THE C U T TING ED GE
Destination: biotech
Despite being one of the most radical
the most crucial biotechnology development
the Hepatitis B vaccine is a good example.
fields of human inquiry into the
of the early 20th century, since it enabled
Produced as a direct result of recombinant
unknown, our current understanding of
the massive population explosion we are
DNA, the vaccine is available for as little as
biotechnology has failed to keep up with
still experiencing, mushrooming from
R7.50 per dose in developing countries and
the discipline’s tremendous potential.
2 billion people in 1927 to 7.6 billion today.
has saved untold millions of lives.
It’s understandable; the field and its
The application of biotechnology to the
overwhelming pace seemed to arrive out of
medical field resulted in penicillin and the
nowhere. A scant 15 years ago the Human
mass production of steroids and cortisone
Genome Project was still decoding our 46
by the 1950s, providing the impetus for the
chromosomes; now, a subculture of ‘citizen
creation of new technologies that continue
biohackers’ are editing their own genes.
to increase human lifespan.
Lab Management & Science has put together
The latter half of the 20th century was
a primer on the past, present and future of
inaugurated with a craze for single-cell
this pioneering field.
proteins (SCPs), which it was hoped would end world hunger through an industrial-
From beer to single-cell proteins
scale effort to grow edible microorganisms
Turns out the use of biological processes
on oil. The Soviet Union even began to build
to improve our lot is actually quite
factories to utilise this process next to their
old. Probably the earliest example of
oil refineries. Public anxiety over traces of
biotechnology is the fermentation process,
petroleum in these foods eventually caused
GMOs
which gave us bread, cheese and beer. As
the project to be scrapped.
As we’ve seen, biotechnology has mostly
is often the case, the military kickstarted
focused on innovations in food supply
innovation in the field when they needed
Genetic engineering
rather than therapeutics. It follows that
to upscale fermentation processes to match
There has always been a Utopian tinge
a major outcome of the discovery of
the war effort. When Britain needed more
to public perceptions of groundbreaking
recombinant DNA was the creation of
acetone to produce more cordite for their
technologies, and this is especially true of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
artillery shells in World War I, they used
biotechnology. But its failure to address
The implications of this technology hit
a revolutionary method of turning maize
the global food crisis via SCPs or solve the
supermarket shelves in the US in 1994,
into acetone via fermentation. Animal
energy crises of the 1970s reduced faith in
courtesy of the Flavr Savr tomato. Walk into
feed shortages could also be eliminated by
biotech’s potential. It would take one of
a supermarket nowadays and over three-
mass producing yeast, German scientists
science’s true quantum leaps to inspire faith
quarters of the fresh produce is genetically
discovered during the war.
in the field again.
modified. As for those seed packets in the
Large-scale factory farming was perhaps
Crick and Watson, two affable chaps
many of them have a disclaimer at the
double helix structure of DNA in 1953, but it
back which reads ‘Contains genetically
wasn’t until the early 70s that the practical
modified content. Not intended for
application of gene technology came to be
human consumption.’
understood, thanks to the discovery that
LMS Issue 4 | 2018
But alarmism helps no one and GMOs
genes can not only be split into segments,
have consistently increased global
but also spliced together in new ways,
agricultural yields for years on end.
the latter technique being known as
Arguably, the risks outweigh the negatives,
recombinant DNA.
especially since future climate change
The implications were enormous: not only
18
gardening section? Flip the packet over;
from King’s College London discovered the
models predict severe famines in developing
is the inner structure of our microbiome
countries. The possibility of modifying
an open secret, we can actually tinker with
crops to be more resistant to changes in
it to our heart’s content. This opened the
climate and possibly even grow at unusual
door to tailor-made proteins, a vital early
times of year remains the best option to
step in gene-based medicine, of which
preempt this. New evidence even suggests w w w.lm s m a g a z i n e .c o. z a