Developments in biotechnology

Recent developments throughout biotechnology are demonstrating how technology is beginning to converge, providing multiple potential benefits across biomedicine and the life sciences. From the rapidly expanding growth in genome editing using CRISPR, ZFNs and TALENS tools, leading to numerous applications from non-viable human embryos to agriculture, e.g. mushrooms, this disruptive technology shows every sign of revolutionising biotechnology. Synthetic biology is making major advances and is likely to lead to novel bioprocesses and products, as well as providing new insights into growth, development and the ‘minimal organism’. The emergence of Three-Parent Baby births may one day influence human evolution, through genetic and metabolic load effects. Other key developments include the use and availability of personalised and consumer-led exome, microbiome and genome information, converging with artificial intelligence techniques, and the emergence of single cell technologies to monitor and control gene expression. These developments will impact on business biotechnology and lead to changes in the structure of the biotechnology industry.