Lecture One History of Biotechnology Intro BTECH

Biotechnology

Any technological application that uses biological system or living organisms to make or modify the process or products for specific use, coined by Karl Ereky.

Red Biotechnology

A branch of biotechnology dealing with medical and health care, including new therapies, diagnostic aids, and treatment methods.

Green Biotechnology

A branch of biotechnology dealing with agricultural processes, focused on yield increase, better crop protection, and nutrition enrichment.

White Biotechnology

A branch of biotechnology dealing with industrial processes, utilizing biotech tools for production.

Blue Biotechnology

A branch of biotechnology dealing with the application of molecular biological methods to marine and freshwater organisms.

Pre-1800 Period of Biotechnology

Characterized by early applications and speculations.

1800 – 1900 Period of Biotechnology

Characterized by significant advances in basic understanding.

1900 – 1953 Period of Biotechnology

Characterized by significant work in genetics.

1953 – 1976 Period of Biotechnology

Characterized by an explosion of DNA research.

1977 – present Period of Biotechnology

The era of modern biotechnology.

Leavened Bread

Discovered by Egyptians around 4000 BC using yeast.

Socrates

A Greek philosopher who speculated on why children don't always resemble their parents (circa 420 BC).

Aristotle

Proposed that all inheritance comes from the father.

Spontaneous Generation

The dominant explanation that organisms arise from non-living matter, e.g., maggots from horsehair.

William Harvey

Concluded in 1630 AD that plants and animals alike reproduce in a sexual manner.

Marcello Malpighi

Used a microscope (1660 – 1675 AD) to study blood circulation in capillaries and described the nervous system.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

The first scientist (1673) to describe protozoa and bacteria and recognize their role in fermentation.

Inoculation

The practice initiated by Giacomo Pylarini in 1701 involving intentionally giving children smallpox to prevent a serious case later in life.

Vaccination

An alternative method to inoculation that uses cowpox rather than smallpox as the protecting treatment.

Nicolas Appert

Devised a technique (1809) using heat to can and sterilize food.

Ignaz Semmelweis

Proposed (1850) that childbed fever could be spread by physicians and advocated handwashing, which was initially rejected by the medical profession.

Karl Ludwig

Discovered a technique (1856) for keeping animal organs alive outside the body by pumping blood through them.

Louis Pasteur (Fermentation)

Asserted (1859) that microbes are responsible for fermentation, contrasting Justis Liebig's ideas.

Charles Darwin

Hypothesized (1859) that animal populations adapt their forms over time through 'natural selection' to best exploit the environment.

Natural Selection

The process by which animal populations adapt their forms over time to best exploit the environment, as hypothesized by Charles Darwin.

Pasteurization

A process invented by Louis Pasteur (1863) involving heating wine to inactivate microbes without ruining its flavor.

Gregor Mendel

Presented his laws of heredity (1865), proposing invisible internal 'factors' (genes) account for observable traits and are passed down generations.

Genes

The 'factors' proposed by Gregor Mendel (1865) that are invisible internal units of information accounting for observable traits, passed from one generation to the next.

Davaine

Used heat treatment (1868) to cure a plant of bacterial infection.

Friedrich Miescher

A Swiss biologist who successfully isolated nuclein, a compound including nucleic acid, from pus cells (1868).

W. Flemming

Discovered mitosis (1870).

DNA isolation

Successfully isolated from the sperm of trout found in the Rhine River in 1871.

Robert Koch

Investigated anthrax and developed techniques to view, grow, and stain organisms between 1873 and 1876.

Attenuated Strains

Weakened strains of organisms that could not cause disease but protected against severe forms, concept published by Pasteur (1880) leading to vaccination.

Vaccines (Pasteur)

Developed by Louis Pasteur (1881) against bacterial pathogens of fowl cholera and anthrax, marking a founding moment in immunology.

Rabies Vaccine

Developed by Robert Koch in 1884.

Human Genetics (Birth)

Considered to be born in 1902 with the rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s work by Hugo Devries, Erich von Tschermak, and Carl Correns.

Thomas Hunt Morgan

Proved (1910) that genes are carried on chromosomes, forming the basis of modern genetics.

Penicillin

Isolated by Howard Florey & Ernst Chain in 1938, leading to large-scale production by 1940-1945.

Molecular Biology (Term)

Coined in 1938 when proteins and DNA were studied in various labs with x-ray crystallography.

One Gene One Enzyme Theory

A scientific theory proposed in 1941.

Cortisone

First manufactured in large quantities between 1943-1953, considered the first biotechnology product of modern times.

Streptomycin

An effective antibiotic against tuberculosis isolated by Waksman in 1944.

DNA Research Expansion

The period between 1953 and 1976 when the discovery of DNA structure led to an explosion of research in molecular biology and genetics.

HeLa Human Cell Line

Developed by Gey in 1953, derived from cervical cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks, and used to develop the Polio vaccine.

Central Dogma of DNA

An explanation (1957) of how DNA makes a protein.

Genetic Code

Cracked in 1966, showing that a sequence of three nucleotide bases (a codon) determines each of 20 amino acids.

Oncogene

The first was discovered in 1970 in a virus (Src gene) causing sarcoma cancer.