Biotechnology

By Audrey Fernandes

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Keywords:

• GMOs - Genetically Modified Organisms

• Bionics - Study of artificial systems that function like living organisms

• Bioinformatics - Collecting and analysing biological information using technology and mathematics

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Biotechnology is the process of cultivating biological processes in order to produce and develop products. This can range from bionics and GMOs to the science behind vaccination. The term Biotechnology was developed by Agricultural Engineer Károly Ereky who sought to utilise biological processes as a solution during the grave food shortages. This was done using raw materials to develop more complex products as food sources while simultaneously utilising machinery to produce high level yields. His base definition of biotechnology is the groundwork on which most today's industrial development relies on. 

Biotechnology can mainly be separated into traditional and modern methods. Before the discovery of DNA, Classical Biotechnology focused on concepts like cross breeding and fermentation. A majority of this practice was developed from experimentation during harsh conditions by scientists who experimented with their limited resources rather than understanding the exact science behind it all. Contrarily Modern Biotechnology comes after the discovery of DNA, and caused the origination of Genetic Modification. 

The various different subfields of biotechnology are often segregated into different colors. Almost every color is used to address a different subfield however the main 4 subfields are addressed as Red for Medical, White for Industrial, and Green for Environmental Biotechnology. Other colors include Yellow for food production, Purple for Biowarfare, Gold for bioinformatics and various others. 

Food production utilises artificial selection to produce the crops with the best features, by breeding the crops with the most desirable features together to produce seeds that need the least amount of water or have the brightest flowers. This is usually done over many generations of crops and livestock and has been done since long before the origination of classical biotechnology. So the perfect eggs and enormous fruits today often barely resemble their ancestors from thousands of years ago.

In recent years these perfect crops have been developed with the much faster method of genetic modification. Both by farmers and mass companies alike, whether it's creating pest resistant crops or producing seedless watermelons, almost all produce nowadays has been edited for our ideological satisfaction. 

Genetic modification works by using structures within bacteria and recombining them with genes in living cells. Then when this structure is placed back into the bacteria, it produces substances a living organism normally would. These substances are proteins like insulin or food products like alcohols, yogurt, cheese etc.

One of the most important inventions in Biotech are Vaccines. Vaccines work by using a deactivated pathogen to trigger the body's immune system, and once this happens the body remembers the disease and can respond faster when actually infected on another occasion. The first vaccine developed was the SmallPox Vaccine and since then, more efficient and less dangerous variations appear year after year. Nowadays most everyone is vaccinated and as this happens viruses have no place to survive and so die out. This is how the eradication of a disease can occur. 

In years to come the biotechnological advancements we will see, may range from Organ printing and Lab grown meat to Precision agriculture and Gene therapy. There is no doubt that this field and its applications will only continue growing exponentially from here on out.

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Bibliography:

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