.. What is biotechnology?

[lftipton]

.. What is biotechnology?
Office of Technology Assessment “Any technique that uses living organisms or substances from those organisms, to make or modify a product, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses” (Quoted in Biotechnology, by Susan Barnum)

Susan Barnum: “The commercial use of living organisms or their components to improve animal and human health, agriculture, and the environment” (From the glossary of her Biotechnology)

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): “Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services.” (Quoted in The Uses of Life, by Robert Bud)

European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB): “The integration of natural sciences and organisms, cells, parts thereof, and molecular analogues for products and services.” (Quoted in Biotechnology, by John Smith)

History of Biotechnology Products and Techniques (adapted from Biotechnology and Food, by Tom Zinnen and Jane Voichick)
Ancient biotechnology: selective breeding and fermentation
Circa 8000 B. C.: early agrarian societies used selective breeding of both plants and animals
Circa 5000 B. C.: Egyptians began making beer
Circa 4000 B.C.: Egyptians used yeasts to bake leavened bread and make wine; Chinese were using lactic-acid producing bacteria for making yogurt
Circa 2500 B.C.: Started collecting and storing seeds (germplasm) for future use
Traditional biotechnology: successive improvements in fermentation from ancient to modern times
1700s: Brewers began producing alcohol in large quantities, developed top fermentation and bottom fermentation, and improved the quality of the starter yeast
WWI: Glycerol, acetone, and butanol used for explosives
WWII: Penicillin is developed
1950s: Converted cholesterol into other steroids, such as cortisone, estrogen, and progesterone
1955: Used fermentation to produce amino acids, enzymes, and vitamins
Modern biotechnology: genetic engineering
1973: Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer, researchers at Stanford, invented genetic engineering by using enzymes to cut the plasmid of a bacteria and to insert a gene from another organism.
1980s: Researchers figured out how to use agrobacterium to transfer genes of interest into plants
1982: Eli Lilly used genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce human insulin
1990: Pfizer introduced the first genetically engineered product in the U. S. food supply, CHY-MAX chymosin, an enzyme used in cheese-making instead of rennet, which digests the casein in the milk and causes it to coagulate
1993: the FDA approved Monsanto’s rBGH/BST
1994: Calgene introduced the first genetically engineered whole food in the U. S. food supply, the FLAVR SAVR tomato
1994: FDA approves Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans, which are glyphosate tolerant
1995: EPA approved the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) producing potatoes
March 1998: the USDA in conjunction with Delta and Pine Land, develop terminator technology
January 2001: Schatten et al. at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center create the first transgenic primate, ANDi, a rhesus monkey with a jellyfish gene for bioluminescence inserted into his germline.
prayers...Linda

[lftipton]

.. What is biotechnology?
Office of Technology Assessment “Any technique that uses living organisms or substances from those organisms, to make or modify a product, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses” (Quoted in Biotechnology, by Susan Barnum)

Susan Barnum: “The commercial use of living organisms or their components to improve animal and human health, agriculture, and the environment” (From the glossary of her Biotechnology)

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): “Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services.” (Quoted in The Uses of Life, by Robert Bud)

European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB): “The integration of natural sciences and organisms, cells, parts thereof, and molecular analogues for products and services.” (Quoted in Biotechnology, by John Smith)

History of Biotechnology Products and Techniques (adapted from Biotechnology and Food, by Tom Zinnen and Jane Voichick)
Ancient biotechnology: selective breeding and fermentation
Circa 8000 B. C.: early agrarian societies used selective breeding of both plants and animals
Circa 5000 B. C.: Egyptians began making beer
Circa 4000 B.C.: Egyptians used yeasts to bake leavened bread and make wine; Chinese were using lactic-acid producing bacteria for making yogurt
Circa 2500 B.C.: Started collecting and storing seeds (germplasm) for future use
Traditional biotechnology: successive improvements in fermentation from ancient to modern times
1700s: Brewers began producing alcohol in large quantities, developed top fermentation and bottom fermentation, and improved the quality of the starter yeast
WWI: Glycerol, acetone, and butanol used for explosives
WWII: Penicillin is developed
1950s: Converted cholesterol into other steroids, such as cortisone, estrogen, and progesterone
1955: Used fermentation to produce amino acids, enzymes, and vitamins
Modern biotechnology: genetic engineering
1973: Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer, researchers at Stanford, invented genetic engineering by using enzymes to cut the plasmid of a bacteria and to insert a gene from another organism.
1980s: Researchers figured out how to use agrobacterium to transfer genes of interest into plants
1982: Eli Lilly used genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce human insulin
1990: Pfizer introduced the first genetically engineered product in the U. S. food supply, CHY-MAX chymosin, an enzyme used in cheese-making instead of rennet, which digests the casein in the milk and causes it to coagulate
1993: the FDA approved Monsanto’s rBGH/BST
1994: Calgene introduced the first genetically engineered whole food in the U. S. food supply, the FLAVR SAVR tomato
1994: FDA approves Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans, which are glyphosate tolerant
1995: EPA approved the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) producing potatoes
March 1998: the USDA in conjunction with Delta and Pine Land, develop terminator technology
January 2001: Schatten et al. at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center create the first transgenic primate, ANDi, a rhesus monkey with a jellyfish gene for bioluminescence inserted into his germline.
prayers...Linda