What is the Role of Biotechnology in Our World?
Overview: Applications of biotechnology are used in various ways in the food, environmental, agricultural and health industries. For instance, the process of fermentation that you see take place as cheese and yogurt is made, is one example of biotechnology. In this assignment, you will do research to find out about an application of biotechnology. You will also be given the opportunity to present your findings to your classmates.
|
Industry |
Type of Biotechnology |
|
Agriculture |
Development of transgenic crops, bio-pesticides, cloning, golden rice, Bt corn |
|
Food |
Fermentation, Beyond Meat, bovine somatotropin, cheese making |
|
Laboratory Techniques |
Electrophoresis, Tissue Culture, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Western Blot, ELISA, flow cytometry, mass spectrometry, confocal microscopy, recombinant DNA Technology |
|
Environment |
Bioremediation, phytoremediation, biofiltration, biosensing, enzyme therapy |
|
Health |
In-vitro Fertilization, CRISPR, human genome therapy, xenotransplantation, genetic fingerprinting, 23andMe, mRNA vaccines, engineered organs, Kymriah, Biotech Beauty |
- Choose an application of biotechnology either in the food, environment, health or agricultural industries. Examples of biotechnological applications you might choose include the following:
- Research and gather information about the following:
- What is the biotechnology that you’ve chosen? How does it work?
- What is your chosen biotechnological application?
- Why is this application of value?
- Ethical and social implications of the biotechnological application that you have chosen.
- What are the social advantages and disadvantages of this application?
- What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of the application?
- What careers are associated with the industry that produces the product you chose?
- Summarize and decide on a general reporting style (e.g., radio show, video presentation, TV style interview, etc.) using any media format (i.e., infographic, poster, video, etc.) of your choice. Your report should highlight the ways in which this biotechnology is used in the environmental, agricultural, health or food related industry and its importance.
- Post your presentation to the discussion board. If your project doesn’t include a presentation component, please record a presentation and post it with your visual. Be prepared to answer questions and participate in classroom discussions based on your topic.
