Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Research

Biosimilar medicines may provide cost savings for patients who can benefit from biologic medicines. By potentially providing more affordable options, biosimilar medicines can allow for the reallocation of resources to other areas of patient care. Sensitivity of Biosimilars is high i.e. the temperature plays a big role in their maintenance. Hence, they have to be distributed through a cold chain network. 2. Their development costs are much more as compared to the generic drugs.

Biosimilars are also used to treat other medical conditions. For example, adalimumab (Humira) is used to treat conditions including arthritis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Biosimilars for this drug include Imraldi, Amgevita, Hyrimoz, Idacio, and Yuflyma. For equal efficacy and safety, biosimilar drugs require much less research and development than their reference biologics, since they are a very similar copy. This means they are much cheaper to produce. The money saved can be reinvested.

The Sustainability & Global Health Biotechnologies (SGHB) certificate prepares students for careers deploying biotechnology to address healthcare access and sustainability challenges in low and middle income countries. Products developed with agricultural biotechnology may contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, such as cover crops that provide sustainable biofuels , fruits and vegetables that stay fresh longer and reduce food waste. Medical biotechnology is a branch of medicine that uses living cells and cell materials to research and then produce pharmaceutical and diagnosing products. These products help treat and prevent diseases. Biotechnology has played a significant role in improving human health by producing enriched nutrients in food products such as Golden Rice, potatoes, maize, groundnuts, soybean etc.

Environmental Biotechnology research is focused on the application of Biological, chemical, and physical principles to study interactions between microbial cells and their environment. This area is vital for prevention of environmental pollution and remediation of polluted environments. Microbial genomics and microbial Biotechnology research is critical for advances in food safety, food security, Biotechnology, value-added products, human nutrition and functional foods, plant and animal protection, and furthering fundamental research in the agricultural sciences. Environmental Biotechnology is the branch of biotechnology that addresses environmental problems, such as the removal of pollution, renewable energy generation or biomass production, by exploiting biological processes. Due to their diverse metabolic potentials and established manipulation techniques, microbes are considered to be excellent materials for Biotechnology. Pure cultures of microbes are exploited in industrial processes to produce alcohols, organic acids, and polymeric materials.

Diagnostic equipment includes medical imaging machines, used to aid in diagnosis. Examples are ultrasound and MRI machines, PET and CT scanners, and x-ray machines. Treatment equipment includes infusion pumps, medical lasers and LASIK surgical machines. In vitro diagnostic medical devices are tests used on biological samples to determine the status of a person's health. There is a broad range of in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), from self-tests for pregnancy and blood glucose tests for diabetics, to sophisticated diagnoses performed in clinical laboratories. The medical technology industry often referred to as medtech comprises the companies that develop, manufacture, and distribute the technologies, devices, equipment, diagnostic tests, and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less-invasive procedures, and more.

Research focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer, and developing diagnostics and drugs for its cure. The most cross-disciplinary of contemporary research areas, cancer Biotechnology research includes scientists from medicine, biology, physics and engineering disciplines. Today, oncologists can personalize treatment plans using information found within patients' own genetic codes. They can target specific DNA mutations found in tumors themselves, and they can empower some patients' own immune systems to attack cancer cells. As a possible new technology for cancer treatment, gene editing with CRISPR takes months, not a year or two, to genetically modify T cells. That may mean much faster treatment for patients. The potential for genetic medicine is ground breaking. Altering parts of DNA can redefine how your body fights off cancer.

Molecular Biotechnology uses molecular and genetic tools to improve the human condition either directly through medical improvements or indirectly through improvements of the environment and agriculture. It does so through modification of nucleic acids and proteins. The main subfields of Biotechnology are medical (red) biotechnology, agricultural (green) Biotechnology, industrial (white) biotechnology, marine (blue) biotechnology, food biotechnology, and environmental biotechnology. Molecular Biotechnology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. It publishes original research papers and review articles on the application of molecular Biology to Biotechnology.

Computer-aided drug design (CADD) includes finding, developing and analysing medicines and related biological active compounds by computer methodologies. The use of CADD methodologies speeds up the early stages of chemical development while guiding and speeding up drug discovery. Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) emerged as an efficient means of identifying potential lead compounds and for aiding the developments of possible drugs for a wide range of diseases. Today, a number of computational approaches are being used to identify potential lead molecules from huge compound libraries. Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) CADD helps scientists in minimizing the synthetic and biological testing efforts by focussing only on the most promising compounds. Besides explaining the molecular basis of therapeutic activity, it also predicts possible derivatives that would improve activity.

Modern analytical Biotechnology is focused on the use of a set of enabling platform technologies that provide contemporary, state-of-the-art tools for genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, drug discovery, screening, and analysis of natural product molecules. Thus, analytical Biotechnology covers all areas of bioanalysis from biochips and nano-chemistry to biology and high throughput screening. Moreover, it aims to apply advanced automation and micro fabrica­ tion technology to the development of robotic and fluidic devices as well as integrated systems. This book focuses on enhancement technology development by promoting cross-disciplinary approaches directed toward solving key problems in biology and medicine. The scope thus brings under one umbrella many different techniques in allied areas. The purpose is to support and teach the fundamental principles and practical uses of major instrumental techniques. Major platforms are the use of immobilized molecules in biotechnology and bioanalysis, im­ munological techniques, immunological strip tests, fluorescence detection and confocal techniques, optical and electrochemical biosensors, biochips, micro dotting, novel transducers such as nano clusters, atomic force microscopy based techniques and analysis in complex media such as fermentation broth, plasma and serum. Techniques related to HPLC, capillary electrophoresis, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry have not been included in this book but will be covered by further publications. Fundamentals in analytical Biotechnology include basic and practical aspects of characterizing and analyzing DNA, proteins, and small metabolites.

Molecular dynamics—the science of simulating the motions of a system of particles—applied to biological macromolecules gives the fluctuations in the relative positions of the atoms in a protein or in DNA as a function of time. A particularly important application of MD simulation is to determine how a biomolecular system will respond to some perturbation. In each of these cases, one should generally perform several simulations of both the perturbed and unperturbed systems in order to identify consistent differences in the results. The function of biomolecules is dictated by their ability to change shape over the course of time, that is, their dynamics.This has been observed experimentally for a number of fundamental processes in biology including molecular recognition. Molecular dynamics (MD) and related methods are close to becoming routine computational tools for drug discovery. Their main advantage is in explicitly treating structural flexibility and entropic effects. Molecular dynamics can be used to explore conformational space, and is often the method of choice for large molecules such as proteins. In molecular dynamics the energy surface is explored by solving Newton's laws of motion for the system. 

Applied microbiology is a scientific discipline that deals with the application of microorganisms and the knowledge about them. Applications include Biotechnology, agriculture, medicine, food microbiology and bioremediation. Examples include industrial fermentation and wastewater treatment, Microbial biotechnology the manipulation of microorganisms at the genetic and molecular level to generate useful products, Food microbiology the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage and foodborne illness.

Biopharmaceuticals are drugs produced using biotechnology processes, typically involving living organisms such as bacteria, yeast, or mammalian cells. Unlike traditional small-molecule drugs, which are chemically synthesized, biopharmaceuticals are large, complex molecules like proteins, monoclonal antibodies, and nucleic acids. These biologics are used to treat a wide range of diseases, including cancers, autoimmune disorders, and genetic conditions. Examples include insulin for diabetes, monoclonal antibodies for cancer therapy, and gene therapies for inherited diseases. The production of biopharmaceuticals requires advanced technologies like recombinant DNA, cell culture systems, and protein purification techniques. The growing demand for biopharmaceuticals has led to the development of biosimilars—biologically similar products to branded biologics—offering more affordable treatment options. Challenges in biopharmaceutical development include high production costs, complex regulatory pathways, and stability issues, but advances in biotechnology continue to enhance their effectiveness, safety, and accessibility for patients worldwide.