Thoroughly updated for currency and with exciting new practical examples throughout, this popular text provides the tools, practice, and basic knowledge for success in the biotech workforce.

With its balanced coverage of basic cell and molecular biology, fundamental techniques, historical accounts, new advances, and hands-on applications, the Third Edition emphasizes the future of biotechnology and the biotechnology student’s role in that future. Two new features—Forecasting the Future, and Making a Difference—along with several returning hallmark features, support the new focus. 

1. The Biotechnology Century and Its Workforce
2. An Introduction to Genes and Genomes
3. Recombinant DNA Technology and Genomics
4. Proteins as Products
5. Microbial Biotechnology
6. Plant Biotechnology 
7. Animal Biotechnology
8. DNA Fingerprinting and Forensic Analysis
9. Bioremediation
10. Aquatic Biotechnology
11. Medical Biotechnology
12. Biotechnology Regulations
13. Ethics and Biotechnology

Appendix I: Answers to Questions

Appendix II: The 20 Amino Acids of Proteins
Glossary
Index

• Forecasting the Future begins each chapter and highlights biotechnology-driven questions that have yet to be answered, are in the process of being researched, or are topics/research/policy that are under development and will have an impact on our future. This demonstrates to students that biotechnology is a dynamic field, encompassing a broad range of career options, and that there are still many problems and questions that they can get involved in solving and answering.

• Making a Difference appears at the end of each chapter and provides short case studies that

  contain an example of the chapter’s content and how it can be applied in the real world. This feature inspires and engages students by discussing how real people, real companies, and real organizations are putting biotech to use to improve the quality of life.

• New “You Decide” boxes include discussions on synthetic genomes, direct to consumer gene testing kits, and genetically-modified insects to pose new and current ethical questions for students to consider.

• Coverage of Recent Research includes discussions about projects such as the 1,000 Genomes Project, the Human Microbiome Project, and the Cancer Atlas Genome Project to emphasize changes to the biotechnology world in the ten years since the completion of the Human Genome Project.
• Extensive Content Updates have been made throughout including
  • New section on epigenomes and epigenetics (Chapter 2)
  • New section on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)  (Chapter 3)
  • New coverage of biofuels and “biopharming” (Chapter 6)
  • New discussion of cloning agricultural animals v. traditional crossbreeding (Chapter 7)
  • Added discussion of how biotechnology was used in the cleanup of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill; added discussion of how DNA fingerprinting was used to identify remains found in the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Japan (Chapters 8 and 9)
  • New content on bioprospecting, including the discovery of Yondelis, and medical uses for aquatic organisms
  • New section on nanomedicine (Chapter 11)
• Select chapters have been streamlined and reorganized.

• Concise overviews examine cutting-edge techniques and concepts including Bioinformatics, Proteomics, and Genomics, as well as detailed information on agricultural, medical, forensic, and regulatory issues that impact the biotechnology industry.
• Career Profile Boxes in each chapter introduce students to different career paths in the biotechnology industry and provide detailed information on job functions, salaries, and guidance for preparing to enter the workforce.
• You Decide Boxes in each chapter stimulate ethical discussion by giving students questions and information relating to the social and ethical implications of biotechnology and regulations.
• Tools of the Trade Boxes provide details on modern techniques and methods related to each chapter’s content and the biotech industry.
• End-of-Chapter Questions & Activities encourage students to apply what they’ve learned and include internet assignments that explore cutting edge topics. Suggested answers are provided in the Appendix.
• Abundant illustrations, instructional diagrams, and flow charts present modern images, step-by-step explanations of complex processes, and include new figures on the use of gene microarrays, PCR, and nanobiotechnology.
• Companion Website offers study aids, such as flashcards, a glossary, chapter reviews, and additional web resources.
• Instructor’s Test Bank includes multiple choice questions for each chapter.
• A section on “Business of Biotechnology” in Chapter 1 describes biotech company organization and structure, top biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and features updated data on the biotechnology industry worldwide.

William Thieman, formerly of Ventura College, chaired one of the leading biotech programs in California. Co-author Michael A. Palladino is a molecular biologist with considerable experience in directing undergraduate student research in recombinant DNA technology; he is co-author of Concepts of Genetics, Tenth Edition, Essentials of Genetics, Seventh Edition, as well as Understanding the Human Genome Project, Second Edition.

• Companion Website -- Instant Access -- for Introduction to Biotechnology
  http://www.pearsonhighered.com/biotechnology