Bio tech

• Biotechnology can be referred to as classical or traditional biotechnology and modern biotechnology.
• Pathogenic, virulent and resistant microorganisms are investigated to convert them into biological weapons or counteract their harmful effects.
• Both types of biotechnology utilize processes that utilize living organisms, but the techniques in doing so vary greatly.
• The term biotechnology was used before the twentieth century for traditional activities, but it is more than just that in the modern sense.
• Modern techniques in biotechnology make it possible to take advantage of the biological process in a very precise way.
• The introduction of a large number of techniques has changed the face of classical biotechnology forever.
• According to the United States National Science Academy, biotechnology is the “controlled use of biological agents like cells or cellular components for beneficial use”.
• Biotechnology covers both classical as well as modern biotechnology.
• Biotechnology can be defined as “ the use of living organisms, cells or cellular components for the production of compounds or precise genetic improvement of living things for the benefit of man”.
• The technological explosion of the 20th century revolutionized the development of life sciences, resulting in the evolution of modern biotechnology.
• Biotechnology is supported by an array of techniques, enabling the development of useful products for the benefit of man.
• Genetically-altered crops, which can resist stress of pests, diseases, and environmental extremes, were developed through biotechnology.
• New tools and techniques to extend the studies on genomics and proteomics, not only of man but other organisms, were also developed through biotechnology.
• The involvement of information technology and internet in biotechnology has given birth to bioinformatics and computational biology.
• The skills of biotechnology, like any other modern science, are founded on previous knowledge acquired through the ages.
• The term biotechnology, first used in 1917, refers to a large-scale fermentation process for the production of various types of industrial chemicals.
• The roots of biotechnology can be traced back to pre-historic civilizations, such as Egyptian and Indus Valley civilization.
• Primitive man became domesticated enough to breed plants and animals, gather and process herbs for medicine, make bread, wine and beer, create septic systems to deal with digestive and excretory waste products, and create vaccines to immunize themselves against diseases.
• Ancient Indus people prepared and used various types of fermented food, beverages, and medicine.
• The ancient Egyptians and Sumerians used yeasts to brew wine and bake bread as early as 4000 BC.
• People in Mesopotamia used bacteria to convert wine into vinegar.
• Many ancient civilizations exploited tiny organisms that live in the earth by rotating crops in the field to increase crop yield.
• Soon, scientists and industrialist were seeking to alter the genetic make-up of living things by transferring specific genes from one organism to another.
• Companies have been assisted and encouraged in their research by the 1980 ruling of the U.S Supreme Court allowing genetically-engineered microorganisms to be patented.
• Biotechnology of dessert and dry regions centers around treatment of desert-like soils drawing from species that are highly resistant to dry and saline soils, mainly places such as Africa.
• Red biotechnology, also referred to as biopharmaceuticals, involves the use of biotechnology in the medical field, often in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Environmental biotechnology uses living organisms to improve the environment we live in, including bioremediation that uses microorganisms or plants to clean up the environment from certain pollutants.
• Law, ethics, and philosophy biotechnology centers upon the study of the legal aspects that surround this science, including biosecurity and moral impact of certain technologies (gene therapy, animal testing, etc.).
• Green biotechnology plays a key role in the increased production of food to meet the demand of an increasing population, as well as in developing less environmentally damaging fertilizers and biopesticides.
• Transgenic animals have been created such as the unfortunate onco-mouse designed to develop cancer ten months after birth to study cancer.
• Many techniques are utilized in green biotechnology, from tissue cultivation, micropropagation, marker-assisted selection, and reverse breeding to genetic engineering.
• Industrial biotechnology focuses on reducing the environmental impact of industrial processes, involving the production of biodegradable polymers and renewable fuel to encourage a more sustainable system.
• Marine biotechnology focuses on marine organisms, involving the use of marine organisms or their products for creation of new medicaments, cosmetic products, food or food supplements.
• White biotechnology is arguably the largest area of biotechnology, revolving primarily around the use of biocatalysts for the industrial-scale production and processing of products.
• Food and nutrition biotechnology encompasses creation of new ways to improve certain food products or to obtain more nutrition-rich products, as well as elimination of allergens and other components from food that are the root of various intolerances.
• Bioinformatics and computer science deal in bioinformatics, computers science, chip technology as well as nanobiotechnology, including search for primers, sequencing of peptides, search for alternations in DNA.
• Red biotechnology covers applications of biotechnology relating to clinical trials, vaccine development, disease research, antibiotic production, drug development, and molecular diagnostics.
• Dark biotechnology is not really something that anyone from science community takes part in, including production of biological warfare and bioterrorism.
• In 1857, Louis Pasteur published his report on lactic acid formation from sugar fermentation.
• By the 1940s, genetics had transformed the agriculture sector, which led to the Green Revolution in the 1960s.