Biotechnology

By Jorge Ruiz Pesantes

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is the use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most prominent area of biotechnology is the production of therapeutic proteins​

Key Concept ​

​History of biotechnology

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a term first widely applied to the molecular and cellular technologies that began to emerge in the 1960s and ’70s.​

For more than a decade, the biotechnology industry was dominated by recombinant DNA technology, or genetic engineering.

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This technique consists of splicing the gene for a useful protein (often a human protein) into production cells—such as yeast, bacteria.​

The biotechnology industry has also expanded its research into the development of traditional pharmaceuticals and monoclonal antibodies that stop the progress of a disease​​