Biotechnology: Biotechnology: A Science of Securing Future

Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing sectors in India and 5 Years. elsewhere. This emerging field is going to take a leap forward in the next

As per the report of NASSCOM, by 2010, biotech sector may earn upto biotechnologists in several fields such as Agriculture, Medicine, Environment, Bioinformatics, Industries, Food Processing Units,

rupee five million dollar having job opportunities for 15 lakhs qualified

Pharmaceuticals, Dairy and Veterinary, Biodiversity Conservation, Neuro Development in both Government and Private Sectors. - Science, Marine, Informatics, Teaching Training and Entrepreneurship

Modern science and technology along with research and discoveries are

comfortable journeys from one revolution to the other, where the their fusion has been creating wonders.

conventional technology blended with the new scientific discoveries and

Biotechnology undoubtedly holds great promise for the future. Genetic Engineering, Genomics, Bio - Composting, Bio - Medical engineering.

Biosensors and Bioinformatics etc, will be the hot topics decades to come. The importance of biotechnology was recognized after the establishment of National Bio - technology Board in 1982.

In 1986, the Government of India formed full - fledge department of Biotechnology (DBT) within the Ministry of Science and Technology. A number of Academic Institutions and Government Agencies such as the CSIR, ICAR, ICMR, DAE and DBT etc, are undertaking research

and development activities related to it. Stupendous strides have been made in making the earth a better,

place to live in, through human interference. Biotechnological innovations have been used as the means to relegate precarious predicaments.

The firmament of Biotechnology has broadened to envelope the entire earthlings in its fold. Advances in biotechnology have created a revolution in life sciences including genetics, and profoundly changes its face worldwide. Applications of

Agriculture, Biomass and Green Cover, Environmental Protection and non - conventional energy sources are of great significance.

Biotechnology

in

Human

and

Animal

Health,

The future of mankind depends on developing the basic and applied (bio) technology suited to the needs of humanity Biotechnology has provided a great opportunity for direct manipulation of gene structure, function and expression to serve the humanity and meet the growing demand of the millions.

Several policy initiatives have been taken to create excellent human

resource base, build up the requisite infrastructure, identity and set up centers of excellence, support R&D and manufacturing activities to meet the demands of future and growing population.

All basic economic needs can be fulfilled by application of

Biotechnology as once imagined by the scientists. A wishful thinking has transformed itself to a glaring reality. Globalization is leading to

intense competition with consequent higher stress levels in work investment.

places; healthcare sector is one such with a large share of global

The development of new generation drugs, their targeting, recombinant

vaccines and newer diagnostic tools are some of the possibilities. The development of vaccines for important diseases afflicting livestock and diagnostic kits for farm animal health care are among several activities in this sector.

All the antibiotics come under biotech banner. The chemicals we use products.

are being replaced by biochemical or other alternative biotech

It will provide new ways of influencing raw material processing. Most of gene sequences have now become possible.

future medicines will be of biotech origin. Handling humanly impossible

Cloning and designer babies may become usual features in future. In the field of Seri - biotechnology, the DBT has initiated a program in the genetic enhancement of mulberry and non - mulberry silkworm races and the host (mulberry) plants.

The program includes development of immune - diagnostics tools for diseases of silkworm and new races of silkworm Considerable efforts

detection of pathogens, bio - control measures for major pests and have been put in to ensure food and nutritional security through of low cost nutrient foods have been standardized.

biotechnology R&D, under food biotech initiatives, ologies for scale - up

The tissue culture industry caters to horticulture and floriculture interest in plants with potential in therapeutic benefits and commercial demands for herbal products in global markets.

industries. The herbal medicine research has increased the level of

With increased Interests in natural, biodegradable and / or recyclable organic materials.

material, development has focused research into biological (botanic) or

Biological and physical scientists come together and explore such exciting areas, a concept of systems Biology. Agriculture biotech will give us plants that have disease resistance, improved yields and stress tolerance.

Environmental biotechnology will help control pollution problem. In human needs.

short, biotechnology is destined to touch anything and everything of

Biotechnology offers hope for solving many of the problems the world treatment, only helping managing the disease, except antibiotics.

faces today. Most drugs are chemicals and have limitations in

Understanding the pathways and protein chemistry at the molecular would help us to predict the likelihood of diseases and improve disease diagnosis systems.

level will bring in better treatment. Understanding human genome

With increased interests in natural, biodegradable and / or recyclable materials, developments have focused research into biological or organic materials. Biological, physical and other scientists come

together and explore such exciting areas. Biotechnology is interdisciplinary, offering flexible eligibility criteria at the entry level. It encourages Systems Biology that provides a common platform for applied areas of many fields of sciences such as

chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry and chemical engineering among many other, having many branches of application in healthcare, agriculture, food processing, environmental and industrial facets as discussed earlier.

Demand for a trained biotechnologist in these areas is high. To explore these, specialists in law, engineering, computer science and others as support system is highly desirable. With increased use of biotech products and genetically engineered organisms bio - safety has been issues.

one of the man concerns, amongst the many social, ethical and legal

Guidelines in line with this are strictly being followed / imposed to processing cell has been created in the DBT for speedy processing of approvals for bio - safety.

prevent damage to human health and environment. A single window -

The DBT has a strong focus now on the R&D activities. It interfaces institutions, and other user agencies.

with a number or other government departments, academic and R&D

It supports Post Graduate Programs with focus on biotechnology in over 60 Universities, IITs and other premier institutions across the country, in collaboration with the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Also, there are doctoral and post-doctoral courses as well as regular short - term courses or training Programs for mid - career scientists. In order to encourage researchers for R&D towards products and Genomics and Proteomics research.

processes, DBT has instituted number of awards, major thrust being in

In terms of global industrial growth, biotech at present is referred as the

sunrise sector. Now, the next likely concern is where to groom oneself to match to such global requirements? Virtually every Indian university courses of biotech are offered at many centres of repute. is engaged in biotech research in some form or the other and various

Today, there are over 150 modem biotech companies in India. Some of adopted a service model in line with the IT sector.

these have pursued a product based business, model; others have

India's major strength in biotechnology is its highly trained workforce, a laboratories and clusters of bio - resource - based industries.

very good infrastructure base with a well - networked chain of

Added to these, the treasure of our biological diversity and the very rich traditional knowledge base (the concept of ITK, i.e indigenous technical by any standard, very formidable assets. The fruits of these efforts would hopefully become visible sooner or later. knowledge) dating back to thousands of Years. These put together are,

To know more about top colleges offering M.Sc. Biotechnology are given in the following website watch: http://www.sahar.in/top_univ.html

Research in Biotechnology: http://www.brsi.in/ http://envis.kuenvbiotech.org/Biotec Res India.pdf http://www.blal.org/ http://www.biotech.iitm.ac.in/faculty/research.html http://www.cgiar.org/biotech/rep0100/sharma.pdf