Development of Pharmaceuticals from Indonesian Natural Resources, Genetically Engineered Microbes and Diversification of Palm Oil Products

The objective of this paper is to give an overview on natural resources in terms of renewable resources as well as non-renewable resources for the development of new pharmaceuticals, chemical and food products, the roles of microbial cells in solid substrate fermentation and submerged fermentation. The benefit of this paper is to present current information on the role of traditional and modern biotechnology. The methods used, namely traditional and modern biotechnology and chemical synthesis are developed and implemented to produce pharmaceutical and chemical products. Results can be shown that microorganisms have been engineered to commercially produce such substances as the hormone insulin, the virus fighting compound interferon, and a new vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease. Traditional fermentation technology has been done to produce low cost protein food using natural product as a substrate and the development of palm oil derived products for food, oleo chemicals, bio-plastic, bio-diesel and lubricants, respectively.