BTLW100005 Introduction to food science and biotechnology

Type
course with non-continuous assessment
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Mayer, Viktoria , Jäger, Henry , Buyel, Johannes
Organisation
Biotechnology and Food Science
Offered in
Sommersemester 2026
Languages of instruction
Deutsch
Content

The students acquire basic knowledge of the most important historical developments, facts and contents of food and biotechnology and can thus determine whether this technical course of study is the right choice of course for them.

For Biotechnology (Buyel)
Unit 1: What is biotechnology, why do we need it? --> Application examples from biotechnology including representative products
Unit 2: Genetic engineering tools - from nucleotide to plasmid --> construction of genes, use of DNA sequences to produce products
Unit 3: Cellular tools - from amino acids to enzymes --> Properties of amino acids and proteins as well as their structure and function/use in biotechnology
Unit 4: Technical tools - from the cell to the bioprocess --> requirements of cells, operation of bioreactors, balance sheets, basic operations and flow diagrams

For Food Technology (Jäger)
Unit 1: What is food technology and what are the objectives of food processing? What are the differences between formulation and processing, and how can the concept of process–structure–property relationships contribute to a fundamental understanding of processing?
Unit 2: What are technologically relevant raw material properties and how do they influence the choice of processing concepts? Recovery and further processing of plant-based food ingredients using soy protein as an example.
Unit 3: How can raw materials and foods be stabilized? What is food spoilage and what are the basic principles of food preservation?
Unit 4: Design of thermal processes and their technical implementation using pasteurization and sterilization as examples.
Previous knowledge expected

no specific previous knowledge expected
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Part 1 (Biotechnology, Buyel): The students...
1. Understand what career options are available after studying biotechnology
2. Know which typical products come from biotechnological production
3. Can explain how genes are structured and what function different gene sections have
4. Can explain the structure of proteins and know which functions are typical for biotechnological applications
5. Can name, differentiate and arrange basic operations into typical processes

Part 2 (Food Technology, Jäger). The students ...
1. Know the objectives of food processing and exemplary processing concepts.
2. Understand the importance of composition, structure, and the resulting raw material and product properties.
3. Are able to identify processing concepts for the texturization and stabilization of foods.
4. Understand the relationship between processing objectives, technical implementation, and the resulting food properties.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.