This blog describe the scope of Biotechnology

welcome to Pandit Parshant Sharma's blog -

Biotechnology - Biotechnology can be  defined as “the use of living microorganisms in systems or processes for the manufacture of useful products, it may be algae, yeast, fungi, bacteria, virus or cells of higher plants and animals or their subsystems or isolated components from living matter.

ACSIR – DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM SUMMER TRAINING PROGRAM 2017

Genetic engineering - Genetic engineering implies conferring new capabilities on an organism by Transferring into an organism the appropriate DNA (De oxyribo Nucleic Acid, the genetic material) of another having these capabilities does this. Then ensures that these capabilities are converted into abilities. Thus the common yeast, Sacchromyces cerevisciae cannot make the protein, human insulin, but we can make it to do so by introducing in it the gene for human insulin (that is, the appropriate DNA fragment coding for this protein). After integrating the insulin gene in yeast DNA, creates condition for the insulin to express itself to produce insulin through the normal process of transfer of information from DNA to protein.Genetically engineered microbes are today widely used for producing drugs and vaccines in large scale at low costs that are of great importance (human insulin, erythropoietin, and hepatitis-B vaccine).

Stem cell techniques - Which would involve purification and isolation of stem cells from various tissues and develop into the desired tissue which could then be used, for example, for transplantation. Stem cells can be either totipotent (have the capability to produce any desired cell type or organ of the body under specific conditions) or they could be pluripotent (able to develop into several though not all cell types or organs). As embryonic stem cells are more likely totipotency than stem cells from adult tissues, the immediate emphasis in the area of stem cells is going to be first in the direction of establishing cell lines derived from early human embryos, from which stem cells could be isolated.

Bioremediadtion - Bioremediation is emerging as an effective innovative technology for treatment of a wide variety of contaminants and is an invaluable tool box for wider application in the realm of environmental protection. Bioremediation has provided problem solving opportunities in the field of solid waste by detoxifying effluents /wastes. Bioremediation approach is currently applied to contain contaminants in soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediments including air.

Organ transplantation - Xenotransplantation that is transplantation into humans of organs from other animals. It appears that pig may be the most suitable for this biochemically, anatomically and immunologically. The major problem in xenotransplantation is the hyper-acute immunological rejection of the “ foreign organ” which occurs in a matter of minutes in enotrans plantation. This problem has been recently overcome by identifying the molecular basis of the hyper-acute rejection and then genetically engineering a pig to avoid it. But in the case of a kidney transplant from one human donor to another human recipient (homotransplantation) this does not occur.

Immunotechnologies - Such as monoclonal antibodies (MABs) for diagnosis and therapy. Antibodies, special sets of proteins present in humans that enable them to fight incursion of their bodies by harmful chemicals or micro organisms. Monoclonal antibodies are single chemical species of antibodies produced in the laboratory by a special technique. Nobel Prize was awarded for this in the 1980’s to Cesar Milstein and Georges Kashler. Mouse MAB’s can be used for the diagnosis of human diseases. As human MABs are difficult to produce in the laboratory, genetically engineered plants are likely to find wide application in the production of human MABs.

APPLY FOR DIFFERENT PROJECT ASSISTANT POST .CSIR-CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS

Tissue culture - Tissue culture of both plant and animal cells. These are used for Micro propagation of elite or exotic materials (Such as orchids), production of useful compounds such as taxol (the widely used anti-cancer drug) and vanillin, and preparation in the laboratory of “natural” tissues such as arteries for arterial graft or skin for burn victims. (Modern tissue culture technologies allow the multiplication in the laboratory of cells isolated from plants and animals. In the case of plants, one can grow in the lab a whole plant from a single cell.)

Enzyme engineering and technology - Involves immobilized or stabilized enzymes, new classes of enzymes (ribozymes) or new enzymatic routes that produce important organic compounds. Enzymes are biological catalysts (Generally proteins) poised to replace inorganic catalysts, which are used in chemical industry. (Proteins are abundant biological entities made up of twenty amino acids strung together like pearls in a necklace, by a special type of thread- a chemical bond called the peptide bond. One protein differs from another in the total number of amino acids and their sequence in the chain).

New DNA technologies - These include DNA fingerprinting, sequencing of genomes, development and use of new molecular markers for plant identification and characterization. Also the development of DNA- based probes for diagnosis of inherited disorders, antisense technologies that are aimed at blockage of the function of a particular stretch of DNA and computing using DNA.

APPLY FOR POST OF RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (RA), IISER, PUNE,INDO-DANISH COLLABORATORY PROJECT.

Assisted reproductive technologies - Such as artificial insemination (Using husband’s or donor semen), invitro fertilization, intra cytoplasmic sperm injection and techniques involving egg donation, surrogate motherhood or embryo transfer. New cloning technologies: - Cloning of genetically engineered animals that would produce useful products.

Bioinformatics, including genomics and proteomics - This newly emerging area makes use of the enormous amount of data on biological systems that are becoming available. There are several million species known. The sequence of the building blocks of DNA of just one human being alone will fill nearly 700 books (typed single space) of 500 pages each.

  

Peptide synthesis - Synthasis to make new drugs or other materials of industrial and commercial importance, such as salmon GnRH analogue (Ovaprim) to induce ovulation in fish. (Peptides are small proteins, generally containing less than 50 amino acid moieties.)

Production of new materials using new ideas - Observations or research findings, such as bacterial ropes or biodegradable polymers. For example, bacterial ropes that essentially consist of certain mutant bacteria that have the ability to grow into spagetti-like structures, when impregnated with certain metal ions can be stronger than steel but much lighter and biodegradable.

Photosynthetic efficiency - Increasing photosynthetic efficiency for biomass production in the plant with the same amount of light and other inputs.

 Gene Therapy -  This is in a way, genetic engineering of humans, which would allow a person suffering from a disabling genetic disorder to lead a normal life.

Production of useful materials - Existing (for example, polyunsaturated fatty acids or beta-carotene, both of which are essential for normal vision) or new, from so far unutilized or under utilized but widely available resources such as marine organisms.

 Plant-based drugs - Use of modern biologicaltechniques for validation, standardization and manufacture of indigenous plant-based drug formulations. 

 Biosensor - Biosensors are analytical devices it can be used as sensitive biological element.For example, optical sensors using special thin films for detection of bacteria.