Do you know what biotechnology is? You've probably heard something about her. This is an important branch of modern biology. It became, like physics, one of the main priorities in the world economy and science at the end of the 20th century. Half a century ago, no one knew what biotechnology was. However, its foundations were laid by a scientist who lived in the 19th century. Biotechnology received a powerful impetus to development thanks to the works of the French researcher Louis Pasteur (years of his life - 1822-1895). He is the founder of modern immunology and microbiology.

In the 20th century, genetics and molecular biology developed rapidly using the achievements of physics and chemistry. At this time, the most important direction was the development of methods with which it would be possible to cultivate animal and plant cells.

Surge of research

The 1980s saw a surge in research in biotechnology. By this time, new methodological and methodological approaches were created, which ensured the transition to the application of biotechnology in science and practice. Now it is possible to extract a lot from this According to forecasts, biotechnological goods should have made up a quarter of the world's production at the beginning of the new century.

Work carried out in our country

The active development of biotechnology took place at this time in our country. In Russia, a significant expansion of work in this area was also achieved and the introduction of their results into production in the 1980s. In our country, during this period, the first national biotechnology program was developed and implemented. Special interdepartmental centers were created, biotechnologists were trained, departments were founded and laboratories were formed in universities and research institutions.

Biotechnology today

Today we are so used to this word that few people ask themselves the question: "What is biotechnology?" And yet it would not be superfluous to get to know her in more detail. Modern processes in this area are based on methods of using recombinant DNA and cellular organelles or cells. Modern biotechnology is the science of cellular and genetic engineering technologies and methods of creating and using transformed genetically biological objects in order to intensify production or create new types of products. There are three main areas, which we will now talk about.

Industrial biotechnology

In this direction, it can be distinguished as a variety of red. It is considered the most important field of application of biotechnology. They play an increasing role in the development of medicines (in particular, for the treatment of cancer). Biotechnology is also of great importance in diagnostics. They are used, for example, in the creation of biosensors, DNA chips. In Austria, red biotechnology today enjoys well-deserved recognition. It is even considered to be the engine for the development of other industries.

Let's move on to the next kind of industrial biotechnology. This is biotechnology green. It is used when breeding is done. This biotechnology provides today special methods by which means of counteraction against herbicides, viruses, fungi, insects are developed. All this is also very important, you must agree.

Genetic engineering is of particular importance in the field of green biotechnology. With the help of it, the prerequisites are created for the transfer of genes from one plant species to others, and in this way scientists can influence the development of stable characteristics and properties.

Gray biotechnology is used to protect the environment. Its methods are used for sewage treatment, soil remediation, gas and exhaust air purification, and waste processing.

But that's not all. There is also white biotechnology that spans the chemical industry. Biotechnological methods in this case are used for the environmentally safe and efficient production of enzymes, antibiotics, amino acids, vitamins, and alcohol.

And finally, the last variety. Blue biotechnology is based on the technical applications of various organisms as well as marine biology processes. In this case, the focus of research is on biological organisms that inhabit the World Ocean.

Let's move on to the next area - cell engineering.

Cell engineering

She is engaged in obtaining hybrids, cloning, studying cellular mechanisms, "hybrid" cells, drawing up genetic maps. Its beginning dates back to the 1960s, when the hybridization method appeared. By this time, the methods of cultivation had already been improved, and methods of growing tissues had also appeared. Somatic hybridization, in which hybrids are created without the participation of the sexual process, is today carried out by cultivating different cell lines of the same species or using cells of different species.

Hybridomas and their meaning

Hybridomas, that is, hybrids between lymphocytes (normal cells of the immune system) and tumor cells, have the properties of the parent's cell lines. They are able, like cancers, to divide indefinitely on nutrient artificial media (that is, they are "immortal"), and can also, like lymphocytes, produce homogeneous ones with a certain specificity. These antibodies are used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, as sensitive reagents for organic substances, etc.

Another area of \u200b\u200bcell engineering is the manipulation of cells that do not have nuclei, free nuclei, and other fragments. These manipulations are reduced to combining parts of the cell. Similar experiments, together with microinjections of dyes or chromosomes into the cell, are carried out to find out how the cytoplasm and the nucleus affect each other, what factors regulate the activity of certain genes, and so on.

By connecting the cells of various embryos in the early stages of development, so-called mosaic animals are raised. Otherwise they are called chimeras. They consist of 2 types of cells with different genotypes. Through these experiments, they find out how the differentiation of tissues and cells occurs during the development of the organism.

Cloning

Modern biotechnology is unthinkable without cloning. Experiments related to the transplantation of nuclei of various somatic cells into enucleated (i.e., deprived of a nucleus) egg cells of animals with further cultivation of the resulting embryo into an adult organism have been going on for more than a decade. However, they have become very popular since the end of the 20th century. Today we call these experiments animal cloning.

Few people are not familiar with Dolly the sheep today. In 1996, near Edinburgh (Scotland) at the Rosslyn Institute, the first mammalian cloning was carried out, which was carried out from an adult cell. It was Dolly the sheep that became the first such clone.

Genetic Engineering

Having appeared in the early 1970s, today it has achieved significant success. Her methods transform cells of mammals, yeasts, bacteria into real "factories" for the production of any protein. This scientific achievement provides an opportunity to study in detail the functions and structure of proteins in order to use them as medicines.

The basics of biotechnology are widely used today. E. coli, for example, has become a supplier of the important hormones growth hormone and insulin in our time. Applied genetic engineering aims at designing recombinant DNA molecules. When introduced into a certain genetic apparatus, they can impart properties useful to humans. For example, you can get "biological reactors", that is, animals, plants and microorganisms that would produce substances that are pharmacologically important to humans. Advances in biotechnology have led to the possibility of breeding animal breeds and plant varieties with traits that are valuable to humans. With the help of genetic engineering methods, it is possible to carry out genetic certification, create DNA vaccines, diagnose various genetic diseases, etc.

Conclusion

So, we answered the question: "What is biotechnology?" Of course, the article provides only basic information about it, briefly lists the directions. This introductory information provides an overview of what modern biotechnologies exist and how they are used.

(This is a "blank" for a student report on biotechnology, which should be independently supplemented and expanded.)

Plan

Definition of the concept of "biotechnology".

The historical background of biotechnology.

History of modern biotechnology.

Basic methods of biotechnology.

Biotechnology importance and perspectives.

The concept "biotechnology" can be given many definitions that are close to each other in meaning.

1. Definition of "biotechnology"

Variants of definitions of "biotechnology"

1st (belongs to the engineer Ereki, who first formulated the concept of biotechnology): These are all types of work in which certain products are produced from raw materials with the help of living organisms.
2nd: This is a collection of industrial methods using living organisms.
3rd: This is the use of living organisms or biological processes in an industrial way.
4th: This is an applied science that uses genetic and cell engineering methods to obtain biological products in an industrial way.

5th. Biotechnology is not production, but research in the field of industrial production of goods and services with the participation of living organisms, biological systems and processes (B. Glick, J. Pasternak, 2002).

Biotechnology in a broad sense is a scientific discipline and a field of practice, bordering between biology and technology, which uses technological processes in working with biological objects or, conversely, uses biological objects in technological processes.

In general, biotechnology studies the ways and methods of changing the natural environment around a person in accordance with his needs with the help of biological objects included in technological processes.

Biotechnology in the narrow sense is a set of methods and techniques for obtaining products necessary for a person using biological objects. Biotechnology includes genetic, cellular and environmental engineering.

Biotechnology, or bioprocess technology is the industrial use of biological structures for the production of food and industrial products, as well as for the implementation of targeted transformations.

Biological structures (biological objects) - these are microorganisms, plant and animal cells, cellular components: cell membranes, ribosomes, mitochondria, chloroplasts, as well as biological macromolecules (DNA, RNA, proteins - most often enzymes). Biotechnology also uses viral DNA or RNA to transfer foreign genes into cells.

In the traditional, classical, understanding biotechnology is the science of methods and technologies for the production of various substances and products using natural biological objects and processes.

Term "New" biotechnology as opposed to " old "biotechnology are used to separate bioprocesses using genetic engineering methods, new bioprocessor techniques, and more traditional forms of bioprocesses. Thus, the usual production of alcohol in the fermentation process is an "old" biotechnology, but the use in this process of yeast improved by genetic engineering methods in order to increase the alcohol yield is a "new" biotechnology.

The term "biotechnology" first proposed by a Hungarian engineer Karl Ereki (1917) when he described the production of pork (final product) using sugar beets (raw material) as feed for pigs (biotransformation).

By biotechnology K. Ereki understood “all types of work in which certain products are produced from raw materials with the help of living organisms”. All subsequent definitions of this concept are just variations of the pioneering and classical formulation of K. Ereki.

Modern biotechnology is the science of genetically engineered and cellular methods and technologies for the creation and use of genetically transformed biological objects to intensify production or obtain new types of products for various purposes.

Biotechnology methods can be used at the following levels: molecular (manipulation with individual parts of a gene), genome, chromosomal, plasmid, cellular, tissue, organismal and population levels.

Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer in 1973 developed gene transfer method from one organism to another. Cohen wrote: "... it is hoped that it will be possible to introduce genes into E. coli associated with metabolic or synthetic functions inherent in other biological species, for example, genes for photosynthesis or antibiotic production." Their work began a new era in molecular biotechnology. A large number of techniques have been developed that allow 1) identify 2) isolate; 3) give a characterization; 4) use genes.

In 1978, employees of the "Genetech" company (USA) for the first time isolated DNA sequences encoding human insulin and transferred them into cloning vectors capable of replicating in Escherichia coli cells. This drug could be used by diabetic patients who have had an allergic reaction to porcine insulin.

Currently, molecular biotechnology makes it possible to obtain a huge number of products: insulin, interferon, "growth hormones", viral antigens, a huge amount of proteins, drugs, low molecular weight substances and macromolecules.

The use of cell technologies for the industrial production of biologically active substances of plant origin

Institute of Plant Physiology. K. A. Timiryazeva RAS, Moscow, 127276

The use of biologically active substances (BAS) of plant origin is often limited by the availability of plant resources and can pose a serious threat to rare species of medicinal plants. Cell cultures of higher plants can serve as a renewable source of valuable secondary metabolites; however, so far only a few examples of their commercial use are known. The main reasons for this situation are the insufficient productivity of cell cultures for secondary metabolites and the high cost of cultivation. Using traditional methods - selection of productive strains, optimization of environments, elicitation, addition of synthesis precursors - it is possible to increase the productivity of plant cell cultures by one to two orders of magnitude. Methods of metabolic engineering - overexpression or shutdown of protein genes that determine the synthesis of the target product - can significantly change the biosynthetic abilities of cells in vitro.At the same time, many secondary compounds have not yet been obtained in cell culture, which may be due to the specificity of cell culture - an experimentally created population of somatic cells - as a biological system. For these cases, the use of plant organ cultures or transformed roots (hairy roots) may be effective. Work is underway to obtain secondary plant metabolites in yeast and bacteria transformed by plant genes.

Literature:

(Indicate literature used to compile this report, including Internet sites.)

Today the biotechnologist faces many unsolved technological challenges. Biological organisms can be modified to meet the needs of humans using cellular and genetic engineering methods. For example, to improve the quality of products, to obtain new types of plants and to modify animals, to give living organisms the necessary properties and to create new drugs by methods of genetic engineering, artificial selection, hybridization.

However, to work as a biotechnologist, you need to know not only genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, but also botany, chemistry, mathematics, information technology, physics, and more. Roughly speaking, biotechnologists are engineers in the natural and exact sciences. Dmitry Morozov, CEO of innovative biotechnological Biocad, spoke about this interesting profession and the future of biotechnology.

Biocad is an international innovative biotechnology company. It has a research center and conducts preclinical and clinical studies of its own pharmaceuticals. Biocad's Advanced Research Department is engaged in the development of drugs for advanced gene and cell therapy, as well as in the search and analysis of signaling pathways, patterns and targets that allow the development of preventive medicine drugs.

Dmitry Morozov,

cEO of Biocad

What is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is the use of living systems, cells, organisms for the practical needs of humans. That is, the use of modern science to manipulate living objects in order to gain some benefit and improve human life.

Biotechnology is demand driven. For example, it is not for nothing that people travel north and study geysers. They understand that they can search for 10 years and find nothing. But they do it anyway, because sooner or later they will find some bacteria that will make cheap biofuels using one gene of this bacterium. One way or another, every person, when engaged in science, hopes to apply it (except for theoretical physicists, although, probably, they would also want to fly into space). At Biocad, we use microorganisms to create medicines.

There are many disciplines in biotechnology, and all successful projects and directions are associated with a combination of them.

They say that all discoveries occur at the intersection of different specialties: mathematics, biology - bioinformatics; biology, chemistry - biochemistry; medicine, informatics, biology - biomedical informatics. These are all separate blocks that different people are involved in. Biotechnology today, perhaps, pays most attention to the creation of drugs of various types. In addition to the pharmaceutical direction of biotechnology, agriculture (improving the properties of food), ecology, energy (obtaining biofuel) and others are interesting. And, of course, in the future you can think about human correction.

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

Genetic engineering occupies an important place in biotechnology. It is widespread in research, but it is not at all necessary to use its methods in order to obtain useful properties from an object. For example, you can understand the peculiarities of the body's metabolism: how it lives in a normal habitat and what happens if we transfer it to a different habitat, with different nutritional factors, to a different atmosphere - perhaps this will help it in the end, and this can faster multiply. But this is not genetic engineering.

Biotechnology is the manipulation of knowledge about a given object. Genetic engineering simply expands the range of possibilities, different combinations, makes it possible to perform manipulations at the molecular level, therefore it is more accurate.

Biotechnology has actually been around for as long as agriculture. Agriculture often has a specific practical goal - for example, to breed a fast horse or a cold-tolerant plant. People have been doing this for hundreds of years through selection, which is actually a genetic selection method.

Biotechnology Ethics: How Does Society View Biotech?

People have different perceptions of innovations in biotechnology. There are negative and positive examples of perception.

Negative ones are, for example, the opinion that the introduction of a new one will lead to the emergence of viruses that will spread throughout the world and for which there is no vaccine or cure, and that periodic epidemics are connected with this.

From the positive - for example, you can create a virus that temporarily changes the color of the eyes. Gradually they turn their color, and with drops of antibiotics, you can turn them blue again. It has little to do with healthcare in the usual sense, but it's still great. In theory, such manipulations can be done, and society treats such technologies positively and with a smile. However, in general, people are afraid of the introduction of new technologies. And in order to introduce something new, it is necessary to discuss at the highest level the ethical issues of a particular effect of the drug, and this usually takes a long time.

Biotechnology at Biocad: Nucleic Acid Treatment

Two years ago, at Biocad, we opened the Advanced Research Department, whose main goal is to create advanced gene therapy drug products. This term encompasses three groups of drugs that are not like all other drugs we are used to.

Firstly, these are drugs for gene therapy, secondly, these are drugs based on the manipulation of human somatic and stem cells, and thirdly, these are tissue engineering drugs.

The action of classical drugs is based either on a small molecule of a chemical nature, or on some kind of protein, for example, an antibody, which can be easily obtained using biotechnological methods. In our development, a drug substance, that is, an active factor, is a nucleic acid RNA or DNA.

This is a new way of influencing the human body. This direction has begun to develop rapidly not so long ago, so so far it is being treated with caution.

How gene therapy drugs work

Our medicine is a recombinant virus, a nanoparticle based on a virus, inside which is a gene that a sick person lacks. These products are directed, as a rule, at diseases that are difficult to treat (hereditary diseases with severe manifestations up to death at an early age: dystrophy, visual impairment, light perception, immunodeficiencies). These are mainly monogenic diseases in which the manifestation of the disease is due to a defect in one gene. In such cases, they are very well treated. In the laboratory, we create therapeutic viral particles, and bioinformatics help us model their work.

In the case of polygenic diseases, such as cancer, gene therapy techniques can be used to modify cells of the human immune system in order to obtain immune cells with high specificity for tumor cells. In laboratories, our scientists carry out the full development cycle of these two types of products (from idea to prototyping, ready for testing on animals). There is no such thing in Russia, probably nowhere else.

Advanced Research in Biotechnology

medicine of the future: Development of new types of drugs

Our department is named after the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). They are trying to implement the achievements of science in order to increase the country's defense capability - these are accelerated regeneration, universal donors, weapons, and so on.

Perhaps in the next 5-10 years, thanks to the interconnection of cybernetics and biotechnology, smart drugs will indeed be created. For instance, making very small chips: it is a capsule or a robot with drug particles circulating in the blood, from which, depending on the state of the person, the desired substance will be injected into the blood. This is what MIT does, for example. There are already successful examples: depending on the glucose level, insulin is injected into the body, which minimizes the degree of invasiveness of the treatment procedure. A person once inserted a chip, injected and for a very long time forgot to take the medicine.

Even renowned futurist Ray Kurzwell says humans will start living longer with nanorobots by 2025. Most likely, he means drugs that will fight cancer.

Nanorobots - a new form of drugs, because from the point of view of the substances that make up drugs, people have already done everything. We cannot offer anything else - there are few types of chemical compounds that can be used for therapy. it either proteins, or small molecules, or nucleic acidswhich are now also applied.

Variants of both those, and others, and the third, of course, you can make an unlimited number, but they have a limited potential for application, since they work according to general chemical principles. There is no other way to influence the cell.

Therefore, in the future, the main issue will be the delivery of these three "blocks" by nanobots, which will lead to the emergence of new therapy formats.

Of course, most people just want to take a pill, but not all medicinal substances can be "put" into it. A simpler option is a capsule. More effective - injection and suppositories. And if there was some kind of universal treatment, for example, to stab a chip with a concentrate of a drug under the skin, but once a year, I think many would go for it.

Photo courtesy of Biocad.

Diagnosis of diseases

The development of minimally invasive diagnostic methods will be necessary for a person so that, roughly speaking, a drop of blood can quickly determine a person's condition: whether he has an oncological disease and, if so, whether there are metastases, what kind of cancer and so on.

Now this can be done on a certain number of milliliters of blood using high-throughput methods, but so far it is quite expensive. We are moving towards individual profiling of a person in order to know everything about ourselves to the level of a molecule. The person will understand what exactly is happening to him at the moment.

Something like a social network of profiles may arise, where all data will be stored - for example, on gene expression for the last month. It seems that everything is easy here, but in fact it is billions of sequences, hundreds of genes with different mutations, of varying degrees of significance. Therefore, a new class of theoretical physicians will be needed who will be able to interpret this huge amount of data.

Regeneration, artificial intelligence

Perhaps in the future we will learn how to regenerate tissues and organs. Already, organs are being grown from scratch to real size from cells thanks to 3D printing. They are also trying to restore the spinal cord after injury - to print neurons at the site of injury. In other words, to inoculate a person with his own cells, multiplied in laboratory conditions.

Also, scientists will use more artificial intelligence and neural networks to create new drugs. A self-learning AI will have to accumulate enough knowledge on its own to give the correct answers. If this is not controlled, a catastrophe may probably occur, but, on the other hand, it will be able to significantly free the hands of researchers and give the opportunity to generate new ideas, because AI will take over all the routine procedures.

Biotechnology, its objects and main directions.Biotechnology - it is the production of products and biologically active compounds necessary for a person with the help of living organisms, cultured cells and biological processes.

Since time immemorial, biotechnology has been used mainly in the food and light industries, namely in winemaking, bakery, fermentation of dairy products, in the processing of flax, leather, etc. in processes based on the use of microorganisms. In recent decades, the possibilities of biotechnology have expanded enormously.

Biotechnology facilities viruses, bacteria, protists, yeasts, as well as plants, animals or isolated cells and subcellular structures (organelles) serve.

The main areas of biotechnology are: 1) the production of biologically active compounds (enzymes, vitamins, hormones), drugs (antibiotics, vaccines, serums, highly specific antibodies, etc.), as well as valuable compounds (feed additives, for example, essential amino acids) using microorganisms and cultured eukaryotic cells , feed proteins; 2) the use of biological methods for combating environmental pollution (biological treatment of wastewater, soil pollution) and protection of plants from pests and diseases; 3) the creation of new useful strains of microorganisms, plant varieties, animal breeds, etc.

Problems, methods and achievements of biotechnology.The main task of breeders in our time has become a solution to the problem of creating new forms of plants, animals and microorganisms, well adapted to industrial methods of production, sustainably enduring adverse conditions, efficiently using solar energy and, which is especially important, allowing to obtain biologically pure products without excessive environmental pollution. ... Fundamentally new approaches to solving this fundamental problem are the use of genetic (genetic) and cell engineering in breeding.

Genetic Engineering is a branch of molecular genetics associated with the targeted creation of new DNA molecules capable of replicating in the host cell and controlling the synthesis of the necessary metabolites. Genetic engineering deals with the decoding of the structure of genes, their synthesis and cloning, the insertion of genes isolated from the cells of living organisms or newly synthesized genes into the cells of plants and animals with the aim of directionally changing their hereditary properties.

To carry out the transfer of genes (or transgenesis) from one type of organism to another, often very distant in its origin, it is necessary to perform several complex operations:

isolation of genes (individual DNA fragments) from cells of bacteria, plants or animals. In some cases, this operation is replaced by the artificial synthesis of the desired genes;

connection (stitching) of individual DNA fragments of any origin into a single molecule as part of a plasmid;

introducing a hybrid plasmid DNA containing the desired gene into host cells;

copying (cloning) this gene in a new host with the provision of its work (Fig. 8.11).

The cloned gene is microinjected into a mammalian ovum or plant protoplast (an isolated cell without a cell wall) and a whole animal or plant is grown from them. Plants and animals whose genome has been altered by genetic engineering operations are called transgenic plants and transgenic animals.

Transgenic mice, rabbits, pigs, sheep have already been obtained, in the genome of which foreign genes of various origins work, including genes of bacteria, yeast, mammals, humans, as well as transgenic plants with genes of other, unrelated species.

To date, genetic engineering methods have made it possible to synthesize in industrial quantities such hormones as insulin, interferon and somatotropin (growth hormone), which are necessary for the treatment of human genetic diseases - diabetes mellitus, some types of malignant tumors and dwarfism, respectively.

Cell engineering - a method that allows you to design cells of a new type. The method consists in the cultivation of isolated cells and tissues on an artificial nutrient medium under controlled conditions, which became possible due to the ability of plant cells to form a whole plant from a single cell as a result of regeneration. Regeneration conditions have been developed for many cultivated plants, such as potatoes, wheat, barley, corn, tomato, etc. Working with these objects makes it possible to use non-traditional methods of cell engineering in breeding, such as somatic hybridization, haploidy, cell selection, overcoming non-breeding in culture and etc.

Somatic hybridization is the fusion of two different cells in tissue culture. Different types of cells of one organism and cells of different, sometimes very distant species, for example, mice and rats, cats and dogs, humans and mice, can merge.

The cultivation of plant cells became possible when they learned to get rid of the thick cell wall with the help of enzymes and obtain an isolated protoplast. Protoplasts can be cultured in the same way as animal cells, ensure their fusion with protoplasts of other plant species and obtain new hybrid plants under appropriate conditions.

An important area of \u200b\u200bcell engineering is associated with the early stages of embryogenesis. For example, in vitro fertilization of eggs is already making it possible to overcome some of the common forms of human infertility. In farm animals, with the help of an injection of hormones, it is possible to obtain from one record-breaking cow dozens of eggs, fertilize them in a test tube with the sperm of a thoroughbred bull, and then implant them into the uterus of other cows and in this way get 10 times more offspring from one valuable specimen than it would be perhaps in the usual way.

It is beneficial to use a plant cell culture for the rapid reproduction of slow-growing plants - ginseng, olive palm, raspberry, peach, etc. Thus, with normal breeding, a raspberry bush can give no more than 50 shoots per year, while with the help of cell culture, more 50 thousand plants. This kind of breeding sometimes produces plants that are more productive than the original variety.

Biotechnology, genetic and cellular engineering have promising prospects. The introduction of the necessary genes into the cells of plants, animals and humans will gradually get rid of many hereditary human diseases, force the cells to synthesize the necessary drugs and biologically active compounds, and then directly proteins and essential amino acids used for food. Using methods already mastered by nature, biotechnologists hope to obtain hydrogen through photosynthesis - the most environmentally friendly fuel of the future, electricity, to convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia under normal conditions.

Biotechnology is the production of products and materials necessary for a person using living organisms, cultured cells and biological processes. The main areas of biotechnology are: the production of biologically active compounds (vitamins, hormones, enzymes), drugs and other valuable compounds, the development and use of biological methods to combat environmental pollution, the creation of new useful strains of microorganisms, plant varieties, animal breeds, etc. ... Methods of genetic and cellular engineering contribute to the solution of these complex problems.

Biological technologies (biotechnologies) provide a controlled production of useful products for various spheres of human activity, based on the use of the catalytic potential of biological agents and systems of varying degrees of organization and complexity - microorganisms, viruses, plant and animal cells and tissues, as well as extracellular substances and cell components.

The development and transformation of biotechnology is driven by profound changes in biology over the past 25-30 years. These developments were based on new concepts in the field of molecular biology and molecular genetics. At the same time, it should be noted that the development and achievements of biotechnology are closely related to the complex of knowledge not only of biological sciences, but also of many others.

The expansion of the practical sphere of biotechnology is also due to the socio-economic needs of society. Such urgent problems facing mankind on the threshold of the 21st century, such as a shortage of clean water and nutrients (especially protein), environmental pollution, a lack of raw materials and energy resources, the need to obtain new, environmentally friendly materials, the development of new diagnostic and treatment tools, cannot be solved by traditional methods. Therefore, for human life support, improving the quality of life and its duration, it becomes more and more necessary to master fundamentally new methods and technologies.

The development of scientific and technological progress, accompanied by an increase in the rate of material and energy resources, unfortunately, leads to an imbalance in biospheric processes. The water and air basins of cities are polluted, the reproductive function of the biosphere is reduced, due to the accumulation of dead-end products of the technosphere, the global circulation cycles of the biosphere are disrupted.

The swiftness of the pace of modern scientific and technological progress of mankind was figuratively described by the Swiss engineer and philosopher Eichelberg: “It is believed that the age of mankind is 600,000 years. Imagine the movement of humanity in the form of a 60 km marathon, which starts somewhere, goes towards the center of one of our cities, as if to the finish line ... Most of the distance runs along a very difficult path - through virgin forests, and we We do not know anything about this, because only at the very end, at 58-59 km of running, we find, along with the primitive tool, cave drawings, as the first signs of culture, and only on the last kilometer do signs of agriculture appear.

200 m before the finish line, a road covered with stone slabs leads past the Roman fortifications. For 100 m runners are surrounded by medieval town buildings. There is 50 m to the finish line, where there is a man who watches the runners with intelligent and understanding eyes - this is Leonardo da Vinci. Remaining 10 m. They begin with torchlight and poor illumination of oil lamps. But when throwing at the last 5 m, a stunning miracle occurs: light floods the night road, carts without draft animals rush past, cars make noise in the air, and the struck runner is blinded by the light of the searchlights of photo and TV cameras ... ” for 1 m, the human genius makes a stunning leap in the field of scientific and technological progress. Continuing this image, we can add that at the moment the runner approaches the finish line, thermonuclear fusion turns out to be tamed, spaceships start, and the genetic code is decoded.

Biotechnology is the basis of scientific and technological progress and improving the quality of human life

Biotechnology as a field of knowledge and a dynamically developing industrial branch is designed to solve many key problems of our time, while maintaining a balance in the system of relationships "man - nature - society", because biological technologies (biotechnologies), based on the use of the potential of living things, are by definition aimed at friendliness and harmony of a person with the world around him. At present, biotechnology is divided into several of the most significant segments: these are “white”, “green”, “red”, “gray” and “blue” biotechnology.

Industrial biotechnology is referred to as "white" biotechnology, focused on the production of products previously produced by the chemical industry - alcohol, vitamins, amino acids, etc. (taking into account the requirements of resource conservation and environmental protection).

Green biotechnology encompasses an area of \u200b\u200bimportance to agriculture. These are research and technologies aimed at creating biotechnological methods and preparations for combating pests and pathogens of cultivated plants and domestic animals, creating biofertilizers, increasing plant productivity, including using methods of genetic engineering.

Red (medical) biotechnology is the most significant area of \u200b\u200bmodern biotechnology. This is the production of diagnosticums and pharmaceuticals using biotechnological methods using cell and genetic engineering technologies (green vaccines, gene diagnosticums, monoclonal antibodies, tissue engineering structures and products, etc.).

Gray biotechnology develops technologies and products to protect the environment; these are soil reclamation, treatment of effluents and gas-air emissions, utilization of industrial waste and degradation of toxicants using biological agents and biological processes.

Blue biotechnology is mainly focused on the efficient use of the resources of the oceans. First of all, this is the use of marine biota for the production of food, technical, biologically active and medicinal substances.

Modern biotechnology is one of the priority areas of the national economy of all developed countries. The way to increase the competitiveness of biotechnological products in the sales markets is one of the main ones in the general strategy of biotechnology development in industrialized countries. The stimulating factor is the specially adopted government programs for the accelerated development of new areas of biotechnology.

State programs provide for the issuance of gratuitous loans to investors, long-term loans, tax exemption. Due to the fact that it is becoming more and more expensive to carry out fundamental and oriented research, many countries are striving to take a significant part of research beyond national borders.

As you know, the probability of success of R&D projects in general does not exceed 12-20%, about 60% of projects reach the stage of technical completion, 30% - commercial development, and only 12% are profitable.

Features of the development of research and commercialization of biological technologies in the USA, Japan, EU countries and Russia

USA. The leading position in biotechnology for the industrial production of biotechnological products, sales volumes, foreign trade turnover, allocations and the scale of R&D is occupied by the United States, where great attention is paid to the development of this area. By 2003, this sector employed over 198,300 people.

Allocations to this sector of science and economy in the United States are significant and amount to over $ 20 billion. USA annually. US biotech industry revenues rose from $ 8 billion. in 1992 up to 39 billion dollars. in 2003

This industry is under the close scrutiny of the state. So, during the formation of the latest biotechnology and the emergence of its directions related to the manipulation of genetic material, in the mid-70s. the last century, the US Congress paid great attention to the safety of genetic research. In 1977 alone, 25 special hearings were held and 16 bills were adopted.

In the early 90s. the emphasis has shifted to the development of measures to promote the practical use of biotechnology for the production of new products. The development of biotechnology in the United States is associated with the solution of many key problems: energy, raw materials, food and environmental.

Among biotechnological areas close to practical implementation or at the stage of industrial development are the following:
- bioconversion of solar energy;
- the use of microorganisms to increase oil yield and leaching of non-ferrous and rare metals;
- design of strains capable of replacing expensive inorganic catalysts and changing the synthesis conditions to obtain fundamentally new compounds;
- the use of bacterial plant growth stimulants, a change in the genotype of cereals and their adaptation to ripening in extreme conditions (without plowing, irrigation and fertilization);
- directed biosynthesis of effective production of target products (amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, antibiotics, food additives, pharmacological preparations;
- obtaining new diagnostic and therapeutic products based on methods of cell and genetic engineering.

The role of the US leader is conditioned by the high allocations of the state and private capital for fundamental and applied research. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the ministries of health and welfare, agriculture, energy, chemical and food industries, defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the interior play a key role in financing biotechnology. Allocations are allocated on a program-targeted basis, i.e. research projects are subsidized and contracted.

At the same time, large industrial companies establish business relationships with universities and research centers. This contributes to the formation of complexes in one area or another, from fundamental research to serial production of a product and delivery to the market. This “participation system” provides for the formation of specialized funds with appropriate expert councils and the attraction of the most qualified personnel.

When choosing projects with high commercial efficiency, it has become profitable to use the so-called “analysis with given constraints”. This allows you to significantly reduce the project implementation time (on average from 7-10 to 2-4 years) and increase the probability of success up to 80%. The concept of "specified constraints" includes the potential for the successful sale of a product and profit, increase in annual production, product competitiveness, potential risk from a sales point of view, the possibility of restructuring production taking into account new achievements, etc.

The annual total US government spending on genetic engineering and biotechnology research is in the billions of dollars. Investments by private companies significantly exceed these indicators. Several billion dollars are allocated annually for the development of diagnostic and anticancer drugs. Basically, these are the following areas: DNA recombination methods, production of hybrids, production and use of monoclonal antibodies, tissue and cell culture.

In the United States, it has become common when companies not previously associated with biotechnology begin to acquire stakes in existing companies and build their own biotechnology enterprises (Table 1.1). This, for example, is the practice of such chemical giants as Philips Petrolium, Monsanto, Dow Chemical. About 250 chemical companies currently have interests in biotechnology. For example, the giant of the US chemical industry - the De Pont company - has several biotechnological complexes worth 85-150 thousand dollars. with a staff of 700-1,000 people

Such complexes were created in the structure of Monsanto, moreover, at present, up to 75% of the budget (over $ 750 million) is directed to the field of biotechnology. These companies are focused on the production of genetically engineered growth hormone, as well as a number of genetically engineered drugs for veterinary medicine and pharmacology. In addition, firms, together with university research centers, sign contracts for joint research and development.

Table 1.1. Major US concerns and pharmaceutical companies producing medical biotechnological drugs

There is an opinion that all the necessary conditions for the establishment and development of biotechnology in the United States have been prepared by the venture business. For large firms and companies, the venture business is a well-established technique that allows you to get new developments in a shorter time, attracting small firms and small teams for this, rather than doing it on your own.

For example, in the 80s. General Electric, with the help of small firms, began to master the production of biologically active compounds, only in 1981 its risky appropriations in biotechnology amounted to $ 3 million. Small-firm risk provides large companies and corporations with a screening mechanism for economically viable innovations with high commercial prospects.

ON. Voinov, T.G. Volova