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Biotechnology
Biotechnology, in one form or another, has flourished
since prehistoric times. Centuries ago people discovered,
quite by accident, how to make use of biological
processes that naturally occur within living cells. While
they might not have understood the processes, they did
observed the results. They discovered, for example, that
microorganisms like bacteria and moulds produced beer,
wine and vinegar when grown in vats. Through trial and
error, they learned to control these processes and produce
useful materials.
In recent years our
understanding of Biotechnology has accelerated and as a
result, biotechnology has come to indicate the
application of a much more sophisticated set of
techniques and tools. These tools and techniques, taken
from biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, cell biology
and chemistry, are used to address a variety of problems.
The last four decades have
seen lively developments in Biotechnology and we believe
that the importance of Biotechnology is comparable to
Microelectronics and Computer technology, and in the next
century it will probably play a similar role to that of
Chemistry in the industrial development of the 20th
century.
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