BIOTECHNOLOGY FROM PAST TO PRESENT

Biotechnology refers to the use of biology in conjunction with technology so as to develop methods that benefit mankind in a small or big way. Although the term became well known only the past decade, the process itself has been in use for centuries. The simple fermentation processes seen in our day-to-day life like the curdling of milk and production of wine are some examples for the use of biotechnology from time immemorial. Karl Ereky, an engineer, coined the term biotechnology in 1917.

The term gained impetus in the late 90s with the cloning of the sheep Dolly by a team of scientists at the Roselin Institute led by Ian Wilmut and colleagues in the year 1996. This was a major breakthrough, which kicked up a curiosity about the less-known field. A new term “cloning” was introduced to the world, which become synonymous with the term biotechnology itself. Cloning refers to the copying of oneself purportedly using a graft in the case of a plant and an egg cell in the case of an animal. The cloning feat was followed by the decoding of the human genome whose rough draft was completed in the year 2001 and the code itself unraveled in the year 2003. This was undertaken in different labs across the globe and the pioneer of this was Craig Venter of a private firm, Celera Genomics. The NIH, USA had a major role to play. Prior to this, the genome of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans was unraveled. Since then, the genomes of rice, mouse, yeast, Arabidopsis thaliana has been worked upon and completed. These works were completed to gain a better understanding and knowledge on these organisms and also to draw parallels on their closely related counterparts.

The present focus is now on a new and promising field, namely stem cells and their applications. Stem cells are budding, multifaceted cells which have the capacity to develop into any type of cell of the human body. They are being looked at as potential cure for the treatment of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart diseases, diabetes, and Parkinson’s where treatment involves the replacement of the affected tissue. Stem cells can be harvested from diverse sources namely the bone marrow (their natural place of origin), aborted fetuses, umbilical cord cells, and of late, from menstrual blood. However, as their procurement from their natural place is riddled with difficulties and the processing cumbersome there is an increased need for alternate sources. Recently, a series of breakthrough has been reported from various quarters on the success of converting simple human cells to performing stem cells. This in turn will silence to a great extent the controversies revolving around the use of fetal cells for the harvesting of stem cells.

Biotechnology has also made great strides in the areas of plant biology, microbiology, enzymology, and presently nanotechnology. Nanotechnology refers to the use of nano-sized particles for various activities. For instance, DNA is being looked at as an element for increasing the efficiency and speed of Ics.