The term `biotechnology’ refers to any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for a specific use. Biotechnology, in the form of traditional fermentation techniques, has been used for decades to make bread, cheese or beer. It has also been the basis of traditional animal and plant breeding techniques, such as hybridisation and the selection of plants and animals with specific characteristics to create, for example, crops which produce higher yields of grain. The difference with modern biotechnology is that researchers can now take a single gene from a plant or animal cell and insert it in another plant or animal cell to give it a desired characteristic, such as a plant that is resistant to a specific pest or disease. In the Biosafety Protocol, modern biotechnology means the application of: a) In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct inj
The term biotechnology, often referred to as biotech, brings to mind many different things. Many people think that biotechnology only involves genetic research. Cloning, the human genome project, movies, news, and pop culture focusing on genetic research have contributed to this. However, the field of biotechnology is much more broad. Genetic engineering of crops for agriculture, bioremediation, food processing, drugs, and proteomics are all included in the field of biotechnology. Biotechnology is the branch of technology that utilizes living organisms or biological systems to modify humans and their environment. Biotechnology is also not only limited to high-tech or prototype technologies, humans have been practicing biotechnology for centuries. The most primitive examples include the breeding of dogs and using yeast to make bread rise. What advantage do the products of biotechnology have over regular drugs and treatments? Drugs and therapies from Gattaga are designed to be most effec
Biotechnology focuses on applications made possible by biological research. Just as discoveries in physics, chemistry, and materials sciences brought us electricity and manufactured goods—-and just as discoveries in electronics paved the way to the Internet– so discoveries in the life sciences are driving a new revolution in biotechnology. Biotechnology is Evolving We are right in the midst of the biotechnology revolution, so it is difficult to imagine its future impact. Even our most creative visionaries cannot fully picture where biotechnology will be 20 years from now, or even ten years, or five. Hindsight is always 20:20. Based on what we now know, it is easy to be amused by the 1977 quotation from Ken Olsen, founder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, when he said that there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. In 1977, it was not easy to imagine how easy it would become to manufacture personal computers, nor was easy to see the numerous ways in