From the conference Biotechnology and Ethics: A Blueprint For The Future

 

Biotechnology: Concepts and Techniques

 

Catherine Propst
President, Illinois Center for Biotechnology

It's a pleasure to be here to talk with you about "Biotechnology: Concepts & Techniques." In particular I'm going to be discussing biotechnology. What it is, it's goals, the important new techniques it uses, the areas it is having major impacts in and, finally, I'm going to say a few words about applications as an introduction to the following speakers who will discuss this in depth.

So what is biotechnology?

Biotechnology is defined by the US government as any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants and animals or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.

Although this definition is certainly no "sound bite," It is very useful because it separates the current hype from the science of biotechnology. It also points out two important points often missed in general discussions of biotechnology, namely:

Finally, when we think about this definition, it is clear that biotech is, in fact, an old and well established science, producing products that are important and familiar to all of us.

For example, between supper and cocktails last night and breakfast this morning, most of us will have partaken in a number of biotech products.

Breeding plants, animals - ancient
Herbal medicines - 6000 BC.
Wine & Beer - 6000 BC.
Bread - 4000 BC.
Septic Systems - 3000 BC.
Vaccines - 1796

Biotech has, in fact, been bringing about step by step improvements to human life since ancient times. The ability to tame and selectively breed plants and animals was formative in human development, and the use of herbal medicines predates recorded times. The biotech picnic partners (referring to slide of pictures of bread, beer, cheese) still use technology that was developed between 6000-4000 BC.

After the biotech picnic, there is the inevitable need to clean up after ourselves, so septic systems were developed about 3000 BC. Another famous, albeit much later, application of biotech was the use of vaccines to prevent diseases, first used against smallpox by Jenner in the 1700s.

It is clear that biotech has important implications in three major areas:

That was the case then in ancient times ... and that is the case now.

Not only are the areas the same then and now, but so are many of the major goals that biotech is trying to solve. These goals are straight forward and integral to the survival of humans. They include:

By this time you may be wondering, if biotech is really so old then why are we only hearing about it now? Where does all the hype come from? The answer lies in the fact that biotech is a collection of techniques, and new techniques are added as science progresses.

In the mid 1970's & 80's several powerful new biotechnologies were developed that allowed us to tackle the previous goals with more finesse and speed. These techniques provided the foundation of what is called the "new biotech" or "Molecular Biotech." There are four of them:

These are the technologies I'm going to be discussing for the remainder of this talk.

First, there is recombinant DNA and genetic engineering. All of you know that our physical traits are coded by bases in the DNA that are found in our chromosomes. In the l970's, we acquired new techniques that allowed us to remove genes from one organism (e.g. humans) and put them into another organism (e.g. bacterium). A real world example involves taking the human interferon genes and putting them into the bacterium E. coli. Before this technology, the interferon's were too scarece to be used as drugs. E. coli, however, can make mass quantities of interferon.

Now the interferon's are important drugs used to treat cancers (e.g. hairy cell leukemia and Karposi's sarcomas) and viral infections (e.g. hepatitis C & B). B-IFN has even proved useful in treating MS.

The second technology is cell fusion, which led to the development of monoclonal antibodies. Mouse cancer cells (myelomas) that can grow indefinitely can be fused to mouse WBCS (immune lymphocytes) that produce antibodies. The result is a hybrid myeloma cell called hybridoma, that has characteristics of both parent cells. Most important, they are "immortal" like cancer cells and produce antibodies like WBCS.

Hybridomas are important because they make monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies have revolutionized medical diagnostic testing. Amusingly, the single biggest selling and well known product from this technology can be bought in any drug store by anyone. It is the pregnancy test.

The third technology is a group of techniques called Bioprocess Technology. These are a series of engineering technologies that allow genetically engineered cells and hybrydomas, as well as other types of cells, to be grown in large enough quantities to produce drugs for use in humans.

Here you see genetically engineered mammalian cells producing TPA — an important anti-clotting drug used to treat heart attacks and most recently strokes.

The final new biotechnology is structure-based molecular design (SBMD) and computer-aided drug-design. This technology was developed in the late 1980's and is considered a biotechnology because both r-DNA and bioprocess technologies are often needed in order to carry out this work.

SBMD technology is founded on the fact that molecules fit together like a lock and key. An enzyme or receptor is the lock, the substrate or a drug is the key. If you know what one looks like, you can construct the shape of the other with the help of computers. This is useful to design novel new drugs.

Many diseases can be treated by drugs that block enzymes or receptors involved in the disease. Here you see the active site of the HIV protease, an important enzyme for the growth of the AIDS virus (brain like enzyme). A drug is seen in the active site. This is a real drug developed using SBMD by Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company here in Illinois. This drug stops the viral protease from functioning and is one of a major new class of anti-aids drugs called protease inhibitors.

In the end, biotechnology is a well established science with historically defined goals. There have been recent scientific breakthroughs yielding powerful biotechnologies that have already produced current products and have many future possibilities, in each of the three major areas of application. These exciting possibilities will be the topics of our next speakers presentations.

 

Center for Biotechnology, biotech@nwu.edu
Ph: (847)467-1454, Fax: (847)467-2180
Northwestern University