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Definition: biotechnology from Dictionary of Virology

Industrial processes requiring the use of biological systems, including genetic engineering, fermentation technology, hybridoma technology, and agricultural technology.


Biotechnology

From Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia
Scientific discoveries in molecular biology in the early 1970s helped launch the knowledge-intensive field of biotechnology. Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field with applications that span a range of multibillion-dollar industries, including medicine and agriculture. Work in the field of biotechnology requires the integration of a wide stock of existing and emerging scientific knowledge that cannot be embodied by any one individual or organization. Researchers and organizations therefore routinely form partnerships to access knowledge and expertise. Many of these partnerships cross traditional institutional domains, challenging distinctions between scientific work in academic and commercial settings. Scholars have examined the spatial clustering of biotechnology firms in a relatively small number of U.S. regions. Some regions, such as California's San Francisco Bay area and Cambridge, Massachusetts, are particularly robust. Despite the fact that knowledge and capital are not…
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Full text Article biotechnology

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
This term is used to describe a process through which biological materials are modified. Specifically, it refers to the use or development of techniques employing living organisms, such as cells and bacteria, in industrial or commercial processes. The field of biotechnology not only integrates a…
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Different genetic sources of alfalfa are...
The term biotechnology came into popular use around 1980 and was understood to mean the industrial use of microorganisms to make goods and services (Commission of the European Communities, 1979). Although biotechnology is often associated with the application of genetics, that is too narrow an…
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Full text Article biotechnology

From Philip's Encyclopedia
In a ripe tomato, rotting is caused by an enzyme...
Use of biological processes for medical, industrial, or manufacturing purposes. Humans have long used yeast for brewing and bacteria for products such as cheese and yoghurt. Biotechnology now enjoys a wider application. By growing microorganisms in the laboratory, new drugs and chemicals are…
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Full text Article Biotechnology

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology
The word “biotechnology” became suddenly familiar in the media in the United States in the year 1980. The term described the activities of a new type of small company with a distinctively new business plan: it would produce therapeutic human proteins by altering the DNA of bacteria. The stockbroker…
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Full text Article Biotechnology

From Brenner's Encyclopedia of Genetics
Escherichia coli containing genes for...
Abstract Biotechnology, old and new, is an integral part of our lives. Its technologies provide food, fiber, and medicines, and the promise of technological miracles to come. Keywords Biotechnology Gene therapy Genetic engineering Monoclonal antibodies Recombinant DNA technology The term…
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Full text Article biotechnology

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
the use of biological processes, as through the exploitation and manipulation of living organisms or biological systems, in the development or manufacture of a product or in the technological solution to a problem. As such, biotechnology is a general category that has applications in pharmacology, …
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Full text Article Biotechnology

From The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility
→ Food and beverage sector , Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) , Pharmaceutical sector www.cbd.int The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines Biotechnology as ‘any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or…
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Full text Article biotechnology

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Industrial use of living organisms. Examples of its uses include fermentation, genetic engineering (gene technology), and the manipulation of reproduction. The brewing and baking industries have long relied on the yeast micro-organism for fermentation purposes, while the dairy industry employs a…
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Full text Article Biotechnology Industry

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History
Robert Swanson and Herbert Boyer founded the Genentech Corporation in South San Francisco, California, in April 1976, giving birth to the biotechnology industry. In a broad sense, biotechnology has a long history. People have modified plants and animals for millennia by selective breeding to…
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Full text Article Biotechnology Industry

From Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Biotechnology is the application or manipulation of biological sciences to achieve new technologies. Private companies patent these technologies and use them to manufacture innovative products for a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, genetic testing, and environmental…
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