Biotechnology uses life science organisms, chemicals, or processes for commercial purposes. It has applications in medicine, food, and fuels. Biotech companies work to develop personalized medicine, genetically modified foods, and clean-burning biofuels.
The biotechnology industry is based on the use of life science organisms, chemicals or processes for commercial purposes. In some cases, this means developing an end product from these organic sources; in others it means using biological components to improve processes that develop non-organic products. In still other cases, biotech companies use biological components to develop new processes, not products. Biotechnology has many different applications, but the most important are in the fields of medicine, food and fuels.
One of the most lucrative and important focus areas for the biotechnology industry is human health and medicine. A common goal in medicine is to develop ‘personalised medicine’ by tailoring treatments specifically to patients, not just their illnesses. This involves developing technologies to learn about an individual’s genetic makeup and to develop more nuanced diagnostic methods. On a larger scale, some biotechnology companies work to reduce or prevent the spread of disease by developing effective vaccines or finding ways to neutralize disease-spreading agents. Many pharmaceutical companies also rely on biotechnology and try to use biological components and processes in drug development and manufacturing.
The biotechnology industry also plays an important role in fighting world hunger and developing artificially healthy and genetically modified foods. Biotechnology methods can be used, for example, to develop crops that are less susceptible to insect damage or that can survive in relatively inhospitable environments. A common goal for companies working in this area of the biotech industry is to dramatically reduce the need for pesticides and other chemical crop treatments. Biotechnologists can also engineer crops to contain more vitamins and other nutrients. This is important in areas that naturally lack food containing vital nutrients.
Fuel is another important and lucrative area of focus in the biotechnology industry, as fuel is consumed on a massive scale around the world. This focus on fuel is often directed towards reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, as there is only a limited supply of those fuels and they contribute substantially to world pollution. Biotechnologists work, for example, to develop clean-burning “biofuels” from abundant biological sources. Some also work to develop fuels from various waste chemicals to address the massive demand for fuel and the problem of waste disposal at the same time.
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