A Compact but Comprehensive Look at Biotechnology
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Do you know that biotechnology started quite early with such developments as producing wine by fermenting fruit juices and conversion of milk into cheese and yoghurt? These and other topics of interest to those wondering about the potential of biotechnology constitute the editorial content at volume 13 of Redalyc.
The compact piece points out that modern biotechnology started with the ability to transfer a specific gene from one organism to another, using genetic engineering techniques. Known as recombinant DNA technology, this development started the biotech revolution. The biotechnology revolution provided us with applications in disease prevention and treatment, among many others.
One important development is personalized medicine, which involves tailoring treatment to the genetic characteristics of the individual patient. Personalized medicine recognizes the fact that a person’s genetic make up can determine whether a particular treatment is effective for that person or not. It has been observed that the same treatment does not work for all people even when the disease being treated is the same.
The editorial also mentions about the widely varied degree of biotechnology research and development in developed countries like the U.S. and developing countries like Colombia. It observes that the developing countries are forced to use the products developed in advanced countries instead being able to develop products of their own.
The document can be downloaded from Redalyc.org website.
Tags: biotechnology developments, biotechnology research
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Biotech Research Needs New Tools
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Biotech reseearchers often find that the technology needed to do what they want to do is not there. For example, testing thousands of substances on cells and measuring the results precisely is going to take a great deal of time if done manually. To be feasible and useful, automated methods are needed to carry out such tests.
Another issue is doing things within affordable costs. Creating artificial skin models is something that can be done at competitive costs if automation is used to do it.
The Biopolis testing laboratory opened at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany is focusing on this issue. Biologists and engineers work together at the laboratory.
Engineers know how to use machines to process small objects and use robots to handle tiny amounts of fluid. On the other hand, they learn that living organisms like bacteria and cells from the human body rarely behave as the engineers would like them to do.
There are also completely new issues in biotech engineering that engineers have probably never come across before. For example, the equipment must be permanently sterilized and the gearboxes of robots must be encapsulated to prevent wear debris from contaminating the cell cultures.
Read about the first project that the lab is handling and other news at Research in Germany
Tags: automated equipment, biotechnology research
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