Department of Biotechnology
Scope of Biotechnology
Today’s biotechnology consists of at least twenty-five areas each area being characterized by the use of a different set of technologies.
Genetic engineering:
Genetic engineering implies conferring new capabilities on an organism by Transferring into an organism the appropriate DNA (De oxyribo Nucleic Acid, the genetic material) of another having these capabilities does this. Then ensures that these capabilities are converted into abilities.
Genetically engineered microbes are today widely used for producing drugs and vaccines in large scale at low costs that are of great importance (human insulin, erythropoietin, and hepatitis-B vaccine). For example genetically engineered plants that make their own pesticides or are resistant to weedicides- are already in the market.
Gene Therapy:
This is in a way, genetic engineering of humans, which would allow a person suffering from a disabling genetic disorder to lead a normal life.
Immunotechnologies:
Such as monoclonal antibodies (MABs) for diagnosis and therapy. Antibodies, special sets of proteins present in humans that enable them to fight incursion of their bodies by harmful chemicals or micro organisms.
Sixty-percentage acreage under soyabean in US has now Genetically engineered soyabean. The total acreage under genetically engineered crops around the world exceeds 100 million acres today.
Tissue culture:
Tissue culture of both plant and animal cells. These are used for Micro propagation of elite or exotic materials (Such as orchids), production of useful compounds such as taxol (the widely used anti-cancer drug) and vanillin, and preparation in the laboratory of “natural” tissues such as arteries for arterial graft or skin for burn victims. (Modern tissue culture technologies allow the multiplication in the laboratory of cells isolated from plants and animals. In the case of plants, one can grow in the lab a whole plant from a single cell.)
Stem cell techniques:
Which would involve purification and isolation of stem cells from various tissues and develop into the desired tissue which could then be used, for example, for transplantation.
Enzyme engineering and technology:
Involves immobilized or stabilized enzymes, new classes of enzymes (ribozymes) or new enzymatic routes that produce important organic compounds.
Photosynthetic efficiency:
Increasing photosynthetic efficiency for biomass production in the plant with the same amount of light and other inputs.
New DNA technologies:
These include DNA fingerprinting, sequencing of genomes, development and use of new molecular markers for plant identification and characterization.
Plant-based drugs:
Use of modern biological techniques for validation, standardization and manufacture of indigenous plant-based drug formulations.
Peptide synthesis:
Synthasis to make new drugs or other materials of industrial and commercial importance, such as salmon GnRH analogue (Ovaprim) to induce ovulation in fish.
The coming together of biotechnology and informatics is paying rich dividends. Genome projects, drug design and molecular taxonomy are all becoming increasingly dependent on informatics.
Rational drug design:
Until a decade or so ago, the only way to discover a new drug was to synthesize a large number of compounds hoping that one of them will be effective against a particular disease. And it cost something between half a billion to a billion dollars for bringing a new drug to the market. As a result we have not added more than ten new drugs per year to the repertoire of medicines already available. In rational drug design, we first identify the molecular target we wish to attack. To do so, it becomes necessary to understand the mechanism of causation of the disease. Once we understand this mechanism and identify the molecular target lead effective computerized programs to design a molecule, which would hit the target. This approach of designing a drug on a rational basis cuts the cost of discovery of a new and reduces the time required (Now 12-15 years) by half.
Nutraceuticals:
That helps recovery after surgery or an episode of a major disease, or helps protect one against certain medical and health problems.
Assisted reproductive technologies:
Such as artificial insemination (Using husband’s or donor semen), invitro fertilization, intra cytoplasmic sperm injection and techniques involving egg donation, surrogate motherhood or embryo transfer.
New cloning technologies:
Cloning of genetically engineered animals that would produce useful products.
Organ transplantation:
Xenotransplantation that is transplantation into humans of organs from other animals.
New drug-delivery systems:
Such as lipsomes and electrical patches, and the use of circadian rhythms to optimize the effectiveness of the drug.
DNA vaccines:
Which would be much cheaper than protein antigen-based vaccines that are generally used today.
Biosensor:
For example, optical sensors using special thin films for detection of bacteria.
Use of microbes:
Microbes selected or genetically engineered for effecting chemically difficult transformations, for example in the field of steroids that are widely used as drugs.
Bioremediadtion:
For example of effluents or waste, using biological systems. A septic tank and an oxidation pond are simple examples of such bioremediation. Production of biogas is value-added bioremediation!
Processing of low-grade ores using microorganisms:
Commercially viable bio processes are available today for processing such ores of over a dozen metals.
Bioinformatics, including genomics and proteomics:
This newly emerging area makes use of the enormous amount of data on biological systems that are becoming available. There are several million species known. The sequence of the building blocks of DNA of just one human being alone will fill nearly 700 books (typed single space) of 500 pages each.
Nanobiotechnology:
In which the operating or useful unit is of the scale of, say, a nanometre (millionth of a millimeter).The cost of products produced through a biotechnological process is always less than that produced through a chemical synthetic route.Biological warfare:
This is defined as the ’employment of biological agents to produce casualties in man or animals or damage to plants.
Advantages of biotechnologies
Biotechnologies are always non-polluting and, often, labour intensive. They make use of replenishable natural resources and help their conservation. They help, directly or indirectly, in saving energy. The cost of products produced through a biotechnological process is almost always less than that of the same product product produced, say, through a chemical synthetic route.
Biotechnologies are less accident-prone. In spite of their high level of intellectual sophistication, it is easier to train people to handle biotechnologies than other technologies. Above all, they are interesting and exciting for all those involved with them.
The Indian advantage
No other country in the world today has the unique set of advantages that India offers for large-scale practice of biotechnology. We have one of the largest bio in the world. We also have one of the largest coastlines anywhere. We have at least seven distinct climatic zones and one of the largest and most varied sets of marine organisms anywhere. The ambient temperature in most parts of the country is just what living organisms need for their activities that result in a biotechnological product. This curtails immensely the cost of cooling or heating which becomes obligatory for the practice of biotechnology in most parts of the Western world. There are places on the Indian coast where there is uninterrupted sunshine for some 340 days in the year so that one can grow marine organisms in open raceways.
We have an enviable infrastructure and a large pool of trained manpower, with experience in most of the areas of biotechnology. Our labor and infrastructure costs are, perhaps, lower than anywhere else where biotechnology can be done and is being done, with the possible exception of China. We have large tracts of land available for growing the desired plants required for agriculture-based biotechnology. We have experience of building world-class institutions in virtually every sector of human endeavor – from outstanding basic research to efficient industrial production. We have, of course, many problems but we also know how to overcome them. In a nutshell the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. It is a pity that we started much later in biotechnology than we could have but, even now, the prospects for the future are bright.