High-Pressure Biotechnology in Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science

High-pressure (HP) biotechnology is an emerging technique initially applied for food processing and more recently in pharmaceutical and medical sciences. Pressure can stabilize enzymes and modulate both their activity and specificity. HP engineering of proteins may be used for enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and production of modified proteins of medical or pharmaceutical interest. HP inactivation of biological agents is expected to be applicable to sterilization of fragile biopharmaceuticals, or medical compounds. The enhanced immunogenicity of some pressure-killed bacteria and viruses could be applied for making new vaccines. Finally, storage at subzero temperatures without freezing is another potential application of HP for cells, animal tissues, blood cells, organs for transplant, and so forth.