Biotechnology refers to a field where the study of living organisms is done in order to make advancements in the field of science or give rise to new products. Its main purpose is to benefit society through medicine, environmental changes, and agricultural advancements, among many other possibilities. This field of study has multiple applications such as in the pharmaceutical industry, food industry, or the generation of biofuel. Biotechnology has immense application in the field of medicine and helps work towards providing better healthcare.

Biopharmaceuticals

• Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs produced using biotechnology without using any synthetic materials and chemicals
• They are proteins (counting antibodies), nucleic acids (DNA, RNA and protein) utilized for restorative or in vivo diagnostic purposes. They are created by direct extraction from a local (non-designed) biological source. When targeted in the body, they attack the hidden mechanisms of the diseases and destroy them without any side effect(s)
• With the introduction of biotechnology in the pharmaceuticals’ industry, genetically engineered human insulin was developed. Insulin was produced with the help of Escherichia coli by recombinant technology in 19778
• Another hormone called human growth hormone was produced in 1979 through recombinant DNA technology
• Human blood clotting factor ix was produced through rDNA technology.

Gene Therapy

• Gene therapy is one more technique of biotechnology used for diagnosing diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s disease, HIV, hepatitis, Huntington’s disease, and influenza
• Its technique’s apparatus is that if genes are under attack in the body, then it either obliterates the injured cells or replaces them
• In some cases, the fit genes make corrections in the genetic information and the genes start functioning in favor of the body

Genetic Testing

• Hereditary testing is a sort of clinical trial that distinguishes changes in chromosome number or proteins
• Genetic testing uses DNA probes to sequence similar to the mutated sequences of the genome
• It is also used to recognize the criminals and to test the parenthood of the child.

Pharmacogenomics

• Pharmacogenomics is a huge representation of the field of exactness drug, which focuses on clinical treatment to every individual or to a gathering of individuals. Pharmacogenomics looks at how DNA affects the way we respond to drugs
• Sometimes, your DNA can influence whether we have an awful response to a medication or regardless of whether a drug helps us or has no effect
• Pharmacogenomics can deeply affect our prosperity by helping us with knowing early whether a medication is probably going to help and be okay for one to take. Knowing this information can help doctors find a medicine that will work best for oneself.

How does pharmacogenomics work?

• Drugs interact with our body in numerous ways, depending on both – How we take the drug and where the drug acts in our body. After we take a drug, our body needs to break it down and get it to the intended area
• Our DNA can influence various steps in this cycle to impact how we react to the medication. Some examples of these interactions include Drug Receptors. A few medications need to append to proteins on the outer layer of cells called receptors to work properly
• Our DNA figures out what sort of receptors we have and the number of, which can influence our response to the drug. We might need a higher or lower amount of the drug than most people, or a different drug

• Example: Breast Cancer and T-DM1. Some malignant growths make a lot of HER2, a receptor, and this extra HER2 helps the disease develop and spread. The medication T-DM1 can be utilized to treat this kind of disease and works by connecting to HER2 on cancerous cells and killing them. In case an individual has bosom malignant growth, a specialist might test an example of cancer to decide whether T-DM1 is the right treatment for a person. If a tumour has a high amount of HER2 (HER2 positive),  doctors may prescribe T-DM1. If a tumour does not have enough HER2 (HER2 negative), T-DM1 will not work for us.

Conclusion

The field of biotechnology is constantly changing the healthcare sector in many ways. Application of biotechnology allows for personalized healthcare. Ongoing research in the medical field may discover more useful biotechnological applications for humans. Previously, with the help of biotechnology, the natural capability of microbes was utilized to obtain the desired product. Presently, we use the rDNA technology for genetic engineering, enzyme engineering practices, etc., to improve capabilities of natural biological agents to get desirable products. Biotechnology is interdisciplinary in nature and comprises several other basic sciences and engineering. The contribution of biotechnology in the medical field is most visible. It helps in curing diseases, but also helps in prevention of diseases. It also helps in curing genetic disorders with the help of gene therapy. Using biotechnological processes, several valuable drugs and antibiotics have been produced on a large scale. Currently, researchers are making trials with the gene therapy to cure life-threatening diseases like cancer, tumours, etc.