The list of Biotechnology Books is a project started by Jim DeKloe along with Matt Croughan at Genentech.  It was prepared mainly for faculty teaching students to enter the field of biotechnology as technicians and for industry trainers looking for appropriate books to accompany an in-house training program.  The list might also serve as a good source of reference texts for students.  Since community college programs train technicians, this list places an emphasis on the industrial component of biotechnology (especially manufacturing); it contains a bias against biotech books that might be more useful for those engaged in basic research.  Many of these books are excellent and serve well as references, but it is difficult to find a single text that is comprehensive enough, and geared at the appropriate level, that might serve as a single textbook.  Suggestions of colleagues at Genentech and faculty from other colleges helped with the early development of this list.  The Bio-Link Clearinghouse is including suggestions from other sources as well.

If you have a favorite book email us we’ll include it on this list:

* Reviews by Jim DeKloe are annotated JdK

The list is divided into these areas:

1. GENERAL BIOTECHNOLOGY BOOKS
2. THE BUSINESS SIDE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
3. BOOKS FOR A GENERAL AUDIENCE OR AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE
4. CELL CULTURE
5. ENGINEERING BOOKS
6. REGULATION
7. FORMULATION
8. LABORATORY BOOKS FOR TEACHING LABS
9. BIOINFORMATICS AND GENOME PROJECTS
10. OTHER USEFUL REFERENCES
11. HISTORY OF THE FIELD
12. IMMUNOLOGY
13. FORENSIC DNA ANALYSIS
14. GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN
15. BOOKS ON WINE AND BEER MICROBIOLOGY
16. BIOETHICS OR OPPOSITION TO VARIOUS FORMS OF BIOTECH
17. AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ITS CRITICS
18. FOOD BIOCHEMISTRY
19. CAREERS
20. SAFETY
21. SKILL STANDARDS AND CURRICULUM ANALYSIS
22. MATH FOR BIOSCIENCES