🧪 Biotechnology &amp; Genomics

Biotechnology

The use of living organisms or their parts to make products or solve problems.

Genetic Engineering

Direct alteration of an organism's genes, often by inserting DNA from another species.

Selective Breeding

Choosing parents with desirable traits over generations, the oldest form of biotechnology.

GMOs

Genetically modified organisms with DNA changed by engineering, such as pest-resistant Bt corn.

DNA Fingerprinting

Comparing unique DNA patterns to identify individuals in forensics and paternity tests.

Gene Therapy

Treating disease by introducing, repairing or replacing faulty genes in a patient's cells.

Human Genome Project

The international effort completed in 2003 to sequence all human DNA, about three billion base pairs.

Insulin Production

Human insulin is made by bacteria carrying the human gene, replacing animal sources.

Stem Cell Therapy

Using stem cells to replace or repair damaged tissue, such as in bone marrow transplants.

Cloning Animals

Creating genetically identical animals through somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Bioethics

Moral questions raised by biological advances, such as gene editing, cloning and privacy.

Forensic Biology

Applies DNA, blood and tissue analysis to criminal investigations.

Industrial Fermentation

Large bioreactors use microbes to produce antibiotics, enzymes, foods and fuels.

Biofuels

Fuels made from biomass, such as bioethanol from sugar crops and biodiesel from oils.

Intermediate topics (16)

Restriction Enzymes

Enzymes that cut DNA at specific sequences, creating sticky or blunt ends for cloning.

DNA Ligase

The enzyme that joins DNA fragments by forming phosphodiester bonds.

Recombinant DNA

DNA made by combining sequences from different sources, typically using restriction enzymes and ligase.

Plasmid Vectors

Small circular DNA carriers with origin of replication, selectable marker and cloning site.

Gene Cloning Workflow

Cut the gene and vector, ligate, transform bacteria, select colonies and screen for the insert.

Polymerase Chain Reaction

Repeated cycles of denaturing, annealing and extending exponentially amplify a target DNA region.

Gel Electrophoresis

An electric field separates DNA fragments by size through an agarose gel, smaller ones travelling further.

DNA Sequencing

Determining the order of bases, from Sanger chain termination to modern high-throughput methods.

Southern, Northern and Western Blots

Techniques detecting specific DNA, RNA or proteins after separation and transfer to a membrane.

Reporter Genes

Genes like GFP and lacZ whose products are easily detected to track gene expression.

Transgenic Organisms

Organisms carrying foreign genes stably integrated in their genome.

Agrobacterium Transformation

A soil bacterium whose Ti plasmid is used to deliver genes into plant cells.

DNA Microarrays

Slides carrying thousands of probes that measure expression of many genes at once.

Bioinformatics

Uses computing to store, analyse and interpret biological data like sequences and structures.

Sequence Alignment

Comparing DNA or protein sequences to find similarity that suggests common function or ancestry, using BLAST.

Vaccines by Genetic Engineering

Recombinant subunit and vector vaccines use specific antigens made in engineered cells.

Advanced topics (26)

Genomics

Study of the full set of genes of an organism and how they interact.

Next-Generation Sequencing

Massively parallel methods that read millions of DNA fragments simultaneously, cutting cost and time.

Long-Read Sequencing

Nanopore and PacBio technologies read tens of thousands of bases at once, resolving repeats and structural variants.

RNA-Seq

Sequencing of cDNA from RNA to quantify gene expression and discover transcripts across the genome.

Single-Cell Sequencing

Profiles the genome or transcriptome of individual cells, revealing hidden heterogeneity.

CRISPR Base and Prime Editing

Refined CRISPR tools that rewrite single bases or short sequences without making double-strand breaks.

Gene Drives

Genetic elements that bias inheritance to spread through a population, proposed to control disease vectors.

Synthetic Biology

Designing and building new biological parts, circuits and organisms with engineering principles.

Proteomics

Large-scale study of proteins, their structures and interactions, often using mass spectrometry.

Protein Structure Prediction

Deep-learning systems like AlphaFold predict 3D protein structures from amino acid sequences.

X-ray Crystallography and Cryo-EM

Methods to determine atomic structures of biomolecules from diffraction or electron images.

Personalised Medicine

Tailoring treatment to a patient's genetic profile, for example in pharmacogenomics.

Pharmacogenomics

Studies how genetic variants alter drug response and side effects.

Liquid Biopsy

Detecting tumour DNA in blood to diagnose or monitor cancer non-invasively.

Epigenomics

Genome-wide mapping of DNA methylation and histone marks that regulate gene activity.

Comparative Genomics

Comparing genomes of different species to identify conserved functions and evolutionary changes.

Genome Assembly

Computational reconstruction of long chromosome sequences from many short reads.

Functional Genomics

Uses genome-wide screens, like CRISPR knockouts, to determine what genes do.

Gene Therapy Vectors

Viral vectors such as AAV and lentivirus deliver therapeutic genes, with safety and immune challenges.

Biobanking and Data Privacy

Large genetic repositories advance research but raise consent and privacy concerns.

Cellular Agriculture

Growing meat and other products from cultured animal cells rather than whole animals.

Metabolic Pathway Engineering in Yeast

Reprogrammed yeast produce artemisinin precursors and other complex molecules.

Systems Biology

An integrative approach modelling interactions among genes, proteins and metabolites as networks.

Directed Evolution

Iterative mutation and selection in the lab to improve enzymes, earning the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy

A technique to prevent transmission of mitochondrial disease by transferring nuclear DNA into a donor egg.

Machine Learning in Biology

Algorithms learn patterns in sequence, image and clinical data to predict function and disease.