User:BlaseDavid/Portal:Biotechnology
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The Biotechnology Portal
Welcome to the Biotechnology portal. Biotechnology is a technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine.
Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity. It combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology.
Of the many different definitions available, the one formulated by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the broadest:
- "Biotechnology means any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."
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Biotechnology can be divided by its applications into five main branches:
Green biotechnology
More commonly known as plant biotechnology. It deals with economically important plant species and agricultural processes.
Red biotechnology
Utilizing the benefits and advancements of biotechnology to alleviate human sufferings and enhance the quality of life.
Blue biotechnology
Examining marine and freshwater organisms and their derivatives, searching for their scientific applications. Now it's rarely used.
White biotechnology
Also known as industrial biotechnology, involves manufacturing, fermentation and enzymatic processes. Rapidly growing field.
Bioinformatics
With computational biology involve the use of many disciplines to solve biological problems usually on the molecular level.
Featured article
Stem cellular structures are cells found in most multi-cellular organisms. They are capable of retaining the ability to reinvigorate themselves through mitotic cell division and can differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Canadian scientists Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till in the 1960s.
The two broad types of mammalian stem cells are: embryonic stem cells that are found in blastocysts, and adult stem cells that are found in adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin or intestinal tissues.
As stem cells can be grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves through cell culture, their use in medical therapies has been proposed. In particular, embryonic cell lines, autologous embryonic stem cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood or bone marrow are touted as promising candidates.[1]
Did you know?
- ...that in spite of the successive news that all the human genome is sequenced still there are dark regions? In fact, with the present techniques, there are zones that are not sequenciables.
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