Biotechnology

Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine.

Biotechnology timeline

• 8000 BC Collecting of seeds for replanting. Evidence that Babylonians, Egyptians and Romans used selective breeding (artificial selection) practices to improve livestock.
• 6000 BC Brewing beer, fermenting wine, baking bread with help of yeast
• 4000 BC Chinese made yogurt and cheese with lactic-acid-producing bacteria
• 1500 Plant collecting around the world
• 1675 Microorganisms discovered (using first microscope)
• 1856 Gregor Mendel discovered the laws of inheritance
• 1919 Karl Ereky, a Hungarian engineer, first used the word biotechnology
• 1953 James D. Watson and Francis Crick describe the structure of DNA
• 1975 Method for producing monoclonal antibody developed by Kohler and Milstein
• 1980 Modern biotech is characterized by recombinant DNA technology. The prokaryote model, E. coli, is used to produce insulin and other medicine, in human form. (About 5% of diabetics are allergic to animal insulins available before)
• 1994 FDA approves of the first GM food from Calgene: "Flavr Savr" tomato
• 2000 Completion of the Human Genome Project