Lesson 1 of 12 · 6 min
Three research areas
NCERT §10 (chapter introduction)
Kavya's summer lab has ended, and her mentor hands her a list of places to visit next: a tissue culture unit, a cotton farm, a hospital, an animal house. 'Now see what all those tools are used for,' she says.
The lesson in notes
In short
Biotechnology, in the sense of the previous chapter, is mainly about making biopharmaceuticals and biologicals on an industrial scale, using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals.
Its applications span therapeutics, diagnostics, genetically modified crops, processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment and energy production.
Research in biotechnology has three critical areas. The first is supplying a superior catalyst: an improved organism (usually a microbe) or a pure enzyme.
The second is engineering optimal conditions in which that catalyst can act.
The third is downstream processing: the technologies that purify the protein or organic compound once it has been made.
This chapter follows those tools into two fields that touch daily life most: food production (agriculture) and health (medicine).