Bioencapsulation in Biotechnology

Bioencapsulation was first reported about 30 years ago (Chang 1964). This includes bioencapsulation of cells, enzymes, drugs, magnetic materials, isotopes, absorbents, hemoglobin and other materials (1–5) (Fig. 1). In the last 10 years, explosive interests in biotechnology has led to increasing research on bioencapsulation by many groups. Rapid progress is therefore being made around the world on the use of bioencapsulation in biotechnology (6–8). Studies by other groups are described in details in this symposium volume. This paper is therefore mainly a discussion of some of our own studies on bioencapsulation in biotechnology.