Question

Give five applications of biotechnology in the field of medicine.

Answer 1

Five applications of biotechnology in the field of medicine are:

1. Antibiotics - Antibiotics are chemical substances, which are produced by some microbes and can kill or retard the growth of other pathogenic microbes, without harming the host. Biotechnology has helped us to obtain pure and large amounts of antibiotics from microbes. Examples of antibiotics obtained from microbes are penicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin etc. The world's first discovered antibiotic penicillin is produced by Penicillium species of fungi. It destroys bacteria causing tonsillitis, sore throat, gonorrhea, local infections and pneumonia.
2. Vaccines - Vaccines are killed or weakened pathogens employed to provide immunity against the diseases caused by them. Using biotechnology, we have been able to produce cheaper, purer, safer and more potent vaccines.
3. Antibodies - Antibodies against disease causing pathogens can be obtained through clone cultures. These help to provide immunity against diseases.
4. Hormones - Using recombinant DNA technology, humans have succeeded in producing several important hormones. For example - The bacteria E.coli have been successfully used to produce large quantities of human insulin. This is a boon to the many diabetic patients who are deficient in insulin and hence are unable to control their blood sugar. Also this was an improvement over the earlier used animal insulin which was expensive and allergic to many people.
5. Diagnostic kits - Today many diagnostic kits are available for detecting many diseases especially those caused by parasites. These kits give more reliable and quicker results easily.