The Industry-University Cooperative Chemistry Program (IUCCP) has
sponsored eight previous international symposia covering a range of
topics of interest to industrial and academic chemists. The ninth IUCCP
Symposium, held March 18-21, 1991 at Texas A&M University was the second
in a two part series focusing on Biotechnology. The title for this
Symposium "Applications of Enzyme Biotechnology" was by design a rather
all encompassing title, similar in some respects to the discipline.
Biotechnology refers to the application of biochemistry for the
development of a commercial product. Persons employed in or interested
in biotechnology may be chemists, molecular biologists, biophysicists,
or physicians. The breadth of biotech research projects requires close
collaboration between scientists of a variety of backgrounds,
prejudices, and interests. Biotechnology is a comparatively new
discipline closely tied to new developments in the fields of chemistry,
biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine. The primary function of
Texas A&M University is to educate students who will be appropriately
trained to carry out the mission of biotechnology. The IUCCP Symposium
serves as an important forum for fostering closer ties between academia
and industry and exchanging ideas so important to this evolving area.