Biotechnology
hideBiotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:
Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity, going back to the initial modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial selection and hybridization. Bioengineering is the science upon which all biotechnological applications are based. With the development of new approaches and modern techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of their systems.
Before 1971, the term, biotechnology, was primarily used within the agricultural industries. Since the 1970s, it began to be used by the Western scientific establishment to refer to laboratory-based techniques being developed in biological research, such as recombinant DNA or tissue culture-based processes, or horizontal gene transfer in living plants, using vectors such as the Agrobacterium bacteria to transfer DNA into a host organism. In fact, the term may be used in a much broader sense to describe the whole range of methods, both ancient and modern, used to manipulate organic materials for purposes including the production of food or other substances derived from living things. So the term could be defined as, "The application of indigenous and/or scientific knowledge to the management of (parts of) microorganisms, or of cells and tissues of higher organisms, so that these supply goods and services of use to the food industry and its consumers.
Biotechnology combines disciplines like genetics, Microbiology,molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology, and biorobotics. Patho-biotechnology describes the exploitation of pathogens or pathogen derived compounds for beneficial effect.
For more information about Biotechnology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with biotechnology
Researchers engineer bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The genetically modified cyanobacterium consumes carbon dioxide and produces the liquid fuel isobutanol by using energy from sunlight.
A RANK insider resolving the enigma of the fever chart
Nov 25, 2009 |
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Mammals have evolved a complex system for controlling bone remodeling. Babies require calcium for healthy bones and they obtain it from their mother's milk. Nursing mothers release calcium from their bones. Surprisingly, ...
New discovery allows scientists for the first time to experimentally annotate genomes
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Over the last 20 years, the sequencing of the human genome, along with related organisms, has represented one of the largest scientific endeavors in the history of mankind. The information collected from genome ...
Media source impacts ag biotech communication
Oct 20, 2009 |
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Communication between the public and government is a necessary component of public trust. For many modern issues, constituents trust that their legislators understand the science behind these topics and pass legislation for ...
New discovery reveals fate of nanoparticles in human cells
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Sep 22, 2009 |
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Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have uncovered what happens to biomimetic nanoparticles when they enter human cells. They found that the important proteins that make ...
Pandemic flu can infect cells deep in the lungs, says new research
Sep 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Pandemic swine flu can infect cells deeper in the lungs than seasonal flu can, according to a new study published today in Nature Biotechnology. The researchers, from Imperial College London ...
Scientists improve delivery of cancer-fighting molecules
Aug 27, 2009 |
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Small interfering RNA (siRNA), a type of genetic material, can block potentially harmful activity in cells, such as tumor cell growth. But delivering siRNA successfully to specific cells without adversely ...
Pioneering research produces industrially vital chemical through engineered bacteria
Aug 26, 2009 |
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A team of South Korean scientists have succeeded in engineering the bacterium E. coli to produce the industrial chemical putrescine. The research, published in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering, provides a rene ...
Needle-free, inhalant powder measles vaccine could save thousands of lives
Aug 16, 2009 |
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The first dry powder inhalable vaccine for measles is moving toward clinical trials next year in India, where the disease still sickens millions of infants and children and kills almost 200,000 annually, according ...
Researchers develop new, more-sensitive assay for detecting DNA methylation in colon cancer
Aug 16, 2009 |
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A study published in this week's online issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates a unique and highly sensitive method for detecting methylation-associated cancers.
S. Korean firm to open major dog cloning centre
Aug 14, 2009 |
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A South Korean biotechnology firm will early next year open a centre capable eventually of producing up to 1,000 cloned dogs annually, a company executive said Friday.
Technique enables efficient gene splicing in human embryonic stem cells
Aug 13, 2009 |
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A novel technique allows researchers to efficiently and precisely modify or introduce genes into the genomes of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, according to Whitehead scientists. ...
Launch of the first standard graphical notation for biology
Aug 11, 2009 |
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Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and their colleagues in 30 labs worldwide have released a new set of standards for graphically representing biological ...
Professor sequences his entire genome at low cost, with small team
Aug 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The first few times that scientists mapped out all the DNA in a human being in 2001, each effort cost hundreds of millions of dollars and involved more than 250 people. Even last year, when ...
Two lines account for most human embryonic stem cell research
Aug 07, 2009 |
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For the past eight years, scientists who wanted to use federal funds for research on human embryonic stem cells had to restrict their studies to 21 cell lines approved by the National Institutes of Health. But an analysis ...
