Social Biology - Biotechnology

What is Biotechnology?

Biotechnology is the use of living organisms to make technological advances and applied to various sectors. These sectors include fields, agriculture, health, etc by obtaining information from a living organism.

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Biotechnology is a technology backed by science in biology studies, making use of cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies to improve the lives and health of the planet.

Types of Biotechnology

Biotechnology in the medical sector has to do with the use of living cells and other materials to better the health of humans by finding the cure to get rid of or prevent diseases. This sector is involved in understanding pathogens, and different ways to stabilize human health by researching human cell biology. Medical Biotechnology is the technique of producing pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines, etc to combat diseases.

• Vaccines

Vaccines are a combination of chemicals to boost the immune system to fight pathogens when they attack the body by inserting a weakened version of the pathogen.

• Antibiotic

Antibiotics are developed from strides that help to fight pathogens in the human body. They can be genetically engineered and grow in plants. Plants are a good source of antibiotics for humans and are more cost-effective.

Agricultural Biotechnology is all about developing and modifying plant genetics to increase yields and boost characteristics to grow in unfavorable conditions. In some cases, used to produce pesticides or weather conditions like the Greenhouse to create a desirable condition for plants.

• Pest Resistant Crops

Biotechnology has provided means for crops to express anti-pest characteristics by resisting pest attacks without the used dust or spraying with pesticides.

• Plant and Animal Breeding

It is a practice done by humans to breed animals with the most desirable characteristics to have resulting offspring of the same traits. So we are talking of characteristics like the size of the animal, resistance to desire, and a huge number of offspring in a single reproductive circle.

Industrial Biotechnology is the application of biology and technology tools for industrial purposes such as fermentation while manipulating the environmental impacts. This technique is all about modern molecular biology, using cells or components of cells like enzymes for industrial processes (food and feed, chemicals, detergents, etc)

• Biocatalysts

Biocatalysts are industrial products that synthesize chemicals such as enzymes obtained from organisms. Biotechnology can be applied to produce a huge quantity of desired enzymes.

• Fermentation

Here we can find this application in wine and beer production, where crop's sugar is fermented to produce alcohol. In some cases, corn can be used to produce chemicals in the place of petroleum.

Biotechnology in this sector is applied in waste management and pollution prevention to have a more efficient clean ecosystem. Examples in this sector are Bioremediation

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Biotechnology is applied to our day-to-day life in one aspect or the other. Be it in the hospitals, farmland, homes, etc. Biotechnology has come to better the health situation of humans and has also increased the lifespan of humans.

Thanks for reading.