Biotechnology
Research Center
Introduction:
Biotechnology Research Center was established
in 2008 as one of the main research centers of Isfahan University of Technology
(IUT).
RIB consists of eight research
groups and its scientific activities have been focused on the practical aspects
of biotechnology and bioengineering including, Industrial Biotechnology,
Agricultural Biotechnology, Biomaterials, Bioelectronics and Environmental
Biotechnology.
Scientific staff of the center
includes about 60 researchers PhD degrees. In addition, there are also some
researchers of other universities who are cooperating through shared research
projects.
RIB emphasizes collaboration with industry,
other research institutions, and national laboratories; and sponsor workshops,
short courses, symposia, and seminars.
Vision:
To be a premier research institution
for practical research in biotechnology
Mission:
To make fundamental discoveries for
practical usage, to find innovative solutions for scientific challenges, and
develop new technologies for commercial applications
Goals:
1- Meeting national demand for
biotechnological researches
2-
Training
entrepreneurial scientists and development
of human
resources
3-
Helping to
create new jobs in biotechnology
4-
Development
of interdisciplinary researches focusing on the challenges
facing society
5-
Maximizing
the value and economic impacts of RIB’s research
projects
Research groups:
·
Industrial Biotechnology
Renewable
fuels, biological industrial chemicals, and food can be produced by biological
methods. Some biological production industries exist in Iran and some are under
construction. The Industrial Biotechnology Group was founded based on the
experiments done at IUT Department of Chemical Engineering. A group of faculty
initiated academic activates in this area since 2001 aiming at supporting the
nation’s biological
industries. The group worked towards the production of bioethanol, biogas,
biohydrogen, superabsorbent,
acetone and
butanol, and other bioproducts. Feasibility study, pilot plant development,
optimization, technology transfer, and guiding the investors in biological
production are among the activities of the group. Since 2001, the group
supported or contributed to the publication of more than 30 scientific papers
in these fields.
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·
Environmental Biotechnology
The human
population growth, unsustainable resource utilization as well as agricultural and
industrial development have caused the increase of consumption, pollution and
degradation of natural environment such as terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,
world forests and rangelands.
In recent
years, the use of biotechnology for ecosystem monitoring and remediation, and
the study genetic diversity were given more attention due to economical and
environmental advantages.
Environmental
Biotechnology Research Group (EBRG) was founded in 2009 as a subdivision of the
center for conducting biotechnological researches in collaboration with IUT
Department of Natural Resources. The main research areas of EBRG are the
bioremediation of polluted environments, environmental impact assessment using
bioindicators and biomonitoring methods, aquatic biotechnology, ecotoxicology,
conservation and population genetics as well as gene and sperm bank
establishment.
·
Bioelectronics and Biomedical Engineering
The
Bioelectronics and Biomedical Engineering research group is one of the research
groups in Biotechnology Research Center
mostly composed of the faculty at IUT Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering. This group is found in 2010 and is aimed to establish relations
between the two fields of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Medicine.
Some of the most essential activities of this group are the design and
development of advanced medical equipments and the medical signal and image
processing for early detection and treatment of diseases. By now, this group is
active in several areas such as medical signal and image processing, modeling
and control of physiological systems and design and development of medical
instrumentations. Relying on its scientific members, very talented students,
modern laboratory equipments and excellent specialized software, the group will
be able to do various research activities on different aspects of biomedical
and bioelectrical engineering.
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Microbial Biotechnology
The research group
of microbial biotechnology is focused on the use of genetic engineering
techniques on the study of microorganisms including fungi, bacteria and viruses
for the following objectives:
1- Production
of useful secondary metabolites of microorganisms including antibiotics, drugs,
antibodies and vaccines in plants.
2- Use of
microorganisms for improvement of agricultural products including rhizobium
bacteria, fungi, endophytes, PGPRs and other symbiotic microorganisms.
3- Use of microorganisms
such as fungi, bacteria and viruses in pest and plant disease control.
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Biosensors
Biosensor is an
integrated automatic diagnostic
device providing quantitative or semi-quantitative bio-analytical information
using sensitive biological elements. Considering the
importance of biosensors
applications, biosensor research
group was founded at this
center with the main objective of designing and developing new, fast
and accurate biosensors
for diagnostic applications.
The main goals of this research
group can be
mentioned as the following:
1 - Design and use of intelligent systems for preparation of biosensors
2 -
Identification, design and synthesis
of differential elements suitable
for use in biosensor systems
3 - Design
and production of new biosensors for analysis of
biological and medical fluids
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4 – Improvement and optimization of biosensor systems from the accuracy
and reproducibility
point of view
·
Genetic Engineering and Gene Transformation
Research-educational
department of genetic engineering and gene transformation is a research group
composed of the faculty from the Department of Agriculture. It is a subset of
IUT Biotechnology
Research Center which is
established with cooperation of the university faculty in 2009. The purposes of
this research group are using modern techniques of biotechnology in
agricultural
sciences,
producing transgenic plants tolerant to the environmental stresses,
pharmaceutical production by means of molecular farming, production of secondary
metabolites in plants and promotion and maintenance of the quality of
horticultural crops by using the antisense RNA technology. The other goals of
this research group involve the study of gene expression in plants especially
native plants, isolation of useful genes of native and wild plants of Iran,
identification and isolation of plant promoters by aid of promoter trapping technique, production of
plants with new traits and manipulation of plant genome by insertion of the
foreign genes from different organisms, changing the rate of gene expression in
plants by use of promoter engineering in order to increase and decrease gene
expression and gene silencing of some genes.
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Biomaterials and Dental Materials
Activities:
1-
Design, programming and performing
of applied research in order to obtain the science and technology for the fabrication, preparation and characterization of
biomaterials and dental materials.
2-
Evaluation
and characterization of biomaterials, nanobiomaterials and dental materials
3-
Properties
measurements and selection of biomaterials and dental materials
Scientific and Research Services:
ü Applied research for
special aims in the field of Biomaterials
and Dental Materials based on the order of bioengineering company, biomedical
center or industry unit.
ü Consulting,
tests designs, tests administrations, and quality evaluation of biomaterials and dental materials for customers.
ü Quality
controls of commercial products, and activities for improvement of quality level of the products.
ü Consulting
and designing of the
quality management system and quality control system for biomaterials, dental
materials, and biomedical devices industry units.
ü Workshops, applied training courses, and
training during the work for biomedical devices industry units.
·
Animal Biotechnology
The animal
biotechnology group at IUT Biotechnology Research Center is going to be
established. Regarding the recent progresses in molecular biology, it is
expected that this group be involved in:
1-
Recycling of agriculture
and animal waste products for animal nutrition
2-
Production of growth
supplements by using transgenic bacteria
3-
Production and
replacement of oral antibody for antibiotic purposes
4-
Polymorphism detection
of candidate genes involved in production and reproduction of native and
Holstein calves for genotype selection
5-
Production and use of
probiotic and prebiotic in animal and poultry nutrition
6-
Use of new generation
of animal and poultry vaccines produced by genetic engineering method
7-
Biogas production and
application in livestock farms
Animal biotechnology group has the
specific merit of using the engineering system of IUT in order to achieve its
particular goals.
Main research
projects:
1-
Bioelectronics and
Biomedical Engineering: Brain to Computer Interface Based
on P300 Evoked Potential: A Vocal Communication system for Totally Deaf
Patients
2-
Animal Biotechnology: Evaluation
of the relationship between polymorphisms in the OLR1, SCD1 and Lactoferrin
genes with reproduction the performance and milk production traits in Holstein
dairy cattle
3-
Biomaterials and
Dental Materials: Fabrication and characterization of
poly-e-caprolactone -forsterite nano composite scaffold for biomedical applications
4-
Genetic Engineering
and Gene Transformation: Gene expression changes for
producing medicinal alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus in response to
phyto-hormones by real time PCR
5-
Biosensors: Sensitive
DNA impedance biosensor for the detection of cancer, chronic lymphocytic
leukemia by using gold nanoparticles/Au modified electrode
6-
Environmental
Biotechnology: Use of biosorbents for the removal
of contaminants from aqueous environments
7-
Industrial
Biotechnology: Pretreatment of lignocellulosic
materials for the improvement of biogas and bioethanol production
8-
Microbial
Biotechnology: Construction of rapid and sensitive
DNA detection kit of Rosellinia necatrix and Armillaria mellea,
causal agents of white root rot disease and Armillaria root rot disease by
means of specific primers methods
Technical Achievements:
·
Preparation of
nanoceramical biomaterials in four groups comprising bioactive glass,
hydroxyapatite, nanocrystaline forsterite and fluoridated hydroxyapatite
·
Design and development
of an automatic drug injection system
·
Non-invasive detection
of cardiac output by using digital processing of heart sounds
·
Non-invasive
determination of depth of anesthesia through digital processing of
electroencephalograms (EEG)
·
Application US-Patent
: Calf Biologic Anti-Scour Supplement (CBAS)
·
ADAM, a computer program
to simulate selective-breeding schemes for animals
·
Production of
Bioethanol, Acetone and Butanol from lignocellulosic materials
·
Biogas and Biohydrogen
production from lignocelluloses
·
Pretreatment of
cellulosic materials for biological conversions