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Biotechnology is the study of those aspects of biology that help solve real-life problems. This field has been applied in many situations and has proven to solve issues. The application of biotechnology includes a wide range of activities. These include nutrient supplementation, which works to make food more nutritious, in industrial purposes, in the healthcare sector, as well as food processing. It has impacted science in a major way through its many applications including biopharmaceuticals, genetic testing, pharmacogenomics, and gene therapy. One of the greatest uses of biotechnology is its production of biofuel, which is a clean source of energy. Through biotechnology, problems that are present in the global situation can be addressed. Ageing, food security, healthcare, are a few more spheres where biotechnology is of great use. It is due to this quality of biotechnology to create global change, that it is given such importance. 

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 so on) utilised for remedial or in vivo demonstrative purposes. They are created by means other than direct extraction from a local (non-designed) natural source. When targeted in the body, they attack the hidden mechanisms of the diseases and destroy them without any side effect(s)

Gene Therapy

  • Gene therapy is one more technique of biotechnology used for diagnosing diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s disease
  • Its technique’s apparatus is 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 favour of the body

Genetic Testing

  • Genetic testing is a kind of clinical preliminary that perceives changes in chromosomes, characteristics 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 significant illustration of the field of accuracy medication, which means to tailor medical treatment to each person or to a group of people. Pharmacogenomics looks at how DNA affects the way we respond to drugs
  • Now and again, your DNA can influence whether we have a terrible response to a medication or regardless of whether a drug helps us or has no effect
  • Pharmacogenomics can chip away at our prosperity by helping us with knowing early whether a medication is probably going to help us and be alright for us to take. Knowing this information can help doctors find medicine that will work best for us 

Working of Pharmacogenomics

  • Drugs interact with our body in numerous ways, depending both on 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 numerous means in this interaction to impact how we react to the medication. Some examples of these interactions include Drug Receptors. SA few medications need to join 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 reaction to the medication. We may require a sequential measure of the medication than a great many people or an alternate medication
  • Example: Breast Cancer and T-DM1. Some bosom malignant growths make a lot of HER2, a receptor, and this extra HER2 helps the cancer develop and spread. The medication T-DM1 can be utilised to treat this kind of bosom malignant growth and works by appending HER2 on cancerous cells and killing them. Assuming that 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

From the above discussion it can be concluded that application of biotechnology can be a major tool for development in all countries. Application of biotechnology, we can easily detect mutagens that cause genetic mutations in the food crops. It has even improved the edibility, texture and nutritional composition of food. Through this field, researchers have developed recombinant DNA technology (rDNA) that enabled them to engineer microbes, plants and animals having novel capabilities. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are the result of biotechnology. GMO can be utilised to transfer desirable genes from one organism to another organism. A wide achievement has been observed in the field of pharmacogenomics by using recombinant DNA technology (rDNA) technology. Gene therapy is another achievement in the field of healthcare using application of biotechnology. With the help of gene therapy hereditary genes can be easily treated. In the field of biotechnology, a number of research is ongoing in an attempt to find new proteins and technology that will benefit humankind.