

Due to the wide range of their qualifications, graduates with a biotechnological degree can be employed in a huge variety of areas in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and there is also considerable potential in other fields of employment.

In the following some of the most important job opportunities of the graduates are listed.

Chemical or pharmaceutical industry
Food and luxury food production
Cosmetic, paper and textile industry
Plant and apparatus engineering
Extraction of energy materials and biomass
Environmental protection or environmental measurement technology
Authorities (technical supervision, environment, health)
Freelance activities (e.g. patenting, management consulting)

Future outlook

In general, the future prospects for the biotechnology sector are excellent. This was also the conclusion of a wide-ranging study. In 2007, the German Biotechnology Industry Association (DIB) commissioned a study to be carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research and the German Institute for Economics (DIW) in Berlin.

The main findings of the study are listed below:

Already today, between 258,000 and 443,000 jobs are directly influenced by biotechnology.
Depending on the market situation, another 100,000 jobs will be created in the next few years.
By 2020, biotechnology will have secured or created 369,000 to 596,000 jobs.
This represents more jobs than in the entire chemical industry, which currently employs around 440,000 employees.

Admission requirements

University entrance qualification, general or subject-related university entrance qualification or vocational qualification (master craftsman or vocational training and 3 years of professional experience in a relevant field). There are no special qualification requirements such as passing an aptitude test or proof of previous practical experience for the Bachelor's degree in Industrial Biotechnology.

Nathalie Ganter

Pharmaceutical research

"After studying industrial biotechnology for 7 semesters at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences, I joined the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (turnover 2016: 16 billion euros) where I work as a technical employee."

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Daniel Christofori

Pharma production

"For me, the industrial biotechnology course was a complete success."

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Lina Staufer

Cancer Research

"In my opinion, what distinguishes the bachelor's degree course in industrial biotechnology above all, is the large number of practice-oriented internships."

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Marcella Kraft

Regenerative medicine

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What is white biotechnology?

White biotechnology - also known as industrial biotechnology - is the use of nature's tools in industrial production according to a definition by the European industrial association EuropaBio.
White biotechnology therefore uses organisms or their components as the basis for industrial production.
White biotechnology is currently undergoing rapid development as a result of recent scientific successes that have led to the elucidation of biological systems and their control and regulation mechanisms. It encompasses a multitude of products, methods and applications. The products of industrial biotechnology include special and fine chemicals, food or food additives, agricultural and pharmaceutical precursors and numerous excipients for the processing industry. The methods of modern white biotechnology can be used both to establish new biotechnological production processes for existing products and to develop new products with high value-added potential.

White biotechnology today

White biotechnology uses microorganisms or their components to produce valuable biotechnological products or to carry out important chemical reactions with the help of their metabolic functions. The source of the strains used in industrial biotechnology is nature. It is estimated that more than two billion different species of microorganisms exist, of which less than 1% are known to date. These microorganisms provide amazing metabolic performance that is exploited by industrial or white biotechnology. More than 10,000 different naturally occurring enzymes are believed to exist of which only a fraction is known.

White biotechnology is currently experiencing a major upswing, partly due to the establishment of successful projects and partly due to successes in molecular biological and biotechnological research: genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, screening methods and bioinformatics have all paved the way for ever-improving methods. The time required for the development and establishment of new biotechnological processes and products has been significantly reduced. The standardisation and miniaturisation of biotechnological production processes have further advanced development. Recently, both science and industry have been increasingly involved in the industrial application of biotechnology.
Increased global competition and the resulting rise in energy and raw material prices, as well as efforts to make industrial processes more sustainable overall, have further accelerated this development.

White biotechnology can make a substantial contribution to overcoming future challenges. It can contribute to this in the following ways:

Establish simpler, cleaner and more environmentally friendly production processes.
Reduce dependence on fossil raw materials
Reduce investment costs
Reduce energy and disposal costs
Develop new products and system solutions with high value-added potential
Improve the competitiveness of many industries

Further information:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research: Comprehensive page on biotechnology
www.bmbf.de

Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology e.V.
www.dechema.de

German Association of Biotechnology Industries: Industry data/job opportunities
www.dib.org

Association of the Chemical Industry
www.vci.de

Association of German Engineers: Competence Field Biotechnology
www.vdi.de

Association of German Biotechnology Companies
www.v-b-u.org

EUROPABIO: The European Association for Bioindustries
www.europabio.org

Semesters abroad

Our International Office will provide you with individual advice and support in planning and preparing for a semester abroad - both in terms of organisation and, in many cases, financially. You can also prepare yourself for studying abroad in our Language Centre in order to make your stay easier.

Staff

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinz Dauth

Professor Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)

0981 4877-467 53.1.2 nach Vereinbarung heinz.dauth vCard

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Prof. Dr. Dirk Fabritius

Professor Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)

0981 4877-329 53.1.3 nach Vereinbarung dirk.fabritius vCard

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Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Katja Frohnapfel

Laboringenieurin Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)

0981 4877-324 92.1.36 nach Vereinbarung katja.frohnapfel vCard

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Prof. Dr. Sibylle Gaisser

Professorin Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT) / Studienfachberatung Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)

0981 4877-304 53.1.4 nach Vereinbarung sibylle.gaisser vCard

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Prof. Dr. Sibylle Gaisser

0981 4877-304
53.1.4
nach Vereinbarung
sibylle.gaisser
vCard

Professorin Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT) / Studienfachberatung Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)

Funktionen:

Professorin Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)
Studienfachberatung Industrielle Biotechnologie (IBT)
Professorin Künstliche Intelligenz und Kognitive Systeme (KIK)
Professorin Applied Biotechnology (ABI)
Studienfachberatung Applied Biotechnology (ABI)
Frauenbeauftragte Fakultät Technik
Musik an der Hochschule

Lehrgebiete:

Biotechnologie
Biologie
Rekombinante Arzneistoffe
Bioethik

Vita:

Studium der Technischen Biologie an den Universitäten Stuttgart, Swansea (Großbritannien) und Freiburg
Promotion in der Pharmazeutischen Fakultät der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen zum Thema der Antibiotika-BioSynthese und Resistenzmechanismen in Streptomyceten
Industrie und Forschungstätigkeiten:
- Stellvertretende Geschäftsführerin der Biotechnologie-Agentur Baden-Württemberg
- Senior Scientist und Projektmanagerin am Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung, Karlsruhe im Fachbereich "Neue Technologien"
- Weiterbildung und Forschungsaufenthalt zum Thema "Health Technology Assessment" an der Universität Montreal, Kanada
seit 1/2010 Professorin für Biotechnologie und Bioverfahrenstechnik an der Hochschule Ansbach

Forschungsthemen:

Synthetische Biologie
Antibiotika-Biosynthese
Sozioökonomische Analysen und Technikfolgenabschätzung im Bereich der Lebenswissenschaften

Publikationen (Auswahl):

[1] S. Gaisser, T. Reiss (2014): Synthetische Biologie im Spannungsfeld von Forschung, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft - von der Notwendigkeit eines interdisziplinären und ergebnisoffenen Dialogs. pp. 69 - 90. In "Chancen und Risiken der modernen Biotechnologie". M.Schartl, J.M. Erber.Schropp (Herausgeber). Verlag Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

[2] S. Gaisser, T. Reiss (2009): Shaping the science-industry-policy interface in synthetic biology. Systems and Synthetic Biology 2009 Dec;3(1-4):109-14.

[3] S. Gaisser, Reiss T, Lunkes A, Müller KM, Bernauer H. (2009): Making the most of synthetic biology. Strategies for synthetic biology development in Europe. EMBO Rep. 2009 Aug;10 Suppl 1:S5-8.

[4] S. Gaisser, Hopkins MM, Liddell K, Zika E, Ibarreta D. (2009): The phantom menace of gene patents. Nature. 2009 Mar 26;458(7237):407-8.

[5] M. M. Hopkins, D. Ibarreta, S. Gaisser, C,M. Enzing, J. Ryan, P.A. Martin, G. Lewis, S. Detmar, et al.: "Putting pharmacogenetics into practice". Nature Biotechnology 4/2006

[6] Gaisser, S.; Nusser, M.; Reiß, T.: Stärkung des Pharma-Innovationsstandortes Deutschland. Fraunhofer IRB-Verlag (2005), 224 S.

[7] S. Gaisser, A. Trefzer, S. Stockert, A. Kirschning, A. Bechthold: "Cloning of an avilamycin biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces viridochromogenes Tü57". J. Bacteriol. (1997), 179 (20): 6271-6278.