Medical Biotechnology - Module 1 Overview

Medical Biotechnology - Mod 1 Overview & History

• Biotechnology is the manipulation of living organisms/systems to create useful products.
• Medical biotechnology uses organisms and their derivatives to diagnose, treat, and prevent human disease.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) defines biotechnology as "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products and processes for specific use".

Three Primary Areas for Modern Biotechnology

• Biotech in Medicine: Applications include pharmaceuticals, therapies, genetics, and clinical studies to improve health outcomes. More than 250 biotechnology-based healthcare items are now available for previously untreatable diseases.
• Biotech in Industry: Used in biofuels, paper, and chemical production. Leverages yeast, enzymes, microbes, and biocatalysts for various manufacturing processes.
• Biotech in Agriculture: Includes sustainable farming and crop insect-resistance. Biotech aims to improve and modify agricultural products for safety and efficiency.

Colour-coded Biotechnology

• Industrial: Uses biocatalysts for industrial-scale production and processing of products, including biodegradable polymers and renewable fuel production.
• Medical: Includes biomedical and biopharmaceutical applications like clinical trials, vaccine development, disease research, and molecular diagnostics.
• Agriculture: Focuses on increasing food production for an expanding population with less environmentally damaging practices, including fertilizers and biopesticides.
• Marine: Uses ocean resources to produce enzymes, proteins in applications like biodegradable plastics to medicinal products.
• Improve Nutrition: Utilizes enzymatic and microbial processes for improved nutritional food.
• Environmental Preservation: Focuses on contaminant removal, waste treatment, and sanitization.
• Dark: Associated with biological weapons and bioterrorism.

Biotechnology Inventions and Colors

• White: Vaccine for infectious diseases.
• Red: Break down of nuclear waste.
• Green: Golden rice(beta carotene precursor for vitamin A).
• Blue: Production of weaponized smallpox.
• Yellow: Laundry detergent with bacterial enzymes.
• Grey: GMO corn with herbicide resistance.
• Dark: Fluorescent protein (GFP) from jellyfish.

History of Medical Biotechnology

• 6000 BCE: Fermentation (brewing and bread-making)
• 1796: Dr. E. Jenner's viral vaccine to protect against smallpox.
• 1665: R. Hooke and A. van Leeuwenhoek's description of microorganisms.
• 1928: Sir A. Fleming's discovery of penicillin.
• 1942: Penicillin mass produced in microbes.
• 1952: Dr. G. Gey's establishment of the first continuous human cell line (HeLa cells).
• 1955: Dr A. Kornberg's isolation of DNA copying enzyme - DNA polymerase.
• 1970/72: Discovery of restriction enzymes and DNA ligase used for DNA.
• 1978: Dr. H. Boyer's insertion of human insulin gene into E. coli for insulin production.
• 1983/84: PCR (Dr. K. Mullis) and DNA fingerprinting techniques developed.
• 1990: Launch of the Human Genome Project (completed sequencing in 2003)
• 1993/94: FDA's approval of first recombinant proteins for HGD and MS treatment.
• 1996: Diagnostic biosensor developed for detecting a toxic strain of E. coli
• 2007: Scientists discover human skin cells can be turned into ES cells

Penicillin: The Miracle Drug

• 1929: Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin from a mold ( Penicillium notatum)
• Penicillin's ability to prevent surrounding bacterial growth
• 1940s: Large scale production and purification of penicillin (Florey, Chain and Dunn)
• 1942: Treatment of septicemia in a patient with penicillin.

Penicillin Today

• Penicillins are a group of beta-lactam antibiotics.
• Most are synthesized by P. chrysogenum
• Types of penicillins include penicillin G (IM, IV), and penicillin V (oral).
• Large-scale production of penicillin using deep tank fermentation.
• Bacteria have developed resistance to penicillin.

History of Medical Biotechnology (continued)

• Different technologies and inventions, including breakthroughs in areas like genetic engineering, gene editing(CRISPR), DNA sequencing, and others.

Insulin: The Miracle Drug

• 1921: Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best's isolation of insulin from dogs.
• 1922: 14-year-old Leonard Thompson (first person to receive insulin treatment with noted allergic reaction issue).
• Insulin purification initially from pig and cow pancreases
• 1978: Dr. Herbert Boyer's discovery of combining bacterial genes with eukaryotic genes to produce synthetic insulin.

Insulin Today

• 1982: Eli Lilly's Commercialization of biosynthetic human insulin (Humulin).
• Different types of insulin with various characteristics and durations of action.
• Insulin production using E. coli or yeast.

Future Trends in Biotechnology

• Trends include tissue engineering, microfluidics, synthetic biology, bioprinting, precision medicine, biomanufacturing, gene editing, genomics sequencing, big data, and artificial intelligence in biotechnology.

Medical and Ethical Issues in Biotechnology

• Protecting Subjects in Clinical Trials: Risks and benefits associated with human trials should be carefully considered (huge risk to human subjects).
• Affordability: High costs of new treatments may make them inaccessible to many.
• Privacy Concerns: Concerns about the privacy implications of genetic information, especially in relation to future health diagnoses,
• Stem Cell Research Opposition: Ethical challenges related to using fetal tissue and stem cell research.
• Bioterrorism Concerns: The development of preventative treatments against biological weapons.

Prevention Strategies

• Primary Prevention: Preventing diseases before they start, targeting entire populations or individuals (vaccinations).
• Secondary Prevention: Early detection of subclinical disease in healthy individuals with screen tests.
• Tertiary Prevention: Managing already present, impacting diseases to improve patients quality of life and to reduce disease severity.

Medical Biotechnology Applications

• Prevention of diseases
• Diagnosis of diseases.
• Treatment of diseases.

Biotechnological Tools

• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
• DNA sequencing
• Recombinant DNA technology
• Genetic editing tools.
• Fermentation technologies.
• Bioinformatic software.
• Cell culture techniques.

Biotechnology as a Multidisciplinary Growing Tree

• Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses various scientific disciplines to improve human health and other areas like the environment and industry.