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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with biotechnology
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 ...
Study: H1N1 flu virus ill-suited for rapid transmission, but new strain bears watching, could mutate
Jul 02, 2009 |
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A team from MIT and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found a genetic explanation for why the new H1N1 "swine flu" virus has spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses.
Hi-tech 'Trojan horse' can kill cancer cells: researchers
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jun 29, 2009 |
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Australian researchers are set to begin human trials of a tiny nano-cell that acts as a "Trojan horse" against cancer cells, a breakthrough they say may curb the need for debilitating chemotherapy.
UCSF team closer to creating safe embryonic-like stem cells
Apr 12, 2009 |
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A team of UCSF researchers has for the first time used tiny molecules called microRNAs to help turn adult mouse cells back to their embryonic state. These reprogrammed cells are pluripotent, meaning that, like embryonic stem ...
A new gene silencing platform -- silence is golden
Biology /
Feb 08, 2009 |
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A team of researchers led by Rutgers' Samuel Gunderson has developed a novel gene silencing platform with very significant improvements over existing RNAi approaches. This may enable the development and discovery of a new ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
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. ...
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 ...
New or not? Cracking cyclic natural products for new drugs
Jul 13, 2009 |
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Researchers have invented computational tools to decode and rapidly determine whether natural compounds collected in oceans and forests are new—or if these pharmaceutically promising compounds have already ...
Mystery E. coli genes essential for survival of many species
Jul 13, 2009 |
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Scientists have shown that E. coli - one of the best known and extensively studied organisms in the world - remains an enigma that may hold the key to human diseases, such as cancer.
Exploring standards to advance microbial genomics
Jul 10, 2009 |
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Microbes contribute to manifold human endeavors ranging from bioenergy to agriculture to medicine. Moreover, they make the Earth's biogeochemical cycles go round, a prerequisite for all life on the planet. ...
Anti-biotech groups obstruct forest biotechnology
Jun 30, 2009 |
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The potential of forest biotechnology to help address significant social and environmental issues is being "strangled at birth" by the rigid opposition of some groups and regulations that effectively preclude ...
