Futurology

Briefly defined - Biotechnology is the use of living organisms to solve problems or create products. From this definition it can be concluded that biotechnology in human society has long practiced, and in the simplest of human activities such as baking bread, artificial selective breeding of plants, animals, etc. Modern use of the word biotechnology is mostly related to genetic engineering and the growing culture of cells and tissues; Modern biotechnology is concentrated in the cellular level, because scientists now know better cells, proteins, DNA and other molecules important for life.

It is clear that biotechnology, nanotechnology, together with the "buzzword" nowadays, and one of them in the future, expect a lot. We will try to bring readers some of the interesting areas of biotechnology, in order to understand what we biotechnology specifically provides that the benefits and risks of excessive forcing of new technologies in the future of humanity brought in the wrong direction.

Biotechnology is applied in four important industrial areas, and several interdisciplinary fields:

• Medicine ( cloning , production of medicines, pharmacogenomics, gene therapy, genetic testing, human genome mapping project,)
• Agrobiotehnologija production and improvement of food plants and animals (increase in yields, increased nutritional content, improving the texture, taste and appearance of food)
• Production and promotion of industrial plants (plastic, textile, energy ..)
• Environment

Agrobiotehnologija

The term agricultural biotechnology (agrobiotehnologija) refers to the range, a set of tools and methods that alter living organisms or parts thereof; improve plants, animals or microorganisms for targeted needs. The first (official) of genetically modified food product was released to the market 1994th The start and got approval from the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Association). It was a tomato that has been modified so much more slowly decaying and rotting. Since then about 50 other genetically altered food products launched, after they get approval from the FDA that they are safe for consumption as well as their unmodified counterparts.

Benefits agrobiotehnologije:

• Reduced use of pesticides
• Crops resistant to disease
• Crops resistant to pests
• Increased grain
• Reduced production costs
• Prolonged food
• Reducing allergies
• New drugs
• Reducing the risk of soil erosion
• Biodegradable materials in the production

Risks agrobiotehnologije

• Transfer of genes: genes modified plants in the nature of cross pollination of the modified plants, genetically modified animals mating in the wild with the unmodified
• Adverse effects on humans and other organisms
• Sirens and weeds develop resistance to natural
• Legal complications and unreasonable disposal of patent rights

Documentary film "The Future of Food" deals with the future of agriculture seen through the prism of genetically modified crops, incorporation of the food industry and the deposit of copyright on the development, sale and cultivation of this food.

Cloning

Cloning is the umbrella term to describe different processes of duplication of genetic material. There are several types of cloning, cloning technology could be used for multiple purposes by producing a mere copy of an organism. Understanding the basic types of cloning is the key to taking an informed position on current public policy, cloning, and making good decisions for the future.

• Reproductive cloning: reproductive cloning is a technology that is used to generate an animal that has the same cellular DNA as well as currently existing or animal that existed before. Dolly the Sheep (1996th-2003rd) obtained reproductive cloning, and is the first publicly presented to cloned animals.
• Therapeutic cloning: Also known as cloning, the embryo is a production of human embryos for use in research. The aim of this process is not getting cloned human beings, but growing human stem cells used for the treatment of diseases and research.
• Cloning of DNA and the terms "recombinant DNA technology", "molecular cloning" referred to the same procedure: transfer of DNA fragments from one organism to self-replicating genetic element such as bacterial plasmids. Such DNA can be spread in a foreign host cell. This procedure is practiced from the 1970s and became ubiquitous in the laboratory of molecular biology.

The risks of cloning and the ethical dilemmas

Reproductive cloning is expensive and inefficient. More than 90% of attempts to obtain live offspring resulting in failure. Cloned animals have a higher rate tendencje to reduce resistance and immunity, cancer, infections.

What about cloning humans? Publish news about cloning Dolly the sheep, has triggered fears of a possible rapid creation of a human clone baby. Fear is based on "genetic determinism", the only assumption that genes alone determine the person, so newly created clone had identical appearance and psychological basis for the life of his predecessor. While genes play a key role in the formation of physical and behavioralnih characteristics, each individual is the result of complex interactions among its genes and the environment in which to develop. Many of the concerns about cloning occurred in connection with "playing God" with the fear that cloning interferes with the natural pattern of life and reportedly confiscated the future the individual right to a unique identity.

Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine is the process of creating living, functional tissues to replace lost organs or tissues due to age, illness, damage, or congenital defects. The term refers to a set of biomedical tools and procedures of clinical treatment in which stem cells can be used, eg injection of stem and progenitor cells, regeneration of biologically active molecules, transplantation of in vitro grown organs.

This area of biotechnology seeks to regenerate damaged tissues and organs in the body by stimulating them to heal themselves. In the event that the proposed methods are not sufficient, laboratory grown tissues and organs that are implanted to the patient rather than damaged. Regenerative medicine also can offer a response to the continued shortage of donor organs and compatible for transplantation, and solves the problem of organ rejection, because it is grown organ designed to measure - from the cells of the patient.

Biotechnology in the future

It has become universally accepted interpretation and claim that the twentieth century was century physics, and twenty-first century century of biology / biotechnology. Biotechnology is by all indicators currently "higher" than physics: the budgets, the number of employees, number of major discoveries; and biology continues to be the largest science and twenty-first century.

After a brief introduction to the basic concepts and capabilities in the field of biotechnology, concludes that in the future, biotechnology could have a significant role in these areas:

• Help end world hunger, starvation and a global shortage
• Give better long-term food
• Crops are becoming less susceptible to diseases and pests
• Achieve accurate and customized dosing and localization of drugs, targeting cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy cells
• Regenerative medicine, replacement organs
• You will be designer organisms
• Work on slowing down or stopping the aging
• Biological computers , biologically active molecules as CPU
• Extension including computer hardware from physical technology in biotechnology
• Wearable computers (in the context of clothing)
• Biological creation and cultivation of clothing, plastics, building materials
• Environmentally-friendly production processes with minimal waste matter
• Combination with nanotechnology
• "Domestifikacija" biotechnology in homes, landing in large corporate laboratories in small, almost domestic conditions will bring along a huge improvement and popularization of biotechnological sciences (similar to the way that have gone through a personal computer)
• Do not forget the ethical, legal and even physical complications for humanity that may arise from wrong and irresponsible use of technology, the race for profits, corporatization, imposing radical patent rights and laws, etc.

Resources, links, reading:

http://www.fda.gov

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2003/603_food.html

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

http://www.clonesafety.org/cloning/facts/faq/

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml

http://www.genome.gov/10004765

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20370

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_medicine

One Response to "What we can offer Biotechnology?"