Introduction to Biotechnology

MSc. Tong Thi Hang

Asc.Prof. Nguyen Van Thuan
Asc.Prof. Nguyen Hoang Khue Tu
Asc.Prof. Nguyen Phuong Thao
School of Biotechnology

HCMc, February 2020

Lets first see some examples …
A San Diego beach scene drawn with
an eight color palette of bacterial
colonies expressing fluorescent
proteins derived from GFP and the
red-fluorescent coral protein dsRed.

The colors include BFP, mTFP1,

Emerald, Citrine, mOrange, mApple,
mCherry and mGrape.

Artwork by Nathan Shaner,

photography by Paul Steinbach,
created in the lab of Roger Tsien in
2006.
Strategies to develop specific cells from specialized cells
 Mendel worked with his pea
plant in the traditional
garden ….

… and the type of garden today

Several active biochemical have been found in marine
organism through isolation, culturing and extraction
Introduction to
Biotechnology
Explore and investigate …
 What else could be in biotechnology field ?
Finding genetic and epidemiological
properties of COVID-19 for vaccine
development …

… or mechanism why drug can cause severe

cutaneous reaction in patients

are something that biotechnology can involve

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Course plan
 Week1 - Introduction (2 hrs)
 W2,3 - Cell biology (4 hrs) ------- Review
 W4,5 - Molecular biotechnology (4 hrs) ------- Review
 W6,7 - Immunology (4hrs) ------- Review
 W8 – Bioethics (4hrs)
 W9,10 - MIDTERM EXAM
 W11 – Bioethics ------- Review
 W12,13 - Microbial biotech (4 hrs)
 W14,15 - Plant biotech ( 4hrs)
 W16,17 - Animal biotech (4 hrs)
 W18,19 - FINAL EXAM
 Small projects and quizzes will be delivered during the course
Tasks
Tasks Format Qlt %
Multiple choice, short answer,
Midterm exam TrueFalse, online through BB, 60 1 30
minutes.
Multiple choice, short answer, 4, take 3
Quiz TrueFalse, online through BB, 20 highest 10
minutes. ones.
Writing, 60-90minutes, online through
Final exam 1 35
BB or classroom.
Attendance, Activities, Participation,
Class performance 5
Competence, Games …

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 Materials
Lecture notes !!!!!!!!
Biotechnology, an introduction, 2nd Ed.,Susan R. Barnum, Thomson-
Brooks/Cole, 2005.
Manual of industrial microbiology and biotechnology, 2nd Ed., Arnold
L. Demain, Julian E. Davies. American Society for Microbiology,
1999.

Advances in biochemical engineering biotechnology- History of

modern biotechnology. Volumes I,II. T. Scheper, A. Piechter.
Springer. 2000.

Any paper or journal on biotechnology is recommended.

Communication tools: through

- Classroom
- Blackboard
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- Email
 1. What is
biotechnology?

Biotechnology is any technique that uses organisms or

substances from those organisms, to make or modify a product,
to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for
specific uses “

The Office of Technology Assessment of the US Congress (1995).

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 Biotechnology studies
- The tools and techniques include fermentation,
recombinant DNA techniques,, bioconversion,
propagation ….

-The targets comprise living microorganism, plant,

animal, or products of those organisms ….

-Biotechnology is multidisciplinary, involving a

variety of the natural sciences – cell, molecular
biology, microbiology, genetics, physiology, and
biochemistry to name only the major areas – as well
as engineering and computer science
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 Applications of biotechnology

- Industry: production of industrial chemicals,

pharmaceuticals…
- Agriculture: production of new and improved food
(develop virus –resistant crop plant, high nutrient live
stock…)
- Environment: protecting endanger species, cleaning up
toxic waste from industrial and oil spills
- Health: diagnostics for detecting genetic disease
(Huntington’s chorea, AIDS…), therapies that use gene
to cure diseases (ADA deficiency…), recombinant
vaccine…
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 2. Stages of biotechnology
development

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 Stage 2. Classical
biotech

Stage 1. Ancient
biotech

Stage 3. Modern
biotechnology

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 Ancient biotechnology: the history of domestication and
agriculture. Starting from gathering and storing food, people
had settled down the society and developed the earliest
techniques for food reparation.

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 wild
Cultivated

Corn cobs demonstrating the evolutionary changes from about

5000 BC to about 1500 AD. All samples were found during
excavations in the Techuacan Valley, Mexico, under the
21 auspices of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology
 The Babylonians and Egyptians left pictorial evidence
that dogs, sheep and cattle had been domesticated by
2000 BC. Stone amulets found in Iraq in the shape of
sheep (pierced for suspension) … Protoliterate period,
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before 2900 BC
 Classical biotechnology: built on ancient
biotechnology with development of fermentation
firstly for food production.
Classical biotechnology now is applied in many areas
in industry for either food or chemical production.

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 Curdled milk stirred for
cheese making

A model of bakery, Asyut, Egypt, Middle

Kingdom (2040-1782BC)

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Foundations of modern biotechnology
Microscopy

- By the advent of microscopy (first made in

1590) by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek the science
has been revolutionized with clear description of
microorganism.
- By 1665, microscopes was widely used when
Robert Hooke examined the structure of thinly
sliced cork under the microscope and he draw
what he observed.
- Structure of number of microorganisms have
been uncovered by increase of microscope’s
magnification

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 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope and his
first observation

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 Cell theory

- Tissues were composed of cells

- These cell could divide to generate more cells
 Cell is living, functioning unit.
By the early 1880s, with the improvement of
microscopes, tissue preservation techniques and
stains, scientists made significant advances in the
understanding of cell structure and function.

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 Biochemistry and genetics in elucidating cell
function

In 1828, Friedrich Wohler obtained crystallized urea, a waste product in

mammalian urine, from ammonium cyanate. The experiment
demonstrated that an organic compound made in a living organism
could be synthesized from inorganic compounds in the laboratory
By 1935, all 20 amino acids were isolated. The chemical structure of
protein was great interest; scientist believed that proteins held the key
to heredity and biochemical processes
The study of the genetic nature of living organisms helped prior
knowledge in principles of heridity. In 1869, Johann Miescher isolated
from the nuclei of white blood cells a substance called nuclein. In 1882,
Walter Flemming describe chromosome were visible during cell
division and the equal distribution to daughter cells

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Nature of the gene
1. In 1928, the approach of F. Griffith: DNA can transform bacteria
(experiment with Streptococus pneumoniae)

Cell type Efffect Cell type

Efffect
Capsule No capsule

Smooth Living Rough Living

(S) S strain (R) R strain

Live R strain

Heat-killed
S strain
Heat-killed
S strain
Living S cells and
R cells are found

Griffith: the living R bacteria had been transformed into S pathogenic bacteria by an
unknown, heritable substance from the dead S cell.
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In 1944, Avery et al. : substance is DNA
In 1953, James D Watson
(left) and Francis HC Crick
(right), demonstrating their
model of DNA structure
reduced from x-ray
diffraction data obtained by
Wilkins and Franklin

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 1. Gene determines the structure of protein.
2. DNA is transforming principle.
3. DNA is genetic material.
4. Structure and action of DNA in the cell (DNA replication,
DNA repair) and other protein-based factors in these
mechanism are determined. This explain the gene’s
information is decoded into protein sequence.
5. DNA from different sources can be cut, rejoined in
different combination by action of enzymes.

Methods for manipulating DNA developed along with the

progress in understanding the molecular genetic , cell,
molecular biology  make possible to bring gene from one
organism to express in foreign hosts.
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 Molecular biology

In 1950s-1960s, researches focus on the 2 main questions:

(1) How does the DNA sequence of the gene relate to the
sequence of amino acids that make up the protein ?
(2) What is the cell decoding process that produces a protein from
the information encoded by the gene ?

- the genetic codes

- the mechanism hat flow genetic information from DNA to protein
(understanding of replication, transcription and translation)

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 vector

The overview of DNA cloning using the

bacterial plasmid vector 

Gene is transferred and expressed in

beneficial hosts to yield high production
of certain products.

These techniques are applied in various

areas: human health, animal health,
agriculture, environment …

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 Career opportunities

# Biotechnologists often work in laboratories in:

- process development,
- process control and method development
- follow careers in research and development
- medical diagnostics, therapeutics
- pharmaceuticals
- agribusiness, food processing and manufacturing.
# Opportunities can also be found in government policy
development:
- regulatory monitoring, patent protection
- public health and research.
# You may also choose to undertake a research degree which
can lead to a PhD.
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35 … as a biologist in laboratory
… as biologist in farms to
improve crop (by
identifying new techniques,
new genes …)

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 Biodiesel
making
factory

… as biological specialist to work in industrial plants

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