Biotech

Wheat

12,000 BCE

Ancient Eastern Mediterranean: First cultivation of crops (wheat)
Relates to biotechnology, more specifically ancient biotechnology, by domesticating wheat

Yogurt and Cheese

6000 BCE

First evidence of yogurt and cheese made with lactic acid-producing bacteria by various people

Soybean curds

500 BCE

Ancient China: Moldy soybean curds used as an antibiotic .
Importance: foundation of medicine therapy although the principles of antibiotic action were not discovered until the twentieth century,
Relates to biotechnology in the fact of taking moldy soybean curds and using it in way way to heal the sick.

Crop Rotation

250 BCE

The Greeks practiced crop Rotation for maximum soil fertility.
Importance: Allow for a better harvest. Over the years farmers have gained and tested what crops to rotated where based on certain factors.
Relates to biotechnology through improving crop production.

Cells

1663

Cells are first described by Hooke.
Importance: Learned of different kind of cells in the human body as well as plants and their role in functioning.
The discovery of the cell relates to biotechnology by the under standing of life and how both humans and plants need cells to live.

Protozoa and Bacteria

1675

Leeuwenhoek discovers protozoa and bacteria.
Importance: Revolutionized biological science by exposing microscopic life to the world.
Relates to biotechnology through not only the introduction of protozoa and bacteria but also introducing the microscope that will in later years be enhanced to show 400x.

Yeast

1855

Pasteur begins working with yeast, eventually proving they are living organisms.
Importance: Pasteur observed that less sugar fermented per part of yeast when the yeast was exposed to air.The lower rate of fermentation aerobically became known as the Pasteur effect.Pasteur's research also showed that the growth of micro-organisms was responsible for spoiling beverages, such as beer, wine and milk.
Relates to biotechnology by improving the way to preserve food.

chromosome

1888

The chromosome is discovered by Waldyer.
Importance: The chromosome contains nearly all the genetic information and as we continue to learn about our chromosome we can figure out the different possibilities of diseases fro our genetic code

Penicillin

1928

Alexander Fleming notices that a certain mould could stop the duplication of bacteria, leading to the first antibiotic:
penicillin.
Importance: played a major role in treating bacterial diseases and in the creation of today's pharmaceutical industry. These chemical agents, called antibiotics, saved many lives during World War II.

Artificial insemination

1951

Artificial insemination of livestock is accomplished using frozen semen.
Importance: Allows farmers to choose the genetics they want for a cow to improve meat quality and many other desirable traits

Humulin

1982

Humulin, Genentech's human insulin drug produced by genetically engineered bacteria for the treatment of diabetes, is the first biotech drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Gene Therapy

1990

First federally approved gene therapy treatment is performed on a young girl who suffered from an immune disorder.Gene therapy is the introduction of genes into existing cells to prevent or cure a wide range of diseases. Once inside the brain, the virus seeks a target tumor cells and invades them. The tumor will now start to produce herpes enzymes because the virus has inserted its genetic material into the tumor cells.
Gene therapy relates to biotechnology by building on what we know from DNA.

Personalized Cancer Medicine

2017

Personalized cancer medicine is an approach to tailoring effective therapeutic strategies for each patient according to a tumor’s genomic characterization. Personalized cancer therapy applies specific treatments to each patient. Using personalized tumor models with similar characteristics to original tumors may result in more accurate predictions of drug responses in patients.
Building on what we know from DNA biotechnology is slowly increasing our knowledge of cancer cells and how to treat them