Biotechnology,people and markets

In assessing the likely demand for biotechnology products it is not sufficient just to look at what is happening in firms and their immediate market environment. There is no one 'market' for biotechnology products: there are differences between sectors and between countries. You have instead to look at the institutional contexts of the biotechnology product's development. This paper reviews work which has been carried out by social scientists, especially those using 'social shaping' approaches, on the development of new products based on advances in biotechnology and on the creation of markets to go with these products. It examines work on public attitudes to the exploitation of the technology, focusing especially on the issue of social inclusion and exclusion and how biotechnology might make exclusion more likely. It concludes by considering what current differences in public attitudes to the development of some biotechnology-based products might mean for the development of markets for those products in the UK.     

New issues and future legislation on biosafety.

The current debate on gene technology in Europe is reviewed with particular emphasis on the role of EFB and science in general. From this debate important lessons have been learned by scientists, industrial companies, legislators, parliamentarians and interest organisations. This gives confidence that the continued debate will eventually lead to public acceptance of gene technology even in the food area.     

Strategies for developing marker-free transgenic plants

The development of marker-free transgenic plants has responded to public concerns over the safety of biotechnology crops. It seems that continued work in this area will soon remove the question of unwanted marker genes from the debate concerning the public acceptability of transgenic crop plants. Selectable marker genes are co-introduced with genes of interest to identify those cells that have integrated the DNA into their genome. Despite the large number of different selection systems, marker genes that confer resistance to the antibiotics, hygromycin (hpt) and kanamycin (nptII) or herbicide phosphinothricin (bar), have been used in most transgenic research and crop development techniques. The techniques that remove marker gene are under development and will eventually facilitate more precise and subtle engineering of the plant genome, with widespread applications in both fundamental research and biotechnology. In addition to allaying public concerns, the absence of resistance genes in transgenic plants could reduce the costs of developing biotechnology crops and lessen the need for time-consuming safety evaluations, thereby speeding up the commercial production of biotechnology crops. Many research results and various techniques have been developed to produce marker-free transgenic plants. This review describes the strategies for eliminating selectable marker genes to generate marker-free transgenic plants, focusing on the three significant marker-free technologies, co-transformation, site-specific recombinase-mediated excision, and non-selected transformation.     

Biotechnology and the UK 2000-05: Globalization and innovation

This paper discusses some selected topics seen as being most important in currently affecting the development of biotechnology in the UK. The importance of demand side factors such as the role of professional experts, regulatory bodies, retailers, public opinion and political activity in stimulating or discouraging innovation in biotechnology is discussed. Supply side factors are then analysed, particularly the major changes in the organizations which generate biotechnology innovations - especially collaborative alliances and network firms, and the restructuring of the chemical, pharmaceutical and agro-food industries which use biotechnology, via merger, acquisition, demerger and divestment. Two important aspects of the infrastructure for innovation, which are rapidly changing and generating debate and concern, are then considered. These are intellectual property regimes on the one hand, and corporate governance and the sources of finance for investment on the other. The issue of globalization of innovative activity in biotechnology and in the industries which use it is addressed next, and it is concluded that collaborative alliances are the main mechanism by which overseas sourcing of technology is taking place. Finally, future trends and some policy implications are considered.     

Assessing 'success' in biotechnology development in the UK by 2005

This paper presents quantified estimates of the prospective impacts on the UK economy over 2000-05 of the development of biotechnology. The study has proceeded by identifying the key effects that we expect biotechnology to have, determining on the basis of logic and economic theory the qualitative character of the expected economic consequences, constructing scenarios within the Cambridge Multisectoral Dynamic Model of the UK economy to represent these effects and examining and interpreting the consequences revealed by the model's results. Biotechnology is still at such an early stage that attention is mainly focussed on the impact of biotechnology production, rather than diffusion. The industrial application of biotechnology in relation to the overall economy is likely to remain modest through to 2005, but will probably be greater in the longer term as the producing sectors grow in importance and as the technology becomes more pervasive.     

Product development strategies for foods in the era of molecular biotechnology

Breakthroughs in science and technology are accelerating development of new products that are impacting our regulatory systems. Genetically modified or bioengineering plant varieties have entered the food supply on a global basis, especially in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates on the premise of substantial equivalence and has developed premarket notification procedures and voluntary labeling guidelines. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare regulates biotechnology products and has imposed biotechnology labeling regulations. However, the EU continues to be in a regulatory gridlock between member states and has proposed strict traceability and labeling guidelines. These requirements are currently restricting imports of bioengineered foods and are creating an international debate. In contrast to bioengineered plant varieties, to our knowledge, there are no strains of lactic acid bacterial starter cultures on the market that contain rDNA. The majority of strains have been improved via selection and mutagenesis. However, conjugation and electroporation have been used to transfer native lactococcal phage resistance plasmids to industrial strains. In addition, plasmids have been introduced to allow for selection of certain characteristics and then been eliminated by curing. The potential benefits of bioengineered foods are far reaching and are one of the most important opportunities of this century. However, bioengineered foods remain an emotional debate that is affecting world trade.     

Novel and Transgenic Food Crops: Overview of Scientific Versus Public Perception

Recombinant DNA technology offers opportunities to develop new products in many different fields, including agriculture and the agro-food area. Transgenic plants with improved agronomic traits currently grow in field trials and a few varieties have already reached the European market. By and large, new technologies raise both concerns and expectations and modern biotechnology is no exception. Indeed, a voluntary moratorium on experiments involving recombinant DNA molecules was called for in 1974. At the present time, although a majority of academic and industrial scientists agree that transgenic food crops pose no risk for the environment or human health, some others believe that certain applications of modern plant biotechnology are hazardous. In particular, deliberate releases of genetically modified plants are regarded as risky. There is also a disparity between expert and lay perception of r-DNA technology applications to food crops, which makes public information a difficult task. This paper aims at exposing these conflicting points of view on the agricultural applications of modern biotechnology. We also propose some recommendations pertaining to public information in Europe. It appears that consensus conferences might be a good approach to stimulate public information and public debate in Europe, although this approach has to be adapted to the cultural context of each country.     

Biotechnology policy and achievement 1980-88

Much progress has been made in line with the spirit of Spinks, but it is inevitable that perspectives have changed since 1980. At the research level, we know that much strategic work remains to be done before the full industrial benefits of biotechnology can be secured, even though there has been a gratifying improvement in academic-industrial liaison. The industrial progress and dissemination of biotechnology has been slower than Spinks implied, but we have a clear understanding of the importance of such contributors to the climate for investment as balanced regulation, training and public perception. The international dimension is important not only for the potential benefit of research and development programmes but also to monitor progress in the U.K. with respect to our competitors. Biotechnology now finds itself in a new framework of Government policy for innovation; there are new challenges in sustaining and adding to the impetus built up by the academic and industrial communities.     

Obituary: Dorothy Nelkin (30 July 1933–28 May 2003)

Biotechnologies are expected to have profound impacts across industrial and industrializing economies. One of the critical shaping influences on the development and use of these technologies will be the multiple social contests that have developed over their sustainability. For new technologies to become embedded in social, economic and institutional systems, processes of mutual adjustment must take place in both the technology and its social contexts. These adjustment processes tend to be complex and unpredictable, and their scale and scope reflect the anticipated significance of a new technology. I review the range of debates and contests about the impacts of biotechnology on environmental and social sustainability that will influence its development and diffusion. These contests are viewed as contingent, in that they are often framed by already established concerns and interests. In this sense, debates about biotechnology are primarily 'additive', rather than wholly novel.     

Economic issues for the UK biotechnology sector

This paper examines the economic prospects for the biotechnology industry, focusing on the UK position. I discuss some economic issues relating to the structure of the biotechnology industry and examine whether these factors can account for the relative success of the biotechnology sector in the UK compared to other European countries. I emphasize the importance of the science base, pharmaceutical companies and capital markets in giving the UK an advantage. Looking ahead I argue that prospects are good for the global growth of the industry due to supply and demand side factors. The UK is in a leading position in Europe but faces significant dangers, especially from the public towards biotechnology.     

On evaluating the GM Nation? Public debate about the commercialisation of transgenic crops in Britain

Abstract

The public debate about GM crops that took place in Britain in 2002–03 was an unprecedented experiment for the UK in public engagement. The Government, which sponsored the exercise, made a pledge: to take into account lay perspectives, as well as the views of its expert advisers, when making a decision about the possible commercialisation of this controversial technology. As officially accredited but independent evaluators of the debate, we were given unique behind-the-scenes access to the organisation and execution of the debate process. In this paper we report on our findings, which reveal a debate process that, whilst innovative, suffered from a number of important flaws: in terms of both design and implementation. These shortcomings in part reflect constraints on time and budget, and the context of political pressure in which the debate took place. However, they also demonstrated a lack of design knowledge and availability of appropriate expertise: matters with an important bearing on future plans for such initiatives.     

Beyond the genome: Reconstituting the new genetics

The mapping and sequencing of the human genome has been the 'Holy Grail' of the new genetics, and its publication marks a turning point in the development of modern biotechnology. However, the question remains: what has been the impact of this discovery on how biotechnology develops in science, and in society at large? Using concepts developed in the social studies of science and technology, the paper begins by rehearsing the historical development of the Human Genome Project (HGP), and suggests that its translation into genomics has been achieved through a process of 'black-boxing' to ensure stabilization. It continues by exploring the extent to which the move to genomics is part of a paradigm shift in biotechnology resulting from the conceptual and organizational changes that have occurred following the completion of HGP. The discussion then focuses on whether genomics can be seen as part of the development of socially robust knowledge in late modernity. The paper suggests that there is strong evidence that a transformation is indeed taking place. It concludes by sketching a social scientific agenda for investigating the reconstitution of the new genetics in a post-genomic era using a 'situated' analytic approach based on an understanding of techno-scientific change as both emergent and contingent.     

The Genus Gluconobacter Oxydans: Comprehensive Overview of Biochemistry and Biotechnological Applications

ABSTRACT

The genus Gluconobacter comprises some of the most frequently used microorganisms when it comes to biotechnological applications. Not only has it been involved in “historical” production processes, such as vinegar production, but in the last decades many bioconversion routes for special and rare sugars involving Gluconobacter have been developed. Among the most recent are the biotransformations involved in the production of L-ribose and miglitol, both very promising pharmaceutical lead molecules. Most of these processes make use of Gluconobacter's membrane-bound polyol dehydrogenases. However, recently other enzymes have also caught the eye of industrial biotechnology. Among them are dextran dextrinase, capable of transglucosylating substrate molecules, and intracellular NAD-dependent polyol dehydrogenases, of interest for co-enzyme regeneration. As such, Gluconobacter is an important industrial microbial strain, but it also finds use in other fields of biotechnology, such as biosensor-technology. This review aims to give an overview of the myriad of applications for Gluconobacter, with a special focus on some recent developments.     

Encapsulated cell technology: from research to market

Encapsulated cell technology has the potential to treat a wide range of diseases by the controlled and continuous delivery of biological products to the host. Many biotechnology companies have focused their interest in this technology taking into account the promising pre-clinical and clinical results and the potential clinical market. However, on the long way from clinic to market several issues will have to be addressed, including suitable scientific development, ethical obstacles, government regulations and market forces.     

Fifty years of Bird Study

Capsule Field ornithology is alive and well, and in the future can contribute much more in Britain and elsewhere.

Aims To review the progress of field ornithology in Britain in the context of Bird Study and the British Trust for Ornithology.

Methods An overview was taken of the main subject areas published in Bird Study to characterize progress over 50 years. Some quantification of data on the main bird organizations was performed.

ResultsKnowledge of status and trends of British birds has moved from the qualitative to generally well detailed quantitative over the past 50 years. Causes of distribution and changes are increasingly well understood in terms of habitat and of population processes. Behaviour and ecology have grown to be separate disciplines in their own right although birds have been major subjects of study within them. Migration studies have lagged somewhat in Britain but advanced elsewhere in recent decades. Amongst the main bird organizations, the BTO still has a growing membership, that of the RSPB has reached an astonishing level but may be nearing a plateau while the BOU's membership is clearly in decline.

Conclusions Field ornithology has made a large contribution to the environmental debate and the future is set for further integration across disciplines in answering large-scale questions. Great public interest has supported the growth of ornithology with a big switch from amateur to professional workers. There is a major challenge to exploit the value of birds in promoting interest in the environment and delivering sound facts to support the biodiversity debate elsewhere on Earth. Fifty years of history in Britain indicate what is possible.     

Influence of cultural and disciplinary identity on the way teachers in agricultural education in France relate to knowledge in biotechnology

Socio-professional identity of teachers may have an impact on their way of teaching biotechnology. Livestock and crop production teachers have been trained according to the intensive agriculture model. They have been affected by the emergence of limits to this model; an identity crisis has appeared due to the gap between their disciplinary culture and new social demands. Biotechnology applications have various repercussions in different disciplinary fields, whether in the humanities or in science an technology. To identify the influence of the prevailing culture in various disciplines, a comparative study of opinions (arguments, emotions, behavioural intentions) on various biotechnology applications held among teachers of different disciplinary options has been made in agricultural education in France. In the fields of ethics, human health and the environment, the opinions among teachers in the humanities (economics, modern languages and history/geography) differed significantly from opinions among teachers with scientific and/or technical training (in biology and livestock and crop production). The former expressed more disquiet than the latter. Biology teachers felt less concern about the development of biotechnology applications.     

Technoscientific bespoking: Animals,publics and the new genetics

This paper examines the public understanding of science, especially biotechnology and the new genetics, in light of the symbolic roles of animals in the constitution of cultural identities. As such, the paper expands on the critical approach to public understanding of science, with its emphasis upon the way local identities impact upon the apprehension of, and trust in, science and scientific institutions. In particular, the new genetics raises issues about what sorts of broader public identities are mobilized. It is argued that, on the one hand, the complex symbolic role of animals is linked to a wide and contradictory range of modern Western identities, and thus potentially to volatility in the public's response to such biotechnological innovation. On the other, technoscientific bespoking, by rendering animals 'ready-to-order', might catastrophically curtail the symbolic role of animals in human identities, and thus provoke a general anxiety toward new genetics. Some political and research implications of the analysis are briefly explored.     

Postgraduate Forum on Genetics and Society: Report on the Fourth Colloquium

Abstract

The biotechnological revolution presents states and governments with a set of challenges that they have difficulty meeting. Part of the problem is associated with common perceptions of the speed, volume and the radical uncertainty of the new developments. Globalisation is also implicated, especially in relation to the development of the knowledge economy and the role of multinational actors. This in turn contributes to the apparent decline in the confidence of the public that national governments will be effective in addressing mounting concern about the dangers inherent in new techniques and products. Under these circumstances, ‘normal’ governance begins to look more like ‘failure’ governance. This article asks whether the effects of the biotechnological revolution on governance can adequately be explained by the critique of imperialism proposed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, and whether the state is in danger of becoming implicated in sponsorship of modernist schemes to improve the human condition of the kind analysed by James E Scott. Biotechnology does appear to have imperial qualities, while there are strong reasons for states to see biotechnology as a feasible and desirable set of developments. For some critics of biotechnology, like Francis Fukuyama, this is a lethal combination, and the powers of the state should be used to stop biotechnological development. Others, by contrast and more pragmatically, propose a check on what the state will support by the application of precautionary principles. The article concludes that the association between the biotechnology empire and the state, combined with the inescapable duty of the state to be the risk manager of last resort, alerts us to the complexities of uncertainty at the same time as it renders a merely restrictive precautionary approach impracticable.     

Accomplishments in genome-scale in silico modeling for industrial and medical biotechnology

Driven by advancements in high-throughput biological technologies and the growing number of sequenced genomes, the construction of in silico models at the genome scale has provided powerful tools to investigate a vast array of biological systems and applications. Here, we review comprehensively the uses of such models in industrial and medical biotechnology, including biofuel generation, food production, and drug development. While the use of in silico models is still in its early stages for delivering to industry, significant initial successes have been achieved. For the cases presented here, genome-scale models predict engineering strategies to enhance properties of interest in an organism or to inhibit harmful mechanisms of pathogens. Going forward, genome-scale in silico models promise to extend their application and analysis scope to become a transformative tool in biotechnology.