Miniaturization in biotechnology: speeding up the development of bioprocesses.

The use of miniaturized devices for fastening bioprocess development, even up to production scale, has expanded rapidly, a feature clearly noticeable in recent years. This matter was reviewed in a recent past, but several developments have occurred since. These will be addressed in the present work, which will provide some insight on the use of microfluidic /microstructured reactors and of micro-scale downstream processing as well, therefore broadening the scope of the review.