User:BlaseDavid/Portal:Biotechnology
The Biotechnology Portal
Welcome to the Biotechnology portal. Biotechnology is a technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine.
Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity. It combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology.
Of the many different definitions available, the one formulated by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the broadest:
- "Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."
Picture of the Month
Biotechnology can be divided by its applications into five main branches:
Green biotechnology
More commonly known as plant biotechnology. It deals with economically important plant species and agricultural processes.
Red biotechnology
Utilizing the benefits and advancements of biotechnology to alleviate human sufferings and enhance the quality of life.
Blue biotechnology
Examining marine and freshwater organisms and their derivatives, searching for their scientific applications. Now it's rarely used.
White biotechnology
Also known as industrial biotechnology, involves manufacturing, fermentation and enzymatic processes. Rapidly growing field.
Bioinformatics
With computational biology involve the use of many disciplines to solve biological problems usually on the molecular level.
Featured article
Stem cellular structures are cells found in most multi-cellular organisms. They are capable of retaining the ability to reinvigorate themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.
The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are found in blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.
As stem cells can be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in medical therapies has been proposed. In particular, embryonic cell lines, autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow are touted as promising candidates.[1]
Did you know?
- ...that in spite of the successive news that all the human genome is sequenced still there are dark regions? In fact, with the present techniques, there are zones that are not sequenciables.
Categories
Topics
Basic concepts
Allele · Artificial selection · Bioreactor · Cell · DNA · Fermentation · Gene · Plasmid · Protein · RNA
Biotechnology fields
- Biofuel (Biodiesel) · Biogas · Compost · Water purification
- Acetone · Bioethanol · Butanol · Dextran · Pullulan · Xanthan
- Fermented food: Bread · Cheese · Yogurt · Kefir · Vinegar · Sauerkraut
- Fermented Feed Additives: Methionine ·Lysine ·Threonine ·Tryptophan ·
- Antibiotics: Amoxicillin · Penicillin
- Bionomics · Chemogenomics · Cytomics · Genomics · Glycomics · Immunoproteomics · Interactomics · Lipidomics · Metabolomics · Metagenomics · Pharmacogenomics · Proteomics · Secretomics · Toxicogenomics · Transcriptomics
Genetic improvement and selection
- Adeno-associated virus · Adenovirus · Stem cell · Electrotransfer · Lentivirus · Cationic liposome · Cationic polymer · shRNA · siRNA · Xenotransplant
- BAC · Cosmid · Gene library · PCR · YAC
- Recombinant proteins: FVIII · FSH · GH · Insulin · Plantibody · Plant-made pharmaceuticals · Use of biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing
Basic techniques and tools
Biology field Cell culture ·Flow cytometry · Hybridoma · HPLC · NMR · Spectroscopy
Chemical engineering field
Centrifugation · CSTR · DSTR · Crystallization · Chromatography (de repartition, adsorption, hydrophobic, reverse, filtration, ion exchange & affinity) · Dialysis · Electrophoresis · Extraction · Fed Batch · Filtration · PFR · Sedimentation
Interdisciplinary fields
Biology · Biopharmacology · Biomedical engineering · Biomedicine · Biochemicals · Chemical engineering · Microbiology · Mining · Nanobiotechnology · Taxonomy · Virology
Start-up companies
Laboratory equipments
Investing in biotechnology
Investments help - especially start-up - companies to grow and develop new products, services. It's riskful, but can be very profitable for the investor.
This articles present the very basics of investing:
Web resources
Related portals
How you can collaborate
- Join up and contribute.
- Improving and expanding a Biotechnology stub.
- Creating an article about Biotechnology:
- You can create an article from the requested articles list.
- Adding new data to selected questions, anecdotes, articles & title images.
- Adding the {{biotech-stub}} to those very little articles related to Biotechnology.
- You can make suggests in the discussion page.
Before editing it's highly recommend to take a look at policies, conventions and guidelines.
Requested articles for creation and improvement
Biopharmacology, Bioprocessing, Biotelemetry, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Blue biotechnology, Cabilly patents, Discontinuous stirred-tank reactor, Fed batch, Gene library, Green biotechnology, Knock-in, Metanomics, Molecular diagnostics, Nanobiotechnology, Piston flow reactor, Red biotechnology, Secretomics, sgRNA, shRNA, White biotechnology, Biotechnic Engineering, Chemostat, Turbidostat, pH-stat.
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