The 8th International Conference on Computer Applications in Biotechnology (CAB8) was held in Quebec city, Canada, 24 - 27 June, 2001. The conference on Computer Applications in Biotechnology is organized every three years and aims to stimulate contacts between specialists active in academic research and industrial development in all major areas of biotechnology where computers are used to aid bioprocess design, supervision, diagnosis, operation, optimization and control. Essential bioprocess systems engineering aspects ranging from metabolic engineering to the control of bio-production plants are covered. CAB8 was supported by IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) and EFB (European Federation of Biotechnology). This conference series results from the merger of EFB (European Federation of Biotechnology), ICCAFT (International Conference on Computer Applications in Fermentation Technology) and IFAC Modelling and Control of Biotechnical Processes Symposia. The scientific program was arranged in several sessions as listed in this volume. Two poster sessions were held in which excellent papers were presented. In addition, three plenary lectures given by Prof. George Bastin (UCL, Belgium), Prof. Douglas Kilburn (UBC, Canada), and Prof. Benhard O. Palsson (UCSD, USA) reviewed the state of art in metabolic engineering modelling, interaction between molecular biology and bioprocess engineering, and influence of bioinformatics on metabolic engineering. In total, 79 papers of very high quality were presented with 76 papers appearing in this Proceedings volume.