Biotechnology Objectives: At the end of this lecture we will be able to identify and describe the uses of biotechnology in society.

What is biotechnology? Biotechnology is using living structures, or derivatives, to make or modify products or processes for specific use? In vivo… performed in a lab In vitro…performed in an organism

Users of Biotechnology Genomics… study of the whole genome (full compliment of DNA) Proteomics…study of the proteome (full compliment of proteins) Transcriptomics…study of transcriptome (full compliment of RNA transcripts) Metabolomics…Study of the metabolome (full compliment of metabolites) Bioinformatics…study, storage, analysis, and use of large sums of data generated in research

Biotechnology – Drug Development

Biotechnology – Drug Development Drug discovery Makes use of high-throughput technology to screen thousands of molecules simultaneously In microarrays, thousands of candidate molecules are incubated with proteins to see if binding occurs Candidates that bind then can be further targeted and studied

Biotechnology – Drug Development Drug development - Candidate molecules are chemically modified through chemical engineering to make them perform better. Preclinical testing - uses computer models, cell cultures and animal models Animal models – transgenic animals that have been genetically engineered to express a gene or set of genes to display a trait or a human disease Helps the researcher better design the drug to minimize side effects by better targeting the area of interest in the body Improved through the use of nanobiotechnology…small molecules and viral vectors

Biotechnology – Drug Development Clinical trials can begin once it is determined that the drug is effective in preclinical trials Phase I – tested on a small group (<100) to determine safety, dosage levels, and how the drug is metabolized Phase II - Tested on a larger group (100-300) that has the disease on affliction. Determines whether the drug does what it is designed to do. Phase III – Tested on a very large group (1,000-3,000) to determine efficacy and side effects. Double blind study. One “arm” of the group gets the medicine while the other arm gets a placebo (inactive compound). Neither the researcher nor the patient know which group they belong to.