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User:BlaseDavid/Portal:Biotechnology

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The Biotechnology Portal

Welcome to the Biotechnology portal. Biotechnology is a technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine.

Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity. It combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology.

Of the many different definitions available, the one formulated by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the broadest:

"Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."

 

Picture of the Month

The Humulin, a biosyntetic human insulin was developped by Genentech in 1978.

Biotechnology can be divided by its applications into five main branches:

Green biotechnology

More commonly known as plant biotechnology. It deals with economically important plant species and agricultural processes.

 

Red biotechnology

Utilizing the benefits and advancements of biotechnology to alleviate human sufferings and enhance the quality of life.

 

Blue biotechnology

Examining marine and freshwater organisms and their derivatives, searching for their scientific applications. Now it's rarely used.

 

White biotechnology

Also known as industrial biotechnology, involves manufacturing, fermentation and enzymatic processes. Rapidly growing field.

 

Bioinformatics

With computational biology involve the use of many disciplines to solve biological problems usually on the molecular level.

Featured article

Mouse embryonic stem cells.

Stem cellular structures are cells found in most multi-cellular organisms. They are capable of retaining the ability to reinvigorate themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.

The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are found in blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.

As stem cells can be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in medical therapies has been proposed. In particular, embryonic cell lines, autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow are touted as promising candidates.[1]

 

Did you know?

  • ...that in spite of the successive news that all the human genome is sequenced still there are dark regions? In fact, with the present techniques, there are zones that are not sequenciables.


Topics

Basic concepts

Allele · Artificial selection · Bioreactor · Cell · DNA · Fermentation · Gene · Plasmid · Protein · RNA

Biotechnology fields

Bioinformatics

BLAST · Clustal · Docking · FASTA · GenBank · NCBI · PubMed · UniProt

Environmental Biotechnology

Biofuel (Biodiesel) · Biogas · Compost · Water purification

Biotechnology products

Acetone · Bioethanol · Butanol · Dextran · Pullulan · Xanthan
Fermented food: Bread · Cheese · Yogurt · Kefir · Vinegar · Sauerkraut
Alcoholic drinks: Beer · Cava · Cider · Mead · Sake · Tequila · Vodka · Whisky · Wine
Fermented Feed Additives: Methionine ·Lysine ·Threonine ·Tryptophan ·
Antibiotics: Amoxicillin · Penicillin

Omics

Bionomics · Chemogenomics · Cytomics · Genomics · Glycomics · Immunoproteomics · Interactomics · Lipidomics · Metabolomics · Metagenomics · Pharmacogenomics · Proteomics · Secretomics · Toxicogenomics · Transcriptomics

Genetic improvement and selection

Artificial selection
Dwarf plant · QTL
Transgenic
A. Tumefaciens · Biolistics · Chimera · Knockdown · Knock-in · Knock-out · Pharming · Ti plasmid
Genetically modified organism: Golden rice

Gene & Cell therapy

Adeno-associated virus · Adenovirus · Stem cell · Electrotransfer · Lentivirus · Cationic liposome · Cationic polymer · shRNA · siRNA · Xenotransplant

Genetic engineering

BAC · Cosmid · Gene library · PCR · YAC
Recombinant proteins: FVIII · FSH · GH · Insulin · Plantibody · Plant-made pharmaceuticals · Use of biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing

Basic techniques and tools

Biology field Cell culture ·Flow cytometry · Hybridoma · HPLC · NMR · Spectroscopy

Chemical engineering field

Centrifugation · CSTR · DSTR · Crystallization · Chromatography (de repartition, adsorption, hydrophobic, reverse, filtration, ion exchange & affinity) · Dialysis · Electrophoresis · Extraction · Fed Batch · Filtration · PFR · Sedimentation

Interdisciplinary fields

Biology · Biopharmacology · Biomedical engineering · Biomedicine · Biochemicals · Chemical engineering · Microbiology · Mining · Nanobiotechnology · Taxonomy · Virology

Start-up companies

A start up is a company which was founded within one year and is in a phase of development, searches for markets and investors.

  • 23andMe (personal DNA analysis)
  • ...

 

Laboratory equipments

 

 

Investing in biotechnology

Investments help - especially start-up - companies to grow and develop new products, services. It's riskful, but can be very profitable for the investor.

This articles present the very basics of investing:

 

 

How you can collaborate

  • Join up and contribute.
  • Improving and expanding a Biotechnology stub.
  • Creating an article about Biotechnology:

Before editing it's highly recommend to take a look at policies, conventions and guidelines.

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  1. ^ Tuch BE (2006). "Stem cells--a clinical update". Australian family physician. 35 (9): 719–21. PMID 16969445.