2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Life Science and Technology Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology

Biochemical Engineering

Academic unit or major: Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology
Instructor(s): Takashi Hirasawa / Yuki Yamaguchi / Mina Okochi / Masayoshi Tanaka
Class Format: Lecture (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): 5-6 Tue (W3-501(W351))
Class: -
Course Code: LST.A366
Number of credits: 100
Course offered: 2026
Offered quarter: 2Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 26, 2026
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Biochemical engineering is a branch of engineering whose objective is to utilize living organisms or biological functions for the production or transformation of organic materials. Biological functions of enzymes and microbes and furthermore of animal and plant cells and microbes produced by molecular breeding are used. Topics covered in this course include the following: basic chemical engineering to gain grounding in the fundamental knowledge of biochemical engineering, stoichiometry, and design and operation of bioreactors. This course provides a comprehensive view of bioprocessing, and follows a logical progression starting from the structural aspect of a bioprocess. In order to produce biomaterials through biocatalysis, a quantitative look into enzymatic reactions and cell growth is essential, and the course shows how the study into the stoichiometry and kinetics of biocatalysis may be used for this purpose.

Course description and aims

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Show knowledge of the classification, characteristics, and industrial use of organisms
2. Analyze the structure and functions of enzymes and the rate of enzymatic reactions
3. Design bioreactors based on their understanding of the features of bioreactors
4. Operate bioreactors and become familiar with the operating guidelines

Keywords

Material balance, Flux, Enzymes, Enzyme kinetics, Stoichiometry, Cell growth kinetics, Bioreactors

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

For solid understanding of lecture content and practical application skills, exercises and/or assignments related to the lecture material will be assigned.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	The three stages of bioprocessing: the roles and functions of upstream, midstream, and downstream processing. Basics of chemical engineering: basic and derived units, material balance, flux and characteristics of bioreactors.	Students must be able to present their knowledge on the historical and industrial significance of biochemical engineering. Students must be able to express derived units using basic units.
Class 2	Metabolism and biocatalysts: enzymes, coenzymes, central dogma, bacteria, animal cells, plant cells, and conventional breeding and molecular breeding.	Understanding of molecular breeding is required. Students must be able to explain the importance of social acceptance of this technology.
Class 3	Reaction engineering of enzymes: the Michaelis-Menten equation, dynamics of enzymatic reaction and derivation of reaction parameters, kinetics of enzyme inhibitors.	Students must be able to derive the Michaelis-Menten equation.
Class 4	Stoichiometry of bioengineering: stoichiometry of material and energy.	and energy. Students should become familiar with the practical applications of the various kinds of balance and stoichiometric analysis.
Class 5	Kinetics of cell growth: the Monod equation, growth rate, substrate consumption rate, and production rate of metabolites.	Gain understanding of the interrelationship between growth rate, substrate consumption rate, and the production rate.
Class 6	Bioreactors for cultivating microorganisms: Batch cultivation and chemostat	Students must be able to understand characteristics of batch cultivation and chemostat
Class 7	Bioreactors for cultivating microorganisms: Chemostat and sterilization	Students must be able to derive important parameters for the design of bioreactors for chemostat.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 60 minutes preparing for class and another 60 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Tanji et al. Biochemical Engineering. 3rd edition. Kodansha Scientific. (In Japanese)

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Powerpoint documents that are to be used in class will be made available in advance via the LMS system. Students are expected to use these documents for preparation and review purposes.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Final exam: 100%
Mini test will be given in every class to assess students' comprehension and its achievement will be included into final evaluation.

Related courses

LST.A203 ： Biochemistry I
LST.A218 ： Biochemistry II
LST.A201 ： Physical Chemistry I
LST.A345 ： Microbiology
LST.A363 ： Environmental Bioengineering

Prerequisites

This is a 300-level course in Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology, not a 300-level course in Undergraduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering. Please not this when registering this course.
Students who had already took a course of "Biochemical Engineering" in Undergraduate major in Life Science and Technology (course code LST.A249) cannot take this course.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

Takashi Hirasawa：　thirasawa[at]life isct.ac.jp・5780
Yuki Yamaguchi：　yamaguchi.y.8072[at]m.isct.ac.jp・5798
Mina Okochi：　okochi.m.d90a[at]m.isct.ac.jp・2116
Masayoshi Tanaka：　tanaka.m.b9e9[at]m.isct.ac.jp・5567