Introduction Medical biotechnology is the fusion of genetics, cell biology and many other sciences in order to further advances in medicine.

Why is medical biotechnology important? The main reason for medical biotechnology is to prolong life. Other reasons are to ease suffering of palliative care patients or to increase accessibility for people with disabilities.

1) Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb) They are so called because they are clones of an individual parent cell. Remember, antibodies are specific proteins that target pathogens invading our body.

1) Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb) Steps in making them: 1. Human antibody genes are put into a mouse. 2. Mouse is infected causing it to make human antibody producing cells (B-cells). 3. These cells are removed from the mouse and fused with a tumour cell. 4. Now we have a tumour cell that is constantly producing antibodies and more cells like itself.

1) Monoclonal Antibodies (mAb) This technology is used primarily to fight off cancer cells as these monoclonal antibodies can be “trained” to target markers that show up on cancer cells. The mAbs will then destroy the cancer cell and go looking for more.

2) Bioprocessing Bioprocessing is the mass production of human proteins, vaccines, etc… by genetically modifying bacteria or viruses. This allows for a large quantity of the desired product to be created in a short amount of time and for a relatively low cost.

2) Bioprocessing The main product currently bioprocessed is insulin, the human protein responsible for lowering blood sugar after eating. The human gene for insulin is placed into bacteria, these are cultured and allowed to produce insulin which is collected, purified and sold to the millions of diabetics worldwide.

3) Stem Cells A stem cell is a cell that has the potential to become any cell type in the human body. Everyone has stem cells, but they are very hard to access. The easiest place to get stem cells is from an embryo.

3) Stem Cells Stem cells are introduced into a damaged area of the body where, under the right conditions, will replace the damaged area. Often times stem cells are grown in a lab first to ensure the right conditions and then placed into a sick person.

3) Stem Cells Stem cells are currently being tested to treat everything from Crohn’s disease to baldness! The main areas where stem cells have proven their worth is in bone marrow transplants, replacing damaged heart tissue after a heart attack and replacing damaged nerve tissue which gives hope to anyone who has had a spinal cord injury.

4) Tissue Engineering A form of regenerative medicine, tissue engineering is the creation of human tissue outside the body for later replacement. Usually occurs on a tissue scaffold, but can be grown on/in other organisms as shown on the right.

4) Tissue Engineering Tissue engineers have created artificial skin, cartilage and bone marrow. Current projects being undertaken include creating an artificial liver, pancreas and bladder. Again, we are far from replacing a whole organ, but just looking for “refurbishing” our slightly used ones at the moment.

Homework 1) Define the following terms: medical biotechnology, bioprocessing, tissue engineering, stem cell and monoclonal antibody. 2) Which technology do you feel is/will be the most effective/helpful? Why? 3) If you had the cash and the technology, what would you tissue engineer and why?