Biotechnology and its applications

BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATION
What is Biotechnology?
The use of biology in developing technologies and products for the welfare of human beings is known as Biotechnology. It has various applications in different fields such as Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Processed Food, Waste Management, Energy Production, Genetically Modified Crops etc. 
The applications of biotechnology include therapeutics, diagnostics and genetically modified crops for agriculture, processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment, and energy production.

Three critical research areas of biotechnology are;

⦁ Providing the best catalyst in the form of improved organism usually a microbe or pure enzyme.
⦁ Creating optimal conditions through engineering for a catalyst to act, and
⦁ Downstream processing technologies to purify the protein / organic compound.
Biotechnology Applications in Medicine
The use of biotechnology in medicine is known as Medicinal Biotechnology. This helps in formation of genetically modified insulin known as humulin. This helps in treatment of large number of diabetes patients.
Biotechnology has given rise to a technique known as gene therapy. Gene therapy is a technique to remove genetic defect in embryo or child. This technique involves transfer of a normal gene that works over non-functional gene.

Biotechnology in Production of Antibiotics
Plants are used to develop antibiotics for Humans as well as for Animal use. It helps in production of antibiotics, vaccines and artificial hormones for hormone therapies.
Edible Vaccines are mucosal-targeted vaccines, which cause stimulation of both systematic and mucosal immune response. Edible vaccines hold great promise as a cost-effective, easy-to-administer, easy-to-store and fail-safe readily acceptable vaccine delivery system, especially for the poor developing countries. It involves introduction of selected desired genes into plants and then inducing these altered plants to manufacture the encoded proteins. Edible vaccines are being developed for various diseases, such as Measles, Cholera and Hepatitis B, and many more are in the process of development.

Ethical Issues:
The Indian Government has set up organizations such as GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee), which will make decisions regarding the validity of GM research and the safety of introducing GM-organisms for public services.

Biopatent:
A patent is the right granted by a government to an inventor to prevent others from making commercial use of his invention. Now, patents are granted for biological entities and for products derived from biological resources.

Biopiracy:
It is the term used to refer to the use of bio-resources by multinational companies and other organizations without proper authorization from the countries and people concerned without compensatory payment.

In 1997, an American company got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US Patent and Trademark Office. This allowed the company to sell a ‘new variety of Basmati, in the US and abroad. This ‘new’ variety of Basmati had actually been derived from Indian farmer’s varieties. Indian Basmati was crossed with semi-dwarf varieties and claimed as an invention or a novelty.

Several attempts have also been made to patent uses, products and processes based on Indian traditional herbal medicines, e.g., turmeric and neem.