Biotechnology in time of crisis
View(s):Honey, a viscous and sweet food that we all would like to have interestinglyhas been used for several other purposes for over 5,000 years. Amongst which, honey is recognized as a natural antibiotic and has the properties to heal wounds. Today, within the 21st century we produce medicinal products through biotechnology.In earlier times, traditional medicine was perceived as biotechnological products.
Is Biotechnology a new field in science? No, Biotechnology refers to the utilization of living organisms or their products to modify the environment and standards of living. The history of biotechnology was principally related to food, as we all know, our ancestors were producing yoghurt, cheese, curd, wine and bread by using fermentation. In 1919 Karl Ereky, an agricultural engineer first coined the term Biotechnology. At that time, the term meant ‘all lines of labour’ by which products are produced from raw materials with the assistance of living organisms.
Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA structure had made a revolutionisingimpression on the techniques of biotechnology. All living thing is formed from cells and cells consists of DNA which is common in every organism. DNA is formed from four nucleotides; theyare, Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Thymine (T), and Cytosine (C) and two other ingredients, sugar and phosphate. These nucleotides pair up in strands that twist together in a spiral structure, called a helix. Therefore, DNA –whether from a microorganism, a plant, an animal or a human is composed of the same material. Today, Researchers and Scientists have been able to advance technology introducing methods to transfer a specific piece of DNA from one organism to another.
Medical biotechnology uses living cells and cell materials to produce pharmaceutical products. With the evolution of drugs and vaccines enabled the eradication of diseases. PCR based diagnostic tools, recombinant vaccines, human hormones, vaccines like insulin and lot more inventions in medical biotechnology plays a significant role in eradicating and controlling diseases.
Since theoutbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, researchers all around the world are working relentlessly to eradicate the pandemic. The unprecedented event has infected over … of the human population worldwide and cure is instantly needed to mitigate the damage it is causing in human livelihoods and global economies. In the meantime, many researchers are been conducted to identify the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its genome sequence. The testing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is completed via Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could also be a process that causes a very small well-defined segment of DNA to be amplified, or multiplied thousands of times, so as that there’s enough of it to be analyzed. Viruses like SARS-CoV-2 don’t contain DNA but onlyRNA.
When a respiratory sample is collected from the person being tested, it’s treated with certain chemicals which remove extraneous substances and extract only the RNA from the sample. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) could also be a way that first uses reverse transcription to convert the extracted RNA into DNA then uses PCR to amplify a touch of the resulting DNA, creating enough to be examined so on computing if it matches the ordering of SARS-CoV-2. The advancements of medical biotechnology are helping to fight against this pandemic. Let’s hope that there will be a vaccine or drug very soon for COVID-19.
Written By Manisha Alwis