thousands of years ago when the first seed was planted in the ground
the foundation for biotechnology was laid just think
the first grape vines and wheat fields pave the way to our understanding
of yeast
and how its fermentation could create a tasty bread
a tart vinegar or a satisfying wine it wasn't long before biotechnology found
its way into the practice of animal breeding
without any real understanding of genetics
early man figured out that by mating farm animals with desired
characteristics and traits
he could obtain a breed that was highly suited to the work he needed performed
yes early farmers and breeders knew they were tapping into a world of
possibilities
and they were, they were tapping into the limitless world the biotechnology
a true watershed moment in history
for biotechnology was in the 16th century when a crude
microscope was used to observe and ultimately coin the term
cells of plant tissues that quickly lead to
first a better quality microscope and then the identification
and isolation of a large variety of microorganisms
this vast new world of discovery now opened the door to
endless possibilities for medical applications with the first inoculation
by needle against smallpox
biotechnology really took off
enter into the stage in the eighteen hundreds Louis Pasteur
with his development the process the pasteurization and Gregor Mendel
who pioneered the chromosomal theory of inheritance
Joseph Lister brought antiseptics in to the surgery procedure
and the world began to realize that everything could change
with these revelations it was time to give a name to this amazing field
of research
in 1917 Hungarian scientists Carl Rakhi
discovered he could raise hundreds of pigs through the large-scale production of
sugar beets for food
he inadvertently called this art of using living things to make
other things biotechnology it certainly deserved
a name and definition by that time in history
so where did it go from there, where didn't it go might be a better question
as advances continued the world saw many more examples of beneficial progress
through experimentation with bacteria and yeast for example
during World War II when the demand for chemicals such as
acetone and butane was high scientists discovered that these can be produced on
a large scale
through fermentation by bacteria and yeast cells
the revelation of the transforming principal of
DNA was a game-changing discovery followed by the breakthrough
in 1953 by Watson and Crick that the structure of
DNA is that of a double helix
the ever progressing field then became known as modern biotechnology
this new foundation
that all organisms plant, animal, or other
have the same genetic material DNA but differ in the sequencing and that DNA
led to the nineteen sixties rush to understand the genetic code
its 1972
and the world's first recombinant DNA molecule has entered the scene
Paul Berg isolated a restriction enzyme
to cut the DNA and two separate strands are pasted together
to form the first hybrid DNA molecule this led to the first recombinant
commercial product
human insulin produced in bacterial cells
as a side note Genentech the company that introduced this product
went public on the stock market on October 14, 1980
and saw the value of that stock move from thirty-five dollars
to eighty nine dollars in just one day that remains the fastest
increase in stock value in a set amount of time in the history of the market
now in this even broader area of
research and discovery the term molecular biotechnology took hold
along with this refined definition the use of biological and biochemical
systems
to produce products and to better the human condition
In 1990
the human genome project set up to map all in the genes in the human body
which led to the isolation of genes that cause disease
yet another world of opportunity was opened
the turn of the century heralded a new and limitless frontier for molecular
biotechnology
as the industry began growing by leaps and bounds with companies springing up
daily
and needing thousands of employees to grow with them
the field is an ever-growing one today as molecular biotechnology continues to
better understand diseases
to find vaccines, therapies, diagnostic tests,
and cures it offers wide applications in plant and animal agriculture,
aquaculture, chemical and textile manufacturing,
forestry and food processing it will be utilized to further research in human
genome sequencing,
stem cell research, in vitro fertilization
and environmental progress every aspect of our lives in the coming decades will
be affected by this dynamic field
even space exploration and research
that's right many laboratories are involved in researching plants and
microorganisms
grown in low-pressure in microgravity conditions
for their potential use in long-distance space missions and beyond
biotechnology it started with the humblest of beginnings
has grown by leaps and bounds over the past thousands of years
and yet it's still in its early stages of potential
if you're planning on a career in biotechnology good news
the sky's the limit or
is it