PRESENT SCENARIO

Due to multidisciplinary nature of the field of biotechnology, a wide range of different branches of science have made significant contributions to the fast development of this field. Some of these disciplines are- biochemical engineering, physiology, biochemistry, food science, material science, bioinformatics immunology, molecular biology, chemical engineering etc.

Biotechnology is also improving the lives of people around the world.The most famous example is the production of insulin. Before 1982, insulin required for the treatment of diabetes was obtained from pig and cow pancreas. The procedure used was very costly, tedious and often lead to complications while using the animal insulin. Using biotechnological tools, the human gene for insulin was isolated, cloned and expressed in microorganisms and large scale production of insulin started. Insulin was the first pharmaceutical product of recombinant DNA technology that was approved for human use. Millions of diabetic patients world over benefited by the biotechnological production of insulin.

Biotechnology also has affected economy in a positive way due to the creation and growth of small business, generation of new jobs. Agricultural biotechnology has reduced our dependency on pesticides. Bioremediation technologies are being used to clean our environment by removing toxic substances from contaminated ground water and soils. The biotechnology has contributed in health services (diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, foods etc), agricultural sciences (improved crop yield, food quality, improved health of livestock and farm animals), and in environmental monitoring, pollution control.

Modern biotechnology products started coming to the market in the late 1980s. Today, about 60% of the biotechnology products in the market are healthcare products and 21% are products used in agriculture and animal husbandry. A considerable amount of efforts in research are on, to use and extract benefit from this interesting and upcoming field for the betterment of human life and the environment.

Many biochemical companies such as National Pituitary Agency (U.S.A), GeneTech Co. (U.S.A), Biogen (Switzerland), E. Lilly (U.S.A) are involved in the production of biotechnological products using genetic engineering techniques. Many countries have developed collaborative networks and relationships on various aspects of biotechnology such as” International Cell Research Organisation “(ICRO), “ Regional Microbiology Network for South-East Asia” (supported by Japan and UNESCO), Microbiological Resource Centres (MICRCENS, supported by UNESCO).