Welcome to Biotech Guru

Biotechnology may be as old as human civilization but modern biotechnology is less than three decades old. Traditional biotechnology that led to the development of process for producing product like yogurt, vinegar, alcohol and cheese was entirely empirical and bereft of any understanding of the mechanism that led to the product. There was no possibility of a deliberate design to produce a desired new product.

In modern biotechnology, we use the in-depth understanding, we have gained in the last five decades. The mechanism that underlie the variety of functions performed by living organisms, to produce a desired new or old product. In the case of an established product, the new biotechnological process is cheaper and better in many respects than the earlier processes.

Modern biotechnology has been, infact, an historical imperative. Its emergence on the world scene was predicted at least four decades ago. The term, genetic engineering, was coined independently in 1973 by the author of an article in the Guardian in the UK, and in a syndicated article by the present author in India.

Today’s biotechnology consists of at least twenty-five areas each area being characterized by the use of a different set of technology.