Biotechnology and Medical Technology
Why It Matters - How Biotechnology and Medical Technology Affect Everybody |
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Why should you care? | Biotechnology is extremely important to recent advances in the field of medicine. Through biological research and the use of living organisms, biotechnology organizations develop products used in medicine, environmental protection, and agriculture. Biomedical firms, in particular, develop and manufacture diagnostic and electronic devices for use in both medical research and health care. Among the areas medical researchers focus on are methods for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, and other serious conditions. The combination of science and technology has led to rapid advances in the treatment of many catastrophic diseases, drastically improving life for the patients. |
Recently researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia announced the development of a new bandage that mimics the natural tissue that forms as a wound heals. The gauze is made from a blood protein fibrinogen that can be applied as a dressing that never needs to be removed. The body treats it as part of natural healing, dissolving it as new skin grows over the wound. During the healing process, an enzyme converts fibrinogen into a web of insoluble fibers of a related protein, fibrin. The mesh protects the injury from infection and stops bleeding. The creation of this gauze involves protein from human or cow blood and the use of electricity and other technology. The gauze can stop bleeding very quickly and speed up the healing process. The team responsible for this discovery hopes to create biodegradable scaffolds to guide the regrowth of damaged tissues. By combining different materials in one mesh (for example, collagen and growth factors), researchers hope to stimulate the formation of specific tissue types. |
Biotechnology and medical technology will improve life for everybody, in little ways and big. |
Possiblities can be found everywhere. | Researchers and surgeons are also experimenting with the use of living cells to close incisions following surgery. Researchers have been able to create cells specific to different tissue types which are then "fired" at an incision using a type of pulsing laser gun. Physicians and surgeons at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. hope to use this technique to restore any tissue: skin, muscle, bone or nerve! While the ability to instantly repair injuries is somewhere in the future, researchers are optimistic that this technique can be used immediately in the pharmaceutical field. These cells could be used to test new medicines. |
A problem more people are becoming aware of is the lack of organs available for transplant procedures. A young woman was in the news recently after she received a heart and lung transplant that was incompatible with her blood type. She was on a ventilator for several weeks while her doctors searched for replacement organs that simply weren't available. Researchers have been working hard on alternative techniques such as cell transplantation and tissue engineering. Tissue engineering involves many different fields: developmental and cell biology, engineering, material science, and physicians. Together these professionals are working to develop biological substitutes, which will restore, maintain, and improve the function of damaged tissues and organs. Over the last twenty years, our knowledge of how to create tissues, including those of the liver, intestine, urology system, skin, cartilage, bone, heart and lung has increased dramatically. This is the future of medicine. Perhaps more people will be saved due to the availability of vital organs. |
Lives will be saved, thanks to research and innovations in biotechnology and medical technology. |
How could you not care? | These are just a few examples of how recent developments in biotechnology will improve our quality of life in future years. While there is much research yet to be done, and much to learn, scientists are making great strides in this important field. |
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