What is Biotechnology All about?

In the simplest words of Google, biotechnology is “the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc.” Biotechnology is the utilization of all the technologies that are applied to biology, molecular biology, genetics, and many other subfields of biology. This intricate domain deals with various cellular and bio-molecular processes that are used to create products and technologies. 

This is helping us to improve our lives and nature effectively and efficiently. Biotechnology can be used to make useful food that includes bread and cheese; it can also be used for the preservation of dairy products, and more. Recent biotechnology breakthrough includes products and technologies that are used to fight diseases, decrease the environmental harm, feed the hungry, use of less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner, and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes. Biotechnology can be used for: 

• Streamlining the steps in chemical manufacturing processes by 80% or more;
• Lowering the temperature for cleaning clothes and potentially saving $4.1 billion annually;
• Improving manufacturing process efficiency to save 50% or more on operating costs;
• Reducing the use of and reliance on petrochemicals;
• Using biofuels to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 52% or more;
• Decreasing water usage and waste generation; and
• Tapping into the full potential of traditional biomass waste products.

Source: https://www.bio.org/what-biotechnology 

Biotechnology in Agriculture:

Biotechnology is helping mankind to improve crop insect resistance, boost the growth of crop herbicide tolerance, and simplifying the use of more environmentally sustainable farming practices. Biotechnology is aiding to feed the world by generating higher crop yields via fewer inputs, lowering volumes of agricultural chemicals that are required by crops-limiting the run-off of these products into the environment. 

With the help of biotechnology, crops need less usage of harmful pesticides and this is allowing the farmers to reduce tilling farmland for yielding better quality crops. The developing crops are having enhanced nutrition profiles that are solving myriads of vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. The farmers are easily producing foods that are free of allergens and toxins such as mycotoxin. In short, biotechnology is helping us to improve crop, food, and oil content to help improve cardiovascular health.

Biotechnology in Environment: 

In modern days, biotechnology is helping us to control environmental pollution via biodegradation of potential detrimental pollutants, recycling of waste materials, and other waste treatment technologies.

Biotechnology is playing a pivotal role in the supervision and controlling of pollutions with the help of biological applications that includes bioremediation, bio-monitoring, bio-treatment, and biodegradation of all the gaseous, solid, and liquid wastes that are toxic to our environment. Apart from all these benefits, several other biotechnological treatments are applied to monitor the different components of the environment. All these applications of biotechnology are working in tandem to make our ecosystems a better place for everyone to coexist in harmony.  

Biotechnology in Medicine:  

Biotechnology is very useful in the realm of medicines! Biotechnology is being widely used in the production of several ground-breaking techniques that are proving helpful in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. Biotechnology is helping us to provide effective treatment measures and the prevention of different diseases. With the help of biotechnology, scientists can develop novel drugs and recombinant vaccines that can cure numerous complex human diseases. 

The therapeutic proteins that are being developed with biotechnology are having a greater effect against a variety of non-communicable diseases; these diseases were responsible for more than 50-60% of deaths in developing countries. Now, with the assistance and usage of modern biotechnology, numerous medical diagnostic tools have been developed that are currently being used in the detection of human diseases quickly and accurately. 

Now, we have seen why biotechnology is important to mankind. In this blog, we are going to cover – emerging trends in biotechnology in 2021, and more. 

So, let us start with: 

What are Emerging Trends in Biotechnology in 2021?

Biotechnology is emerging and booming as we speak! The experts of biotechnology are predicting that the domain will reach more than $775 billion in value within 2025; which is a huge jump from the current trend. This huge number shows that the future scope of biotechnology is bright and candidates who want to secure their future and enjoy a recession-proof career must invest their valuable time in getting a degree in biotechnology so that they can easily flourish in the modern market.

This growth in the demand for biotechnology will not be stimulated by current events that include the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by the increased financial support that is following more promising tests of new medical treatments for a variety of existing diseases. The present situation has raised awareness among us of how important biotechnology is and why this niche requires more focus, digitization, and investment for the welfare of human lives. 

Here are the top 12 emerging trends in biotechnology in 2021. Let us see them in detail: 

1. Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence is enabling biotechnology-related start-up organizations to automate a wide variety of complex processes that are helping companies to scale up their operations. For example, biopharmaceutical-based start-up companies are leveraging Artificial Intelligence to boost up the drug discovery process, screening up biomarkers, and scraping through the scientific literature to discover novel yields. With AI, image classification algorithms are now allowing rapid detection of different traits that include – cancer cells from medical scans and crop disease symptoms from leaf images.
2. Big Data: In the world of biotechnology, an unprecedented amount of data is available for use, and with proper insights; this can change the entire face of humanity. From the ever-budding OMICS technologies and integration of sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, big data and analytics solutions are nowadays allowing biotechnology-based start-up companies to tap into the data wealth which in turn is driving innovation. It is allowing biopharmaceutical companies to volunteer various patients for clinical trials in a more effective manner. Start-up, as well as enterprise organizations, are deploying bioinformatics-oriented solutions to develop crop, livestock varieties, and explore undiscovered microbes for human usage.
3. Gene Editing: Gene editing also known as genetic engineering has come a long way from genetically modifying organisms by random insertion of foreign DNA to making precise edits in the existing genomes. The improved efficiency of gene editing is because of the development of engineered nucleases, and lately, CRISPR is being used as molecular scissors in the healthcare industry. This editing technology has opened up various applications in the world of gene therapy for the treatment of genetic disorders and other connected connections that consist of complex editing techniques which are adding, replacing, or silencing particular genes.
4. Precision Medicine: The decreasing costs of gene editing as well as gene sequencing are making them more routinely applied in the realm of clinical practice. This technology is enabling the scope of precision medicine which is an approach to allow renowned physicians in determining which treatment and prevention strategies will work for a particular group. Furthermore, precision medicine is responsible for enabling personalized treatment for the eliminating of several diseases, including cancers. Additionally, precision medicine can be used to identify new drug targets and discover novel drugs to treat various human conditions. 
5. Gene Sequencing: For your information, the cost of gene sequencing has fallen by 5 orders of magnitude since 2000 and this has allowed opening up a wide range of applications in numerous industries. The decreased cost of gene sequencing in genomes has allowed the identification of pediatric disorders, personalized treatments, and setting up large cohorts with extensive phenotyping which was considered impossible due to heavy incurred costs and complexities. Biotechnology-based start-up organizations are innovating new gene sequencing technologies and novel applications for gene sequencing that will come in handy for human usage in modern days as well as the imminent and distant future. 
6. Bio-manufacturing: Bio-manufacturing uses biological systems for the development of medical therapies and products, biomaterials, food & beverages, and specialty chemicals. There are start-up organizations that are advancing in the world of different cell culture, fermentation, and recombinant production technologies to transform bio-manufacturing scalable as well as inexpensive. The utilization of biological raw materials is also making it comparatively more sustainable as compared to other manufacturing paradigms. Sooner, bio-manufacturing will be used to optimize various processes in the industry 4.0 models which will be a huge development in the 21st century. 
7. Synthetic Biology: Synthetic biology will make it possible to read and write genomes which will be sufficient to allow biotechnology start-up companies to make products faster than ever; so, in short, the whole process will be expedited. Furthermore, synthetic biology will offer increased reproducibility and standardization that allows manipulating bio-organisms at the level of gene-related networks. Synthetic biology start-up organizations are presently working on challenges that range from computational drug design and cellular agriculture to microbiome-based solutions. Sooner, thanks to advancements in biotechnology, all these problems will be eliminated and the applications of synthetic biology will be seen in more industries. 
8. Bio-printing: With the advent of additive manufacturing in biotechnology, bio-printing start-up organizations are now offering a wide range of products as well as materials. These start-up companies are utilizing bio-printers that are working with the existing bio-inks which are developed from biomaterials. For medical and healthcare applications, these cells will act as substrates and grow around a scaffold that will enable the development of various body parts such as bone, skin, or vascular grafts from the patient’s cells. 
9. Microfluidics: The interest in the niche of microfluidics in the world of biotechnology has stemmed from the need for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices. These are kind of miniaturized laboratories that permits rapid as well as inexpensive testing of infectious diseases which in turn facilitates point-of-care (PoC) diagnostics. Various interested start-up organizations are nowadays producing paper-based microfluidics for diagnosis and environmental monitoring. This technology will find more biopharmaceutical applications in organ-on-a-chip (OOC) devices which will simulate the physiology of organs small chips.
10. Tissue Engineering: Tissue engineering start-up organizations have grown rapidly in the past decade and the credit goes to huge developments in the domain of bio-printing and microfluidics. Tissue engineering is nowadays enabling the process of autologous tissue grafts to treat burns as well as human organ transplantation. It is also proving helpful in revolutionary regenerative medicine. This was initially limited to biomedical applications, but nowadays various start-ups are developing engineering tissues to make sustainable alternatives to animal products such as meat or leather which will almost eliminate the killing of animals and help develop a better ecosystem. 
11. Boost for R&D: The Artificial Intelligence market in biopharmaceutical industries is growing at a drastic pace and has been predicted to grow to $3.88 billion by 2025; which is enormous! Various new start-up organizations are taking complete advantage of these technologies such as automation as machine learning and Artificial Intelligence have been used for conducting advanced analytics in the realm of drug discovery. Machine Learning can be used to extract various useful insights from unstructured medical data and it can be used to find the hidden patterns in human conditions and turn, will be applicable in treating various human diseases.
12. Telemedicine: Telemedicine technology allows medical personnel to treat, evaluate, and diagnose diseases by keeping their distance from the patients. This will allow the healthcare professionals to have: 
13. less time away from work
14. no travel expenses
15. less interference with elder and child care responsibilities
16. maintain more privacy
17. no exposure to potentially contagious patients

So, now you know everything about biotechnology as well as the emerging trends in 2021! The time is high to start a career in biotechnology as the future in this niche holds great rewards for the interested candidate. With this blog, we have known that the scope of biotechnology is huge and will grow drastically in the coming future. So, without any delay start pursuing a degree in biotechnology and relish a prosperous career and a happier life. 

Why Pursue Biotechnology from MIT School of Bioengineering Sciences And Research (MITBIO)?

At MIT School of Bioengineering Sciences And Research (MIT BIO), you will be exposed to the latest research and development activities in biotechnology which will make you ever-ready for all modern challenges and requirements in this domain. Here, we aim to prepare our valuable students for numerous ambitious careers in the biotechnology arena by imparting super-specialized training and knowledge through project-based learning and teaching via a hands-on approach. 

We firmly believe in advancing human health as well as well-being to build a society that is free of diseases and disabilities. So, join us and get acquainted with the world of limitless opportunities; make your dream come alive and help society become a better place for everyone. 

MIT ADT University through MIT School of Bioengineering Sciences And Research (MIT BIO) has relentlessly and dedicatedly been transforming candidates into industry leaders.  Its’ unique education pattern, focuses on imparting a valuable and unparalleled blend of real-world and practical academic exposure. If you are interested to know about our program, kindly, fill-up the form: http://bit.ly/ApplyNow_MIT-ADTU