CONNECTING THE DOTS-S&TBIOTECH SECTOR
Dr.NC Vamshi Krishna
BDS, MA(Sociology)
ABOUT ME
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Works for Govt. of India (Ministry of S&T) in
Bengaluru, India
Training civil services aspirants from past four
years at a prominent civil services institute and
website in Bengaluru.
Attended Three UPSC CSE Interviews- 2014,
2015, 2016
One of the toppers in Sociology- 2014, 2015
CSE.
Also qualified SSC , ACIO and SBI PO Mains.
Plus Educator since June 2019
Mentees include Current IAS ( AIR-470), OPSC
2nd Rank 2018, CAPF probationers etc.
BREAKING THE MISCONCEPTIONS
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100% Scoring but neglected due to lack of attention
Fear and misconception.
Lack of focus on basics.
Usually straight forward questions
INTRODUCTION
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Biotechnology is defined as the industrial
application of living organisms and their
biological processes such as biochemistry,
microbiology, and genetic engineering, to
make the best use of the microorganisms for
the benefit of mankind.
TYPES AND APPLICATIONS
HUMAN GENOME
PROJECT
GENOME INDIA PROJECT
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The Department of Biotechnology under
the Ministry of Science and
Technology has cleared the Genome India
Project.
It is a gene-mapping project involving 20
leading institutions including the Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and
a few Indian Institute of Technology (IITs).
The Centre for Brain Research, which is
an autonomous institute in the IISc,
Bengaluru, will serve as the nodal point of
the project
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The diverse genetic pool of India will be
mapped and it will help in making personalized
medicine.
Today, the goal of personalized medicine is to
utilize information about a person's genes,
including his or her nucleotide sequence, to
make drugs better and safer.
It will be a hard task considering the
population diversity and the disease burden of
complex disorders like diabetes, mental health,
etc but once the genetic basis is ready it will be
possible and easy to take action before the
onset of a disease.
RECOMBINANT DNA
TECHNOLOGY
CRISPR-IN THE NEWS
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Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a gene
editing technology, which replicates natural
defence mechanism in bacteria to fight virus
attacks, using a special protein called Cas9.
CRISPR-Cas9 technology behaves like a cutand-paste mechanism on DNA strands that
contain genetic information.
The specific location of the genetic codes
that need to be changed, or edited, is
identified on the DNA strand, and then,
using the Cas9 protein, which acts like a pair
of scissors, that location is cut off from the
strand.
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MECHANISM
A piece of RNA called guide RNA
(gRNA). This consists of a small piece
of pre-designed RNA sequence
This part binds to DNA and the predesigned sequence ‘guides’ Cas9 to the
right part of the genome. This makes
sure that the Cas9 enzyme cuts at the
right point in the genome.
The guide RNA has RNA bases that are
complementary to those of the target
DNA sequence in the genome.
This means that the guide RNA will
only bind to the target sequence and
no other regions of the genome.
APPLICATIONS
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Genome editing is of great interest in
the prevention and treatment of human
diseases. Currently, most research on genome
editing is done to understand diseases using cells
and animal models.
The technology is being explored in research on
a wide variety of diseases, including single-gene
disorders such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia,
and sickle cell disease.
It also holds promise for the treatment and
prevention of more complex diseases, such as
cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
CRISPR-Cas9 has a lot of potential as a tool for
treating a range of medical conditions that have
a genetic component, including cancer, hepatitis
B or even high cholesterol.
ETHICAL CONCERNS
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Making genetic modifications to human embryos
and reproductive cells such as sperm and eggs is
known as germline editing.
Since any changes made in germline cells using
CRISPR-Cas9 technology will be passed on from
generation to generation. It has raised a number
of ethical concerns.
Another ethical challenge germline cell and
embryo genome editing brings up includes
whether it would be permissible to use this
technology to enhance normal human
traits (such as height or intelligence).
There are growing concerns of trying to produce
“designer” babies or altered human beings.
GENOME VANDALISM
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There is also the phenomenon of "off-target
effects," where DNA is cut at sites other than
the intended target. This can lead to the
introduction of unintended mutations.
Furthermore, even when the system cuts on
target, there is a chance of not getting a precise
edit. This is called as "genome vandalism."
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