Transcript Document

BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
AND THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR
SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Manju Sharma
23rd April, 2007, Lucknow
Science and technology have been and would
continue to be more vigorously and
philosophically in the driving seat for a rapid,
sustainable socio-economic development in the
world.
A new frontier of science i.e. Modern biology
and biotechnology - the greatest intellectual
enterprise of humankind.
The integration of natural resource and
engineering, in order to achieve the
application of micro-organisms as well as
parts thereof, and molecular analogues for
products and services have become the
challenges for the scientific community.
The business world defines it as “Making
money with Biology”
TThe most important global challenges to be
addressed with S&T interventions, specially
Biotechnology are:
-Alleviating poverty, improving food security and
reducing malnutrition, especially among women
and children.
-Providing sufficient income for the rapidly
increasing number of urban poor.
-Using new technologies for environmentally
sustainable socio-economic development.
Diagnostics
Molecular probes
Gene therapy and
functional
genomics
Patenting in
Biotechnology
and Biosafety
Bioproduct
Development
Down Stream
Processing
Special Societal
Programmes
Agriculture
Biotechnology holds the key to increasing the
yield of staple crops by allowing farmers to
reap rich harvests from currently
cultivated land, while preserving
the fertility of the land.
Knowledge based approaches including crop
genomics can provide powerful tools to enhance
the food security, by improving local agricultural
productivity, minimizing the use of chemicals
such as pesticides and fertilizers, insulating
crops against losses from diseases and pests,
curtailing post harvest loses including food
spoilage, improving food quality and nutrition,
increasing crop tolerance to stress factors such
as drought and salinity problems, and value
addition to have nutritionally rich products.
A Mexican scientist Luis Herrera Estrella has
shown that by using biotech tools, tropical
crops can be modified to tolerate aluminum
and acid soils to significantly increase the
productivity of corn, rice and papaya.
The use of DNA markers provides new
solutions for problems of crop productivity
and sustainable agricultural practices.
Biotech tools can really boost the ailing
economy of rural populations engaged in
farming.
Biotechnological methods may be used to
decrease the time necessary to detect food
borne pathogens, toxin and chemical
contaminants as well as to increase
detection sensitivity.
Transgenic plants may be developed to produce
antigenic proteins (Vaccines) or other molecules.
Global-
Area in transgenic - 2006 102 mha (252 m. acre)
India –
3.7 mha - Bt Cotton
China –
3.5 mha
Agricultural and plant biotechnology are stated
to be an important business in our country, as
India is regarded as the largest producer of milk
and the second largest for fruits and vegetables.
Analysts predict that by 2010 India can
become World’s largest exporter
of agriculture.
Biotechnology delivers the added
values primarily through the seed.
It is a scale neutral technology.
Health Products for Farm Animals
Profound impact on animal health has been
seen in using accurate, fast and efficient
diagnostic testing kits.
Ushering a New Human Health Care Regime
Rapid and more accurate diagnostic tests,
therapies with less or no side effects,
vaccines as therapeutic and
prophylactic measure, gene
therapy and new molecular
medicine has significantly
transformed the health
Scenario world over.
In the words of Nobel Laureate Crick:
“It has impacted significantly and would have
an
overwhelming impact on human health
in the coming years.”
Biotechnology has resulted in decreasing
the cost of diagnostics. A new blood test has
been developed to monitor
Low Density Lypoprotein (LDL)
in blood at a much
faster rate and is
less cumbersome for patients also.
Genomics
With the completion of original goals of the Human
Genome Project, the time is to
translate genome-based knowledge
into human health benefits by
developing and applying
large-scale genomic
strategies.
GGenomics and proteomics will allow to expand current
biotechnology-based approaches to develop:
Quicker and more accurate diagnostic kits for plants,
animals and human diseases & apply genome-based
diagnostic methods for the:
1. Prediction of susceptibility to disease,
2. Prediction of drug response,
3. Early detection of illness and
4. Accurate molecular classification of disease.
New and safer vaccines
System to detect microbial contaminants in
food products or donated blood
New drug targets
New therapeutic compounds & better
pharmaceuticals for therapies of human beings
with fewer side effects.
Recent research jointly done by National
Institute of Agro Biological Sciences in Tokyo
and a private industry in Japan have developed
rice strains which contain high level of
another hormone the GLP-1 which
promotes the pancreas release Insulin.
They say that consumption of one bowl of this
rice can keep the diabetes away – a disease
which is affecting more than 150 million
people world wide. The work is being
actively pursued.
Stem Cell Research
Stem Cell Biology has been identified as a
potential area of new research.
Embryonic stem cells could be the
most powerful tools
TThe ability to grow human tissue of all kinds may
make it possible to cure numerous cell-based
diseases like:
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases,
Spinal cord injury Stroke, burns, Heart diseases,
Type 1 diabetes, Osteoarthritis & rheumatoid
arthritis Leukemia & other blood diseases Certain
immune and genetic disorders
Industrial Applications
The biotech industry, although nascent at the present
time and accounting for a mere 2 percent of the global
biotechnology market, is poised for exponential growth
over the next five years with an expected global market
share of 10 percent. Indigenous biotech products and
services presently account for approximately
$150 million.
An emerging segment is Agri-biotech, which
is expected to realize rapid growth over the
next five years and will account for at least
15 percent of the total indigenous
biotech market.
SSome of the industrial applications cover
1. Development of green plastics from renewable crops
such as corn and soybean.
I2. Improve manufacturing processes including the use
of enzymes and less toxic byproducts from pulp.
R3. Reduce the level of toxins evaluating fabric process.
I4. Improve baking process, fermentation derived
preservatives and techniques for food safety
analysis.
Marine Biotechnology
Biotech tools have been used to increase the
productively or food value of the cultured species,
drugs and vaccines to enhance immunity to
diseases or other stresses; genetic improvement
of strains and identification of deleterious or
desirable genes within stocks.
Farming of seaweeds has resulted in production
of biopolymers with many industrial applications.
For instance carrageena is widely used in food
and cosmetic industries. This is a million dollar
industry since India has a large coastline of
7000 km and nearly 770 species have been
reported from India.
Of late, some Indian companies also have
started seaweed cultivation, which
eventually would create nearly 50,000 jobs
in coastal states, especially for women.
Biodiversity
Increased economic growth spurred by genetically
improved crops will provide much-needed resources
in the efforts to conserve biodiversity.
Improved tools such as cryopreservation for
ex-situ conservation
Gene shuffling to create more biodiversity, even recreate extinct crop traits
Use of DNA markers to provide insight into the
dynamics of biodiversity in crop plants
Restoration ecology
Some Examples
Unit of Women Entrepreneur trained by HESCO, Dehradun (Fruit Products)
Meeting with self-help group (SHG). Training in Mushroom Cultivation
and Vermi-composting. IIT Delhi
To Conclude
The DNA is, in a beautifully written article ‘The
Eternal Molecule’ as described by the editor of
NATURE:
“Few molecules captivate like DNA. It enthralls
scientists, inspires artists, and challenges society. I
is, in every sense, a modern icon. A defining
moment for DNA research was the discovery of its
structure half a century ago.”
Genomics and Proteomics will allow us to
expand current biotechnology based
approaches to health care, agriculture and
ecology. Therapeutic uses of endogenous
proteins and antibodies, discovery of new
therapeutics, microbe-free vaccines, quick
and accurate diagnostics, regenerative
medicine and gene therapy to treat certain
diseases are all important facets of
modern medicine.
TThe knowledge base is the foundation
of:
P 1. Predictive tests of impending diseases that
can be prevented with targeted
interventions
F2. Fundamental changes in the ways drugs
are discovered, tested and developed
T3. Therapies that are tailored to the specific
genetic make up of the patient
T4. Therapies that address and possibly correct
the biochemical causes of a diseases rather
than only alleviating the symptoms.
5. Develop nutritious crops with right proportion
of all the important dietary constituents
produce foods with edible vaccines.
E6. Ensure bioindustrial development with ecofriendly technologies.
When James Watson was asked about
cancer (Newsweek, February 2003) which is
very close to his heart, how quickly can we find
a cure?
I quote his answer:
“A decade. Most people would say that’s
much too optimistic. If I owned a big drug
company, I’d give myself two years, with a good
cash flow. At least we’d be testing in two years.
We might be wrong, but it would be worth
testing.”
I quote from Gitanjali:
“Where the mind is without fear and the head
is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards
perfection;
Where the clear stream or reason has not lost its
way into the desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into everwidening thought and actionInto that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my
country awake”.