Topic overview

Start with the big picture

The lesson maps how microbial cells and their products support therapy and medicine manufacture. It introduces whole-cell applications, including probiotics, BCG, and live-attenuated vaccines, alongside microbial enzymes and recombinant proteins such as streptokinase, L-asparaginase, and insulin. It also considers vaccine antigens and microbial polysaccharides used as therapeutics or excipients. Production depends on choosing an appropriate host and expression system: bacterial systems can differ from eukaryotic systems in post-translational modification, which may affect protein activity. The topic then follows the manufacturing process through fermentation conditions and downstream purification, highlighting quality considerations such as removing endotoxins and other contaminants.