International Biotechnology Day: What are your contributions and why is it celebrated on June 16?

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread around the world, scientists and researchers from the main pharmaceutical companies began a race to discover the virus that managed to quickly infect this disease, and it was thanks to the contribution of the biotechnology who managed to decipher the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The biotechnology It has been around for hundreds of years and several chemists and researchers have managed to develop a set of scientific methods and disciplines that are currently highly relevant for the sustainable development of the planet.

For example, Louis Pasteur applied the biotechnology in an artisan way of daily practice. This French chemist was able to develop fermentation as a basis for the transformation of certain inputs, selection of plants, animals and crosses.

Considering the first period of scientifically based biotechnology.

Hungarian agricultural engineer Karl Erky he was the one who coined the term biotechnology in 1919 to describe a fusion of biology with technology, as he had a vision that biology could be used to turn raw materials into useful products.

This branch of research has many applications in our daily lives: from pharmaceutical development to food production or the treatment of polluting waste, Iberdrola points out.

The biotechnology uses, for example, living cells to develop or manipulate products for specific purposes, such as transgenic foods. It emerged as a discipline at the beginning of the 20th century in the food industry, which was later joined by other sectors such as medicine or the environment.

Today, the five branches into which the biotechnology (human, environmental, industrial, animal and plant) allow us to combat hunger and disease, produce in a safer, cleaner and more efficient way, reduce our ecological footprint and save energy.

On June 16, 1980, the genetic engineer Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, managed to develop a bacterium, from the genus Pseudomonas, to eliminate oil spilled in the sea, thus favoring the environment.

A ruling issued by the Supreme Court of the United States approved that this scientific discovery be considered as a patentable object, thus becoming the first case of a living being that was owned by a person or company and could be commercially exploited exclusively. .

As International Day of De points out, these are the disciplines that make it up:

• Green: refers to the study of more sustainable crops that are resistant to pests and weather events, such as droughts.
• red: related to studies aimed at the creation of new vaccines and drugs.
• Blue: uses marine resources to obtain health products, aquaculture and cosmetics.
• White: Reflected for industrial processes and the development of biofuels.
• Gray: linked to the environment and the recovery of natural ecosystems.
• Yellow: for research related to nutrition and food production.
• golden: It is known as bioinformatics, referring to the obtaining, storage and analysis of DNA and amino acid sequences.

Currently, the demand for biotechnology professionals is growing around the world. In these Peruvian universities you can study this career:

• Biotechnological Engineering – Catholic University of Santa María (UCSM).
• Bachelor of Genetics and Biotechnology – National University of San Marcos (UNMSM).
• Degree in Biology and Biotechnology – National University of Cajamarca (UNC).