SCITESO BIOTECH

BIOTECHNOLOGY 

  • Any biology-based technology which uses organisms or their parts to make or modify products, or improve plants, animals, and microorganisms

ANCIENT BIOTECHNOLOGY

  • 4000 BC Egyptians discovered the use of yeasts to make bread and wine Production of cheese

  • 3000 BC Peruvians started to improve potatoes to make them larger and frost tolerant

  • 1700 BC Sumerians invented the process of brewing beer

  • 500 BC First antibiotic in the form of moldy soybean curds used to treat boils (China)

  • Filipino ancestors practised biotechnology more than 400 years ago


APPLICATIONS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

  • Red biotechnology - used for medical processes; based on obtaining antibiotics, vaccines, new drugs, new forms of molecular diagnosis, regenerative therapies and the application of genetic engineering to cure diseases

  • White biotechnology - improve industrial processes; studies microorganisms in order to obtain better catalysts, eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals; main goal is the development of biodegradable products

  • Green biotechnology - specialized in the improvement of agricultural processes; based on obtaining agricultural solutions that do not affect the environment

  • Blue biotechnology - known as marine biotechnology; responsible for the development of aquaculture, care of marine creatures, water treatment, and production of food derived from the sea


CLONING

  • Cloning a microorganism means multiplying a single cell

  • Cloning a plant by: separation, cutting, grafting

  • Clonning animals: Twinning (identical twins) and unfertilized eggs of some animals like fish, frogs, worms can develop to adults under certain environmental conditions (process of parthenogenesis)


MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY COVERS

  • Technologies using recombinant DNA technology

  • DNA molecular markers

  • Genetic engineering of microorganisms

  • genetic engineering of plants

  • genetic engineering of animals

  • Recombinant DNA technology - method that allows the combinations of genes in a test tube to form a hybrid DNA




INSULIN AND THE BIRTH OF RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY

  • 1973 - Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer were the first to apply this technique

  • Diabetes occurs when the body does not produce insulin or cannot produce enough insulin

    • Has two types: Type 1 (From genes) and Type 2 (From lifestyle)

    • People with diabetes often need injects of insulin 

    • Pigs and cows

    • Long term effects unknown

  • 1978

    • Biotechnology allowed the insulin gene to be reproduced in larger quantities for diabetics

    • Safe


GENETIC ENGINEERING IN PLANTS

Researchers isolate a gene from an organism that has the trait they want to impart to a plant

  1. Single gene is isolated and modified

  2. Many copies of the gene are inserted into plant cells and induced to grow

  3. Seeds from mature plants are studied for successful transformation


BIOTECHNOLOGY TODAY

  • Improve agricultural productivity: production, growth, aesthetics

    • Poplar trees - engineered to have increased growth in shorter time; biomass; paper production; bioremediation

  • Enhance foods’ nutritional value: Golden Rice

    • Same varieties as Philippine Rice will be available

    • Same cost as non-GM rice

    • Rice: staple food in Asia

    • Biofortification of bananas in Africa

  • Health: Biopharming

    • Atryn Drug

    • Recombinant anti-thrombin

    • The 1st biopharma drug approved

    • The 1st biotech product produced in milk

  • Environment

  • Fuel and industry

  • Solve crimes, etc.


GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (GMOs)

  • Any type of organism, plant, or animal, whose genetic material has been manipulated through genetic engineering

  1. Bt corn - an herbicide-tolerant corn

  2. Bt protein - used safely as an inorganic insect control agent

  3. Bt canola - genetic variation of rapeseed; being sold to the food industry for use in chocolate candy coating, coffee whiteners, icings, frostsings, and whipped toppings

  4. Bt potato - insect resistant

  5. Bt cotton - herbicide tolerant cotton

  6. Bt squash - virus resistant

  7. Bt tomato - delayed ripening tomato

  8. Bt papaya - virus resistant


History of Genetic Modification in Crops

  • 10,000 years ago humans begin crop domestication using selective breeding

  • 1700s farmers and scientists begin cross-breeding plants within a species

  • 1940s and 1950s breeders and researchers seek out additional means to introduce genetic variation into the gene pool of plants

  • 1980s researchers develop the more precise and controllable methods of genetic engineering to create plants with desirable traits

  • 1990s the first GMOs are introduced to the marketplace

  • FOOD FACT: An estimated 70% of food sold in the supermarket contain GMOs


BENEFITS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GMOs

  • Higher farming efficiency

  • Higher harvests

  • Environment friendly

  • Increase in nutrition


ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Technological

  • Issues inherent to the technology

    • Biosafety to the environment

    • Food biosafety

Social Issues

  • Religious and ethical issues

  • Social-economic issues that transcend the technology


RELEASE OF GMOs: BIOSAFETY AND ECOLOGICAL IMPACT

  1. Potent ecological effects

    1. Modify domesticated species at controlled conditions

    2. Assess risk

    3. Not allowed to happen

      1. Gene flow with wild type

      2. Damage to non-target species

      3. Disruption of biotic communities

  2. Regulatory policies

    1. GMOs must be introduced based on ecological principles (development, testing, and risk assessment)

    2. Effective and not potentially problematic

    3. Recognize and evaluate risks 

    4. Agencies specific to each country

    5. NCBP (DOST + DA + DOH + DENR)

  3. National Biosafety Framework

    1. March 17, 2006 EO 514 Series 2006

    2. Guidelines on NCBP

  4. National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines

    1. Oversee implementation of biosafety policies and guidelines (all institutions)

    2. For all genetic engineering-related activities, quarantine services

    3. All researches and implementation in genetic engineering and the release of genetic engineered organisms requires approval of NCBP


Module 4 Introduction to Nanotechnology

NANOTECHNOLOGY

  • Manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale

  • A.K.A. molecular nanotechnology

  • Manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (National Nanotechnology Initiative)

  • Nanoscale

    • Structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually cited as 1-100 nanometers

    • Nanometer (nm) is a billionth of a meter


GOALS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

  • Able to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications

    • Nanomedicine

    • Nanoelectronics

    • Biomaterials energy production

    • Consumer products


Because of their small size, nanoparticles have unique properties

  • Lower melting point, different colors, and greater reactivity than bulk materials

    • Example: Gold nanoparticles are red and chemically reactive, whereas bulk metal is yellow and inert


NANOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE

  • Employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells)

  • Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to disease cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells

  • This reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease

    • For example:

      • Deliver cardiac stem cells to damaged heart tissue

      • Nanovesicles are attracted to an injury to the stem cells to increase the amount of stem cells delivered to an injured tissue (North Carolina University)

  • Antibodies attached to carbon nanotubes in chips to detect cancer cells in the bloodstream (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

  • Gold nanorods are attached to the type of protein generated by damaged kidneys test for early detection of kidney damage is being developed. When protein accumulates on the nanorod the color of the nanorod shifts

  • Nanogenerators in bandage produce electricity to apply electrical pulses to wound (University of Wisconsin)

  • Polymer nanoparticles act as synthetic platelets to reduce blood loss in patients with internal bleeding (Chase Western Reserve University)

  • Nanorobots could actually be programmed to repair specific diseased cells, functioning in a similar way to antibodies in our natural healing processes


COMMERICAL PRODUCTS THAT USES NANOMATERIALS

Electronics

  • Nanoelectronics - might increase the capabilities of electronic devices while we reduce their weight and power consumption