Biotechnology however isn’t something new, we have used biological process for over 6,000 years to achieve more useful food products, such as cheeses and bread and to help us preserve dairy products. It wasn’t however until the 60`s and 70`s that we gained a better understanding of biology and we reached a point where we could start to use only the very smallest part of an organism, the molecules.

Cells and biological molecules

Everything has a basic building block and cells are the building blocks of all living things, the most simplest of all living things is yeast, this consists of one single living cell that is self sufficient. Plants, humans and animals however are more complex and are made up of many different types of cells each with their own specific job to do, but despite the diversity of cell types in living things, they are all remarkably similar and it is these cells which are the foundation for biotechnology.

Cells all share the same basic design, are made of the same material and operate using the same processes, with DNA being the genetic material of all living things. DNA is what directs cell construction while proteins do all the work, as DNA contains all the necessary information for making proteins it can direct cell processes by determining which proteins are made and when they are made.

All cells understand each other and because they understand each other, one cell can be read and implemented by another cell from another living thing. So technologies based on biological molecules and cells can now provide us with greater flexibility in using nature’s diversity.

Biological products are now able to solve very specific problems and have fewer unwanted consequences because biological molecules and cells are very specific in the way they interact with each other, so today’s biotechnology is perhaps best described simply as, specific, precise and very predictable.

Some interesting facts about biotechnology in the industry

• Biotech drugs are helping us strive towards the better understanding of illnesses and how to cure them, there are currently over 300 drug products and vaccines currently running in clinical trials aimed at various types of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, aids and arthritis.
• Food supplies are being enhanced and dependence on chemical pesticides is being reduced with consumers already enjoying the benefits from foods such as soya beans, corn and papaya.
• Pollution eating microbes are being used to ensure it is possible to clean up hazardous waste more efficiently without the use of caustic chemicals.
• There have been drastic improvements in criminal investigation techniques and forensic medicine where DNA fingerprinting which is a biological process was introduced.

It will be able to create new markets and offer businesses a way to reduce costs while protecting the environment. Review times are quicker than with new drugs which means that advancements and the benefits seen in industrial biotechnology can occur in as little as two years from lab study to commercial application.

Biotechnology helps in industry not only by transforming how we are able to manufacture products but it is also able to provide us with new products that we at one time would never have thought possible. How wide a scope of benefits industrial biotechnology has to offer is still not known as the technology is still relatively new but from its very beginning it has integrated product improvements with the prevention of pollution.

Nothing speaks more highly for the benefits that industrial biotechnology has given us than the phosphate water pollution problems that occurred during the 1970`s, which was caused by the use of phosphates in laundry detergents. Biotechnology gave us enzymes which were able to give us the same effect on laundry and in fact were able to remove stains better than phosphates ever could while giving us a non polluting bi based product. This not only benefited the homemaker but also dramatically reduced the phosphate related algal blooms in waters around the world.

A form of industrial biotechnology has been dated as far back as 6000 BC when people fermented grapes to make wine and yeast was used to make beer, knowledge of this increased over the years with the production of cheeses, yogurts, vinegar and other food products.

Then there was a breakthrough in 1928 when Sir Alexander Fleming extracted the drug Penicillin from mould, biotechnology was able to ensure large-scale fermentation techniques of this wonder drug and it was developed to make industrial quantities.

However, it wasn’t until after World War II that the industrial biotechnology revolution began and gave us the industrial biotechnology techniques that we recognise today. Over the last few years, industrial biotechnology has come a long way and has been able to produce enzymes that makes daily life easier and better for all of us and also for the manufacturing sector.

Simple examples of this are the enzyme which is now used to tenderise meat and contact lens fluids that contain enzymes to remove sticky protein deposits more easily. These of course are industrial biotechnology in its simplest form but show that industrial biotechnology involves the use of microbial production of enzymes which are specialised proteins; it is these enzymes which make industrial biotechnology such a powerful new area of technology for the future.

8000 BC – humans began to domesticate animals and crops and potatoes were cultivated as a means of food.

4000 to 2000 BC – biotechnology was first introduced during this period when the Egyptians began fermenting beer and baking bread. Wine was fermented and the production of cheese began in sumeria, china and Egypt.

500 BC – the first ever antibiotic which was mouldy soybean curdle was used in the treatment of a boil in china.

A.D 100 – powdered chrysanthemums were used as the first form of insecticide in china.

1322 – artificial insemination is first used to produce superior horses in Arabia.

1590 – the microscope is introduce by Janssen.

1663 – the first cell is recognised by Hooke.

1675 – bacteria is first recognised by Leeuwenhoek.

1761 – successful cross breeding of crops is first accomplished.

1797 – the first child is inoculated with a viral vaccine against smallpox.

1830 to 1833 – the first protein is discovered and the first enzyme is discovered and isolated.

1835 to 1855 – Schleiden and Schwann announce that all organisms are composed of cells and that every cell arises from a cell.

1857 – Pasteur finds that microbes cause fermentation.

1859 – the theory of evolution is published by Charles Darwin.

1865 – An Austrian monk studies garden peas and it is found that genetic traits are passed parents to offspring.

1870 to 1890 – plant breeders crossbreed cotton developing varieties with far superior qualities, fields are inoculated to improve their yield, the first experimental corm hybrids are grown in the laboratory, a technique for staining and identifying bacteria is found, the first centrifuge is developed, chromatin is discovered.

1900 – fruit flies are used in early studies of genes.

1906 – the term genetics is used for the first time.

1911 – the first virus which causes cancer is discovered.

1914 – bacteria is first used to treat sewage in England.

1919 – the word biotechnology is first used in print.

1928 – penicillin is first discovered as an antibiotic.

1941 – the term genetic engineering is first used.

1944 – it is proven that DNA carries genetic information.1951 – artificial insemination of livestock using frozen semen is carried out.

1961 – the first bio pesticide is registered.

1965 – the first human cells are fused with those of a mouse.

1966 – scientists crack the genetic code.

1967 – the first automatic protein sequencer is perfected.

1977 – the first expression of human genes in bacteria is found.

1979 – human growth hormone is first synthesised.

1984 – DNA finger printing is first developed.

1986 – the first anti cancer drug interferon is released.

1987 – improvement is given for the field test of modified food plants, tomatoes that are resistant to viruses.

1988 – Harvard geneticists are awarded patent for the first genetically altered animal, a mouse.

1990 – the first transgenic dairy cow is created to produce human milk proteins for infant formula.

1992 – a technique for testing human embryos in vitro for genetic abnormalities Is unveiled by British and American scientists.

1994 – the first gene for breast cancer is discovered.

1995 – the first baboon to human bone marrow transplant is performed.

1996 – a gene associated with Parkinson’s disease is discovered which provides new research into the disease.

1997 – the first animal to be cloned from an adult cell is announced and becomes know as Dolly the sheep.

2002 – researchers announce a breakthrough with a vaccine against cervical cancer.

2004 – the FDA approves the first anti-angiogenic drug for cancer and the first cloned pet, a kitten is delivered to the owner.

Without the use of biotechnology, the great advancements into these diseases wouldn’t have been possible. The therapies which are outlined below all shares the same foundation and all of them have been designed by Mother Nature using biological processes and substances, with some of them relying on the body’s own natural method of healing and correcting problems. Here are just a few of the great advancements biotechnology has helped

Using natural products in therapeutics

Almost all living things have compounds which are therapeutic to us, a lot of our antibiotics are derived from naturally occurring microbes, and a great deal of the medicines which are available today are made from plants, such as Digitalis. Biotechnology is now making it easier than ever before for us to be able to tap into the diversity that nature has to offer.

As a result of this, many plants and animals are now being investigated as sources of new medication and we have found that ticks can offer us anticoagulants. The poison arrow frog is being looked into as a way of providing us with painkillers, and a certain type of fungus is found to produce a novel antioxidant enzyme that sucks up free radicals that are know to encourage the growth of tumours.

We can get so much help from Mother Nature with the ocean in particular playing an important role as a source for new medication. Marine biotechnologists found that organisms containing certain compounds have the ability to heal wounds, were able to play a part in destroying tumours, could prevent inflammation, help to relive pain and were able to kill microorganisms. Marine crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs can also help as it was found that the shell contains a carbohydrate that proved to be excellent as a drug delivery system.

Biotechnology and the immune system

We all know the importance of having armies to defend us when war breaks out and our body and disease can be related to war in that the disease is the enemy and the army is our body’s immune system. The body’s immune system is complex and is divided into many branches or “soldiers” that all keep in constant communication with each other to fight off disease.

An example of this is the cytokine branch which is proteins, due to the help of biotechnology these proteins can now be produced in enough quantity to be marketed as therapeutics. They have been very successful in battling against aids, various types of cancer and infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Specific type of cells can now be increased when under certain conditions the body and the immune system might not produce enough of the cell type that the patient needs, cell culture now helps researchers to provide or help the body create the cells that are needed to do battle for us.

However, scientists with the help of biotechnology are studying new and more efficient ways of providing a natural form of gas. Scientist say the future of bio fuel rests on cellulose or more specifically ethanol.

Where does ethanol come from? Ethanol is typically made from the kernels of corn, with corn being composed of starch and simple sugars which easily dissolve in water, once the sugar has been dissolved they are easily fermented by yeast to give us ethanol. The cellulose is the part of the corn which is left over after harvesting the corn kernels, it is the stalks, leaves and parts of the plant that are thought of as crop residues which are made up of ethanol.

While this seems like an ideal solution to a more natural and more environmental friendly form of fuel, it does have its problems, as recently as 2001 deriving ethanol from cellulose was very expensive. That was until enzyme producers got together and reduced the cost of enzyme based production of ethanol from cellulose.

How is the cellulose extracted?

Cellulose has to broken down into sugar and this can be achieved by two methods, one way is to treat the cellulose with chemicals and the other by treating it with enzymes. Enzymes break the chemical bond between molecules or to make it easier to understand and simpler, think of the cellulose as being a line of ping pong balls which are strung together, with the balls being the sugar. Enzymes will then attack the balls or sugar and cut them apart into single ones that yeast can then access. The yeast then ferments the sugar and turns it into ethanol.

However due to the very high cost of enzymes, two of the goals that scientists were faced with were reducing the amount of enzymes which were needed to cut the ping pong balls apart and to reduce the cost and make it more cheaply.

The plant that scientists chose was a common soil fungi which was able to make a lot of enzymes with which to break down the cellulose, while it produced a lot of enzymes scientists still had to work to modify it to make them work faster and at the same time make the enzymes more cheaply.

Getting them to work faster was a matter of finding which enzymes worked better at a higher heat. High temperature was critical because the chemical reaction such as breaking down the cellulose happened more quickly at higher temperatures. The goal was achieved by inserting genes that made these enzymes, into the fungi they were using and then the fungus became the production organism that broke the cellulose down into sugar, which was in turn fed to the yeast.

Industrial biotechnology today is providing an elegant solution to a cleaner and more efficient fuel from ethanol derived from cellulose and continues to strive towards perfecting the method and providing the general public with a cheaper alternative to gasoline.

They are usually produced by microbial fermentation or by mammalian cell culture and are not synthetically produced. At this present time there are over 370 new biotechnology medicines in different stages of progress, with the cell cultures being grown under very strict conditions and are regularly maintained in large stainless steel fermentation vats.

Making a biotechnology drug

Producing drugs is a very complicated and a time consuming process with many years just being spent in actually identifying the therapeutic protein, the gene sequence, then has to be determined and a process has to be worked out using biotechnology to produce the molecules. Only after the method has been devised and scaled up can biotechnology medicines be made in large quantities.

This is then achieved by transforming the host cell to contain the particular gene of interest and growing the cells in large stainless steel tanks. To get the cells to produce the target proteins they must be kept alive and stimulated through using precise culture conditions, temperature is very often a crucial part and in some cases can vary by no more than one degree.

The acidity levels must also be carefully watched for even if they vary a small fraction the cells can easily die, the duration of time the cells have to be left for will depend on the protein produced and the organism.

The proteins are also stringently tested having been isolated from the cultures, and are then formulated into active products. Currently, culture methods can take several years and due to this there are significant challenges and it is very expensive right now to manufacture a complex biotechnological medicine.

At this moment in time manufacturing practices are facing a major global shortage, for the production of biotechnological medicines, with there being fewer than a dozen facilities worldwide which are actually capable of manufacturing biological medicine on a large scale.

Another major problem lies in the capacity, as this promises to become more complex over the next decade. There are only 30 protein based medicines on the market today with the industries production capacity already being overstretched, with 99 protein based medicines now being in the late stages of human trials and are expected to hit the market soon the production facilities which are already struggling will only be stretched even further in the coming years.