Biotechnology

Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services.

Over $350 billion has been invested in biotech so far, and global revenues have risen from $23 billion in 2000 to more than $50 billion in 2005. The greatest growth has been in Latin America but all regions of the world have shown strong growth trends.

There has been little innovation in the traditional pharmaceutical industry over the past decade and biopharmaceuticals are now achieving the fastest rates of growth against this background, particularly in breast cancer treatment.

Biopharmaceuticals typically treat sub-sets of the total population with a disease whereas traditional drugs are developed to treat the population as a whole. However, one of the great difficulties with traditional drugs are the toxic side effects the incidence of which can be unpredictable in individual patients.

The future of the recent emphasis on environmental awareness has challenged scientists to find solutions for better and safer living conditions. The added threat of technology deadly diseases such as AIDS and resistant strains of tuberculosis and gonorrhoea have forced scientists to look for new therapies within the field of biotechnology.

The Human Genome Project is a major biotechnological endeavour, the aim of which is to make a detailed map of human DNA. The hereditary instructions inscribed in DNA guide the development of the human being from fertilized egg cell to death. The genetic markers for over 4500 diseases caused by single mutant genes have been mapped.

Whatever the future of these particular ventures, it seems molecular biology and biotechnology will be important sciences of the coming century.