Biotechnology and human rights.

Biotechnology permits our world to progress. It's a tool to better apprehend the human being, but as well to let him go ahead. Applied to the living, biotechnologies present the same finality. But since their matter concerns effectively the living, they are the sources of specific dangers and particularly of that one to use the improvements obtained on the human to modify the human species. The right of the persons has to find its place to avoid that the fundamental rights of the human personality shall undergo harm. This mission assigned to the right of the persons is as so much invaluable that the economical stakes are particularly important in the domain of the biotechnologies.     

Biotechnology offers revolution to fish health management

Biotechnology has many applications in fish health management. The application of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) provides a rapid means of pathogen identification; antibodies to immunoglobulins from different fish species can be used to monitor the host response following vaccination; and mAbs also have the potential for screening broodstock for previous exposure to pathogens. Luminex technology exemplifies a novel antibody-based method that can be applied to both pathogen detection and vaccine development. Molecular technologies, such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real time PCR and nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), have enabled detection, identification and quantification of extremely low levels of aquatic pathogens, and microarray technologies offer a new dimension to multiplex screening for pathogens and host response. Recombinant DNA technology permits large-scale, low-cost vaccine production, moreover DNA vaccination, proteomics, adjuvant design and oral vaccine delivery will undoubtedly foster the development of effective fish vaccines in the future.     

Biotechnology to improve health in developing countries -- a review

The growing health disparities between the developing and the developed world call for urgent action from the scientific community. Science and technology have in the past played a vital role in improving public health. Today, with the tremendous potential of genomics and other advances in the life sciences, the contribution of science to improve public health and reduce global health disparities is more pertinent than ever before. Yet the benefits of modern medicine still have not reached millions of people in developing countries. It is crucial to recognize that science and technology can be used very effectively in partnership with public health practices in developing countries and can enhance their efficacy. The fight to improve global health needs, in addition to effective public health measures, requires rapid and efficient diagnostic tools; new vaccines and drugs, efficient delivery methods and novel approaches to therapeutics; and low-cost restoration of water, soil and other natural resources. In 2002, the University of Toronto published a report on the "Top 10 Biotechnologies for Improving Health in Developing Countries". Here we review these new and emerging biotechnologies and explore how they can be used to support the goals of developing countries in improving health.     

Biotechnology

A selection of interesting papers that were published in the two months before our press date in major journals most likely to report significant results in biotechnology.     

Biotechnology

A selection of interesting papers that were published in the two months before our press date in major journals most likely to report significant results in biotechnology.     

生物技术与绿色化学

介绍了绿色化学与生物技术的研究内容与特点,分析了生物技术在绿色化学技术中的特殊地位,提出了生物技术是一项绿色科技,是实现绿色化学的有效手段,生物技术与绿色化学的交叉与融合产生的化学生物学、生物化工等新兴学科必将为社会与经济的可持续发展提供有效途径。     

Biotechnology and the sea

Abstract

The application of recent discoveries in genetic engineering to marine plants and animals offers enormous potential for harvesting more food, pharmaceuticals, and industrial compounds from the sea. Using biotechnology's ability to excise and replace genetic material selected for specific functions, such efforts would allow manifold increases in production of substances conventionally reliant on the capture of often rare marine species. This article reviews the status of marine biotechnology with particular attention to its current and prospective uses for medicine, industrial chemicals, pollution control, and aquaculture. It concludes with some observations about the relationship of marine biotechnology to broader economic, legal, and ethical concerns about genetic manipulation.     

Biotechnology and the internet

This article attempts to bridge the gap between the arena of computers and the ever expanding protocols for individuals interested in accessing available information on biotechnology. A brief overview of the Internet and how to find information is provided. However, the focus of this review is on “what is out there’ for the biotechnologist and how to find it. Internet addresses for some key sites are listed.     

Biotechnology and fish culture

Biotechnology can currently be considered of importance in aquaculture. The increase in the production of aquatic organisms over the last two decades through the use of biotechnology indicates that in a few generations biotechnology may overtake conventional techniques, at least for the commercially more valuable species. In the last few years, genetics has contributed greatly to fish culture through the application of the more recent techniques developed in biotechnology and in genetic engineering. At present, the most commonly used methods in fish biotechnology are chromosome manipulation and hormonal treatments, which can be used to produce triploid, tetraploid, haploid, gynogenetic and androgenetic fish. These result in the production of individuals and lineages of sterile, monosex or highly endogamic fish. The use of such strategies in fish culture has as a practical objective the control of precocious sexual maturation in certain species; other uses are the production of larger specimens by control of the reproductive process and the attainment of monosex lines containing only those individuals of greater commercial value. The use of new technologies, such as those involved in gene transfer in many species, can result in modified individuals of great interest to aquaculturists and play important roles in specific programmes of fish production in the near future.