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Weird, wonderful biotech is no April Fool’s Day joke
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I am a student of biotechnology, the science of using biology to accomplish technological tasks. Humans have used biotechnology for thousands of years. Consider beer—the humble yeast (an organism) ferments water, barley and hops to make one of the world’s most popular drinks.
But when you say “biotechnology” to some people, they envision genetically modified Franken foods or mutant animals and cloned humans. There are entire organizations devoted to blocking the advancement of biotechnology. Sometimes anti-biotech protests become violent and destructive.
Since today is April Fool’s Day, and I would prefer to ponder things more whimsical. I now present five fruits of biotechnology that I find personally intriguing. Tell a friend about any one of these incredible biotech applications, and they will likely think you are just April fooling them.
Artificial insulin: Do you or a loved one have diabetes? The artificial insulin injections used by diabetics are created by a non-disease causing strain of the bacteria E. coli. That’s the same microbe that causes diarrhea. The bacterial production of artificial human insulin essentially launched the field of biotechnology back in 1982..jpg)
Genetically modified zebrafish called GloFish (credit)
Glow-in-the-dark animals: The green fluorescent protein, similar to the stuff that makes fireflies glow, can be inserted through recombinant DNA technology into many animals. GloFish –a.k.a. fluorescent transgenic zebrafish--were originally bred to be used for detecting environmental pollutants. Now these colorful fish are used as pets. Some have expressed concern about their potential affect on wild type zebrafish, but I think the research on these tiny gems have proven them to be harmless. They are FDA approved. Similarly, mice with GFP have been used in many studies of human diseases. Way to glow!
Insect Resistant Plants: Using a gene from the soil dwelling organism B. thuringienis (Bt), scientists developed plants that protect themselves from attack by insects by producing their own insect toxin. Corn and cotton primarily have been modified with Bt. The upside of Bt plants is that no (or fewer) pesticides are needed to grow the crop. A downside is that some insect species have become resistant to the toxin. Impact on nontarget insects, such as the Monarch butterfly, have been considered, but the USDA has shown no significant adverse effects.
Cloned Replacement Pets: I love my dogs, but when they go to that big fenced-in backyard in the sky, I won’t be paying $155,000 to have cloned replacements made. But that's what one couple in Boca Raton, Fla. did when their beloved Labrador retriever, Lancelot, died. The process of cloning, which successfully produced Dolly the Sheep in 1996, is called somatic cell nuclear transfer. Essentially, you take a egg, remove the genetic material from it, and then implant new DNA material from the organism to be cloned. That’s the "nuclear transfer" part. Then the egg with the new DNA is stimulated with some growth factors to kick-start cell division. This dividing cell mass is implanted into a host mother and develops until birth. Click here to clone your own mouse.
Replacement Body Parts: I wouldn't say that science can re-grow body parts to order, but there have been enormous advancements in regenerative medicine. Using the scaffold upon which cells grow--the extracellular matrix—a doctor helped a man to regenerate a severed finger tip. More recently, a woman in Spain had her trachea replaced with a new one grown with her own adult stem cells. When President Obama signed an executive order March 9 lifting certain restrictions on stem research, he ushered in a new era of freedom for regenerative medicine.
These are just a few of the weird, yet wonderful, advancements brought to us by biotechnology. Please tell me about others that fascinate (or frighten) you.
For more info: Biotechnology Industry Organization.
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