Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use". The wide concept of "biotech" or "biotechnology" encompasses a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms according to human purposes, going back to domestication of animals, cultivation of plants, and "improvements" to these through breeding programs that employ artificial selection and hybridization. Modern usage also includes genetic engineering as well as cell and tissue culture technologies. Biotechnology has applications in four major industrial areas, including health care (medical), crop production and agriculture, non food (industrial) uses of crops and other products (e.g. biodegradable plastics, vegetable oil, bio fuels), and environmental uses. In medicine, modern biotechnology finds applications in areas such as pharmaceutical drug discovery and production, pharmacogenomics, and genetic testing (or genetic screening). Biotechnology has contributed to the discovery and manufacturing of traditional small molecule pharmaceutical drugs as well as drugs that are the product of biotechnology – bio pharmaceutics. Modern biotechnology can be used to manufacture existing medicines relatively easily and cheaply. Industrial biotechnology (known mainly in Europe as white biotechnology) is the application of biotechnology for industrial purposes, including industrial fermentation. It includes the practice of using cells such as micro-organisms, or components of cells like enzymes, to generate industrially useful products in sectors such as chemicals, food and feed, detergents, paper and pulp, textiles and bio fuels. Genetically modified crops”GM crops” or “biotech crops” are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. In most cases the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species.

Of the 50 top selling drugs, 14% or 7 were biotech products. Total revenues from sales of all blockbuster drugs were $234 b and 23% of this was achieved by biologics. At this rate of evolution, biotech is surely poised to take a larger proportion of the blockbuster market. The bioinformatics outsourcing opportunity to Indian bioinformatics vendors will raise from $32 m to 2007 to $62 m. India is amongst the top 12 biotech destinations in the world and ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region. Increasing government expenditure will augment the growth of the sector — the government aims to spend USD 3.7 Billion on biotechnology between 2012-17.  Government of India, Ministry of Health, Planning Commission, Aranca Research by FY17, India’s biotech industry is estimated to increase to USD11.6 billion from USD4.3 billion in FY12.

 FURTHER INFORMATION:

Biotechnology Handbook describes the detailed information on the subject. The major contents of this book are- Introduction to basic bio-technology, Downstream processing in bio-technology, Modern Brewing Technology, Whisky, Traditional fermented soybean foods, Bacterial Biomass, Cheese starters, Phenylalanine, Industrial Chemicals, Biochemical and Fuels, Citric Acid, Gluconic and Itaconic Acids, Acetic Acid, Propionic and Butyric Acids , Lactic Acid, Starch Conversion Process Proteolytic Enzymes

Hydrolytic Enzymes, Glucose Isomerase, Ethanol, Biodegradation of non-cellulosic wastes for, environmental conservation and fuel production, Landfills for treatment of solid wastes, Composting, Glossary of Terms, Directory section, Addresses of Machinery suppliers, Addresses of Chemical suppliers etc.

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