Interdisciplinary Nature Of Biotechnology

Biotechnology is multidisciplinary in its development and application. It involves a variety of the natural sciences, from microbiology, molecular and cell biology, genetics, physiology, immunology, enzymology, and biochemistry, to engineering and computer science.

Biotechnologists must also aim for close working cooperation with experts from other related fields such as medicine, nutrition, the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, environmental protection and waste processing technology. The various fields involved with biotechnology are as follows:

• Therapeutics
  Pharmaceutical products for the cure and control of human diseases including antibiotics, vaccines, and gene therapy.

• Diagnostics
  Clinical testing and diagnosis of food, environment, agriculture.

• Agriculture - forestry - horticulture
  Novel crops or animal varieties, fertilizers, pesticides.

• Food
  Wide range of food products, beverages, ingredients.

• Environment
  Waste treatment, bioremediation, energy production.

• Reagents
  Including enzymes, DNA/RNA, specialty chemicals.

• Equipment
  Hardware, bioreactors, software and consumable supporting biotechnology.

(Smith, 1996)