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Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 3, No. 2, August, 2000 EDITORIAL XXI Century: The Century of Biotechnology? Juan A. Asenjo Centro de Ingeniería Bioquímica y Biotecnología, Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Chile, Beauchef 861, Santiago, Chile Fono: 56 2 6784288/6715140 Fax: 56 2 6712799 juansenjo@cec.uchile.cl http://www.uchile.cl Code Number: ej00008 During the last decades of the century that has recently finished, society has seen incredible benefits, product of the developments and advances in the biological sciences and biotechnology. Although human beings have exploited the more traditional biotechnology for centuries, it is only in the XX Century that we could discover and carry out, for instance in the therapeutic field, the massive production of antibiotics that have resulted in an explosive increase in life expectancy of the inhabitants of the planet which has doubled and even tripled in all countries. In the last decades of the Century, the impressive developments in the field of genetic engineering have allowed the massive production of human proteins in bacteria (E. coli), yeast (S. cerevisiae, P. pastoris) and animal cells (CHO, BHK, hybridomas), as well as industrial enzymes and even biodegradable plastics (PHB). These proteins include insulin for the treatment of diabetes, tPA and streptokinase for cardiac treatment, human growth hormone, a vaccine against hepatitis B (modified virus without genetic information resulting in a totally safe vaccine), chymosin (animal rennet) for cheese manufacture, enzymes for detergents, monoclonal antibodies, interferon, and a range of many other therapeutic proteins and industrial enzymes. Many of them are being modified and improved thanks to the recent advances in the field of protein engineering. This discipline has been possible thanks to the recent advances in molecular biology, computer science and the development of novel concepts and advanced programmes and algorithm development in 3-D molecular modelling. The explosion in the variety and quantity of biotechnological products, which are mainly proteins, which was totally unthinkable a few years ago, has more than fulfilled the most optimistic expectations. All this corresponds to the "present picture" of the state of this discipline of explosive growth. Eventhough in science and technology it is impossible to predict the future, it can be clearly seen that there is an immense number of investigations carried out worldwide that will have a big impact on society, in improving the quality of life, and in technological and industrial developments in the next decades. Up until now we have only been able to "peep" through a very small window to the benefits that biotechnology will give us in the XXI Century. Examples of these include gene and cell therapy, the use of stem cells, the massive production of recombinant proteins in transgenic animals and plants and the production of biodegradable plastics in transgenic plants or the efficient biotechnological utilization of natural gas. The use of cell therapy, that recently has begun to be used in the treatment of leukaemia, or Parkinson's disease has tremendous potential. For instance, today it is possible to grow and multiply nerve cells indefinitely. Similarly, it is expected that gene therapy will be applicable in the cure of a large number of genetic diseases such as diabetes, alcoholism, breast cancer and other types of cancer and Alzheimer's disease. The utilization of stem cells has great potential, in the regeneration of red blood cells or whole organs. The great majority of these advances have been possible thanks to the development of new concepts and techniques in biological sciences, in chemistry, in physics and in mathematics (PCR, knock-out genes, 2-D electrophoresis, DNA microarrays, molecular modelling of proteins, DNA and protein sequencing techniques, sophisticated computational programmes and novel algorithms and mathematical models). It is thus clear that, given the exponential growth of the basic disciplines underlying biotechnology and its applications, it is impossible to predict the most important developments that biotechnology will have in the XXI Century. However, this field will have a tremendous impact on quality of life and on the environment. Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network © 2000 by Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile |
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