BIOTECHNOLOGY
Biotechnology, understood as the exploitation of biology, has probably been in use for centuries for the production of beer, wine, cheese and other food and beverages. It is even possible that Sumerians and Babylonians, which inhabited the Asian Mesopotamia in the 6th century BC, or the Egyptian of the 4th century BC, were its first clients through, precisely, the consumption of beer and wine.
The “ new” biotechnology which arose in the 1970s and 1980s, when scientists learnt how to alter the genetic constitution of living organisms outside the habitual crossbreeding techniques, brought about a real revolution and a renaissance of a science called to revolutionize the production of goods and services (as it is swiftly taking place in the health area).
This revolution comprises all forms of genetic modification by recombinant DNA and cell fusion techniques, including the modern development of "traditional" biotechnology. The acquisition of this knowledge was possible thanks to the introduction of scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, into the study of biology (which took place after the last World War), facilitating, in this way, the description of the vital processes on a cellular and molecular basis.
Unlike a singular scientific discipline, biotechnology irrigates a vast number of related fields such as microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology, protein engineering, enzymology and a wide range of biological processes. Biotechnology is not a product or range of products in itself, as micro-electronics is; it must be considered as a range of technologies that facilitate its relevant application in many industrial sectors. There is not a single biotechnology but many biotechnologies. And there is no specific biotechnological industry but several industries that depend on biotechnologies to develop new products and achieve a competitive advantage.
Many people believe that due to its characteristics and dynamism and in spite of the opposition its application in certain fields generates (such as in food production), biotechnology is called to hold, in the 21st century, the same place that physics and chemistry occupied in the 20th century, as regards discoveries, applications and specific contributions related to the development of new products and markets. This evaluation seems to be more than justified by more than twenty Nobel prizes granted to biotechnology-related discoveries in the last twenty years.
The “ new” biotechnology which arose in the 1970s and 1980s, when scientists learnt how to alter the genetic constitution of living organisms outside the habitual crossbreeding techniques, brought about a real revolution and a renaissance of a science called to revolutionize the production of goods and services (as it is swiftly taking place in the health area).
This revolution comprises all forms of genetic modification by recombinant DNA and cell fusion techniques, including the modern development of "traditional" biotechnology. The acquisition of this knowledge was possible thanks to the introduction of scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, into the study of biology (which took place after the last World War), facilitating, in this way, the description of the vital processes on a cellular and molecular basis.
Unlike a singular scientific discipline, biotechnology irrigates a vast number of related fields such as microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology, protein engineering, enzymology and a wide range of biological processes. Biotechnology is not a product or range of products in itself, as micro-electronics is; it must be considered as a range of technologies that facilitate its relevant application in many industrial sectors. There is not a single biotechnology but many biotechnologies. And there is no specific biotechnological industry but several industries that depend on biotechnologies to develop new products and achieve a competitive advantage.
Many people believe that due to its characteristics and dynamism and in spite of the opposition its application in certain fields generates (such as in food production), biotechnology is called to hold, in the 21st century, the same place that physics and chemistry occupied in the 20th century, as regards discoveries, applications and specific contributions related to the development of new products and markets. This evaluation seems to be more than justified by more than twenty Nobel prizes granted to biotechnology-related discoveries in the last twenty years.
