UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

GOV. PACK ROAD, BAGUIO CITY

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

BIOTECHNOLOGY

What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology --- bios (life) + logos (study of or essence)

Literally --- ‘the study of tools from living things’

CLASSIC: The word "biotechnology" was first used in 1917 to describe processes using living organisms
to make a product or run a process, such as industrial fermentations.

LAYMAN: Biotechnology began when humans began to plant their own crops, domesticate animals,
ferment juice into wine, make cheese, and leaven bread.

WEBSTER’S: The aspect of technology concerned with the application of living organisms to meet the
needs and ends of man.

GENENTECH: Biotechnology is the process of harnessing 'nature's own' biochemical tools to make
possible new products and processes and provide solutions to society's ills.

WALL STREET: Biotechnology is the application of genetic engineering and DNA technology to
produce therapeutic and medical diagnostic products and processes. Biotech companies have one thing in
common - the use of genetic engineering and manipulation of organisms at a molecular level.

Biotechnology
Using scientific methods with organisms to produce new products or new forms of organisms.

Any technique that uses living organisms or substances from those organisms to make or modify
a product, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.

Goals of biotechnology
1. To understand more about the processes of inheritance and gene expression.
2. To provide better understanding & treatment of various diseases, particularly genetic disorders.
3. To generate economic benefits, including improved plants and animals for agriculture and
efficient production of valuable biological molecules.

Biotechnology is a multi-disciplinarian in nature, involving input from:

1. Engineering
2. Computer Science
3. Cell and Molecular Biology
4. Microbiology
5. Genetics
6. Physiology
7. Biochemistry
8. Immunology
9. Virology
10. Recombinant DNA Technology --- genetic manipulation of bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants and
animals, often for the development of specific products.

Stages of Biotechnology

1. Ancient Biotechnology
--- early history as related to food and shelter, including domestication

Ancient biotechnology
Palaeolithic society--- Hunter-gatherers
Nomadic lifestyle due to migratory animals and edible plant distribution (wild wheat and barley

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 Followed by domestication of plants and animals (artificial selection)
People settled, sedentary lifestyles evolved
Cultivation of wheat, barley and rye (seed collections)
Sheep and goats --- milk, cheese, button and meat

2. Classical Biotechnology
--- fermentation promoted food production
--- medicine

Classical biotechnology
1. Industry today exploits early discoveries of the fermentation process for production of huge numbers of
products:
a. Different types of beer
b. Vinegar
c. Glycerol
d. Acetone
e. Butanol
f. Lactic acid
g. Citric acid
h. Antibiotics – WWII (Bioreactor developed for large scale production, e.g. penicilin made by
fermentation of penicillium)

2. Chemical transformations to produce therapeutic products.

Substrate + Microbial Enzyme = Product

Examples:
Cholesterol = Steroids (cortisone, estrogen, progesterone)

3. Microbial synthesis of other commercially valuable products.

Examples:
a. Amino acids to improve food taste, quality or preservation
b. Enzymes (cellulase, collagenase, diastase, glucose isomerase, invertase, lipase, pectinase,
protease)
c. Vitamins
d. Pigments

3. Modern Biotechnology
--- manipulates genetic information in organism
--- genetic engineering

Branches of biotechnology

1. Red Biotechnology
--- applied to medical processes or health
--- designing of organisms to produce vaccines and antibiotics; new drugs; molecular diagnostics;
regenerative therapies; use of genetic engineering to cure diseases

2. White Biotechnology
--- biotechnology applied to industrial processes
--- use of organisms or recombinant enzymes as industrial catalysts to either produce valuable
chemicals, new materials and biofuels

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3. Green Biotechnology
--- applied to agricultural processes
--- new varieties of organisms with important traits, in vitro propagation and cloning

4. Grey Biotechnology
--- applied to environmental processes
--- use in biodiversity maintenance and pollutant removal

5. Blue Biotechnology
--- used to describe the marine and aquatic applications of biotechnology

Types of Biotechnology

1. Microbial Biotechnology
--- manipulation of microorganisms such as yeast and bacteria
1. Create better enzymes
2. More efficient decontamination processes for industrial waste product removal
3. Used to clone and produce large amounts of important proteins used in human medicine

2. Agricultural Biotechnology
1. Plants more environmentally friendly that yield more per acre (genetically engineered)
2. Resistance to diseases and insects
3. Foods with higher protein or vitamin content
4. Drugs developed and grown as plant products
5. These better plants ultimately reduce production costs to help feed the growing world
population

Agriculture:
1. Plant breeding to improve resistance to pests, diseases, drought and salt conditions
2. Mass propagation of plant clones, bioinsecticide development, modification of plants to
improve nutritional and processing characteristics

3. Animal Biotechnology
1. Animals as a source of medically valuable proteins
a. Antibodies
b. Transgenic animals
2. Animals as important models in basic research
a. Gene "knockout" experiments
b. Design and testing of drugs and genetic therapies
3. Animal cloning
a. Source of transplant organs

Veterinary Practice:
1. Vaccine production
2. Fertility control
3. Livestock breeding

4. Forensic Biotechnology
1. DNA fingerprinting
a. Inclusion or exclusion of a person from suspicion
b. Paternity cases
c. Identification of human remains
d. Endangered species
e. Tracking and confirmation of the spread of disease

Forensic applications
a. Solve crimes
--- create a “DNA fingerprint”
--- no two people have the exact same DNA code so everyone’s DNA fingerprint is different
--- can be used to link a person to a crime scene

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 b. Determine parentage
Who’s your daddy?
Think Jerry Springer………..can use a child’s DNA to link them to who their real parents are.

5. Bioremediation or Environmental Biotechnology

The use of biotechnology to process and degrade a variety of natural and manmade substances
particularly those that contribute to environmental pollution.

How Can Bioremediation Be Used?

1. Oil spills
2. Wastewater treatment
3. Heavy metal removal
4. Chemical degradation

Environment:
1. Biological recovery of heavy metals from mine tailings and other industrial sources.
2. Bioremediation of soil and water polluted with toxic chemicals.
3. Sewage and other organic waste treatment.

Bioremediation --- using biological processes to solve environmental problems.

Biodegradation --- natural processes of microbes in breaking down hydrocarbon materials.

Phytoremediation --- process of plants being used to solve pollution problems.

** Plants absorb and break down pollutants
** Used with heavy metals, pesticides, explosives, and leachate

6. Aquatic Biotechnology

Aquaculture--- raising finfish or shellfish in controlled conditions for use as food sources
1. Disease-resistant strains of oysters
2. Vaccines against viruses that infect salmon and other finfish
3. Transgenic salmon that overproduce growth hormone
4. Marine plankton and snails found to be rich sources of antitumor and anticancer molecules

7. Medical Biotechnology
1. Involved with the whole spectrum of human medicine
a. Preventive medicine
b. Diagnosis of health and illness
c. Treatment of human diseases
2. New information from Human Genome Project
a. Gene therapy
3. Stem cell technologies

Medicine:
1. Development of novel therapeutic molecules for medical treatments
2. Diagnostics
3. Drug delivery systems
4. Tissue engineering of replacement organs
5. Gene therapy

Future of medicine
1. smart drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases (arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes)
2. gene-based diagnostics and therapies
3. pharmaco-genomics and personalised medicine
4. stem cells and regenerative medicine

8. Regulatory Biotechnology
1. Quality Assurance (QA)
All activities involved in regulating the final quality of a product.
2. Quality Control (QC)

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 Part of QA process that involves lab testing and monitoring of processes and applications
to ensure consistent product standards.
Together QA and QC ensure that biotechnology products meet strict standards for purity
and performance.

Biotechnology Philippines
The Philippines is the first ASEAN country to initiate a biotechnology regulatory system with the
issuance of Executive Order No. 430 in 1990, which established the National Committee on Biosafety of
the Philippines (NCBP). The countries biosafety regulatory system follows strict scientific standards and
has become a model for member-countries of the ASEAN seeking to become producers of agricultural
biotechnology crops.

Evolution of the Philippine Biosafety System

In 1987, scientists from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) and the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Quarantine Officer of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), and the
Director for Crops of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research
and Development (PCARRD), recognizing the potential harm of the introduction of exotic species and
genetic engineering, formed a committee and formulated the biosafety protocols and guidelines for
genetic engineering and related research activities for UPLB and IRRI researchers. The committee went
on to draft a Philippine biosafety policy, which was submitted to the Office of the President.
On October 15, 1990, recognizing the potential for modern biotechnology both in improving the
lives of the people and in creating hazards if not handled properly, President Corazon C. Aquino issued
Executive Order 430 creating the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP) that will
formulate, review and amend national policy on biosafety and formulate guidelines on the conduct of
activities on genetic engineering. The NCBP is comprised of representative of the Departments of
Agriculture (DA); Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Health (DOH); and Science and
Technology (DOST), 4 scientists in biology, environmental science, social science and physical science;
and 2 respected members of the community.
On July 16, 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued the Policy Statement on Modern
Biotechnology, reiterating the government policy on promoting the safe and responsible use of modern
biotechnology. On April 3, 2002, Department of Agriculture Administrative Order No. 8, Series of 2002
was issued implementing the guidelines for importation and release into the environment of Plants and
Plant Products Derived from the Use of Modern Biotechnology.
In March 17, 2006, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No.514
Establishing the National Biosafety Framework, prescribing guidelines for its implementation,
reorganizing the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines, and for other purposes.
The NCBP now involves more government agencies such as the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) and Department of Health (DOH) to reflect the breadth and complexity of issues
related to modern biotechnology.
Other Departments and agencies which shall participate in biosafety decision making where
appropriate are:
1. the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in promoting and protecting Philippine interests on
biosafety in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums;
2. the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in relation to biosafety decisions which have
impact on trade, intellectual property rights, investments and consumer welfare and protection;
3. the National Commission on Indigenous People, in relation to biosafety decisions which have a
specific impact on indigenous peoples and communities; and
4. the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in relation to biosafety decisions
which have impact on the autonomy of local government units.

Bioinformatics or Computational biology

--- a new branch of computer science
--- is a research field that uses computers to help solve biological problems
--- applies computer science and information technology to promote an understanding of
biological processes
--- is an interdisciplinary field which addresses biological problems using computational
techniques, and makes the rapid organization as well as analysis of biological data possible

Application of Bioinformatics
Databases to store, share, and obtain the maximum amount of information related to gene
structure, gene sequence and expression, and protein structure and function

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GenBank
Public database of DNA sequences and contains National Institute of Health collection of DNA
sequences.
Each entry has an accession number that scientists use to refer back to the cloned sequence.
Maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
NCBI is goldmine for bioinformatics resources that creates public access databases and develops
computing tools for analyzing and sharing genome data.

Computers in biotechnology
1. Computer simulations with virtual reality and other uses help in biotechnology.
2. Computer modeling may be done before it is tested with animals.