4. Biotechnology is the branch of applied science that utilizes living
organisms and their derivatives in order to produce products and
processes. These products and processes can apply to several aspects of
the economy ranging from healthcare and medicine to biofuels and
environmental safety.
7. 1. Blue Biotechnology:
This branch of biotechnology helps to control the marine organisms and water-borne organisms.
Examples: Plays a major role in aquaculture, or fish farming. High-quality fish foods, disease resistance, species diversification.
2. Green Biotechnology: It deals with the use of environmentally-friendly solutions as an alternate to ancient agriculture,
gardening, and animal breeding processes.
Examples: Include production of biofuels, such as ethanol or methane, from crops such as corn, or even from marine algae
grown at land-based production facilities
3. Bioinformatics: Bioinformatics is a combination of computers and biotechnology.
Examples: Bridging among protein, DNA, and RNA sequences, Searching for related sequences in other organisms, Searching for
functional patterns in proteins and nucleic acids.
4. Red Biotechnology: Red biotechnology is a distinct branch of biotechnology that deals with the therapeutic and
pharmaceutical application of biotechnology.
Examples: Some examples of red biotechnology are regenerative medicine, gene therapy, cell therapy, and medicines based on
biological molecules such as therapeutic antibodies.
5. White Biotechnology: This biotechnology uses living cells—from yeast, moulds, bacteria and plants—and enzymes to
synthesize products that are easily degradable, require less energy and create less waste during their productions.
Examples: An example of white Biotech is the use of microorganisms in chemical production, the design and production of new
plastics/textiles and the development of new sustainable energy sources such as bio-fuels.
8. There are more than 400 Biotechnology companies in India. These organizations are including many top MNC
and Research. Some are-
1. Biocon company.
2. Sun pharmaceutical company.
3. Vivo biotech.
4. ANG Lifesciences India.
5. Serum Institute of India.
6. Panacea Biotech.
7. Bharat Serum.
8. Wockhardt Limited.
9. Piramal Healthcare.
10. Monsanto Biotech.
9. Specialization in biotechnology:
Biotechnology can focus on six specializations:-
1. Cellular and Molecular biotechnology.
2. Process technology.
3. Food biotechnology.
4. Medical biotechnology.
5. Environmental and Biobased technology.
10. The World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus COVID-19 as the
official name for infection caused by this novel coronavirus.
The name was suggested based on letters from the words “co” for corona,
“vi” for virus and “d” for disease, and 19-because the outbreak first started
in china in 2019 in the month of November.
11.
12. How important a role does the Biotech industry or a
Biotechnologist professional can play in this situation? –
Biotechnologists & COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Corona pandemic has really unveiled the true importance of the Biotechnologists. We all are hoping that
very soon they will come up with something that will put an end to this global suffering.
The biotech industry is also hit due to the shortage of supply, supply chain disruption, transportation issues,
and many other problems. But on the other hand, this pandemic has opened lots of scope and opportunities
for this industry.
13. How and what are those opportunities?
The biotech industry, including pharmaceutical companies, research organizations are already being abetted by
governments of different countries across the world to develop vaccines and targeted drug therapies to combat against the
novel virus.
Rising demand for development of front-line medicines, vaccines, diagnostic equipment, test kits for diagnosis, and
treatment of novel corona has created opportunities for tremendous growth for the pharma industry. Demands for medical
equipment such as ventilators and other life-supporting devices, protective gear for doctors, medical and supportive staff,
for nurses are also rising, as the spread continues exponentially. Lots of companies have started working towards the
development of vaccines. Some anti-malaria drugs like Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, and paracetamol are also in high
demand. Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine, a combination of already approved drugs, is being used to treat COVID 19
infected patients because these drugs are considered as safe for treatment. New clinical trials are taking place, a very recent
trial conducted in France reported that treatment with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine helped the patients for a
speedy recovery.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is also sponsoring a large number of clinical trials named SOLIDARITY, in order to
study six different drugs that could be potentially used to treat the patients against COVID 19 infection. Patients suffering
from COVID-19 infection are more susceptible to other opportunistic secondary bacterial and fungal infections, for this
purpose antibiotics are currently used for treating these infected patients who are developing weaker immune systems.
According to the report, most of the Chinese hospitals also used broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat their patients with
corona infection.
14. How Governments are helping the Biotech industry now?
Governments have also come to understand the importance and how crucial it is to support the biotech sector right now
when it is the only sector that can provide the resources to fight the evil. For example, the British government has set up a
task force to help drugmaker AstraZeneca in developing COVID -19 vaccine. Representatives from industry, academia, and
government are joining hands to support the mission. The government is also providing support to the industry and
research institutions with resources to help in rapid development, reviewing regulations, and scaling up of manufacturing
processes as soon as a remedy will be available.
The Government of India announced a complete lockdown on 25th March, for a period of 21 days, invoking disaster
management act 2015, which has been extended thereafter. Experts believe the lockdown and enforcement of social
distancing have helped to slow down the number of COVID 19 positive cases to well within limits. With the slowdown in
trade disrupting the supply chain for essential commodities like testing kits, masks, hand sanitizer, personal protective
equipment (PPEs), dress materials for health workers, and ventilators for patients. This situation has prompted our
government to activate the ‘make in India’ program and involved various research and development institutions of the
country.
