Biotechnology is changing health care in dramatic ways by utilizing the basic elements of life to provide personalized, precise, and proactive treatment. The impetus for this shift comes from more profound insight into our genetic makeup and how this influences health and disease.
The science of genetics and evolution sits at the centre stage in this transition. Variations in the genetic message that occur across time and environmental influences create an individual’s unique genetic signature, as well as their risks for disease and the efficacy of treatments for disease. This insight has led to the development of pharmacogenomic enablement for healthcare, enabling clinicians to identify prescriptions and doses that are both therapeutic and safer for patient health.
The Role of Genetics and Evolution as a Foundation
At the centre of this upheaval is our growing understanding of genetics and evolution by leaps and bounds. Our genetics and DNA contain information, and the physical combination of all this information forms a long book made up of letters, known as our genetic code. Our genetic code can ultimately determine everything from our eye colour to our likelihood of developing diseases. The truths of evolution have tested, tweaked, and diversified the genetic code over thousands of years, and given rise to slight variations in the genetic code that uniquely differentiate every person, including the different susceptibilities (i.e., genetically endowed) to diseases, and drug effects themselves one person can suffer from a particular disease while a separate person is only affected, to the extent that they remember to take a medication for that disease. Yet, another may live with the disease without a distinct effect, such as terminal cancer, etc. (the list is endless when it comes to human potential differences).
This advancement has spawned the discipline of pharmacogenomics, which is the use of the genetic information of a patient to predict their likely response to certain drugs. Now, DNA can be sequenced to analyze an individual, and no longer through the awkward and self-defeating and trial-and-error lexicon of medicine can a doctor apply treatment, and begin a process of predictable medicine, that will allow more specific prescribing. Developing a drug that is more suitable and effective for the patient, with significantly reduced chances of adverse side effects, ultimately making treatment safer, faster, and more efficient.
DNA Fingerprinting: From Forensics to Personalized Medicine
Although DNA fingerprinting was primarily popularised as a result of its power in forensic science, the new world of health care is reaping the real value of this technology. DNA fingerprinting involves the creation of a unique genetic profile from biological material and has become a fundamental aspect of personalized medicine. It is being employed for diagnosing inherited disease, preparing for compatible organ transplant matches and, more significantly, for targeted therapies. In oncology, DNA fingerprinting could reveal mutations within a tumour so that the physician could implement therapy that targets that cancer’s genetic vulnerabilities and make treatment less toxic and more effective.
Disruptive Therapeutics: Gene Therapy and Next Generation Vaccines
Biotechnology is not limited to diagnostics; it is now venturing into therapeutics. One of the most promising and powerful areas is gene therapy, which has the potential to do more than just treat or prevent disease-it can fix the root cause: a defective or missing gene. Gene therapy boldly introduces a healthy copy of the gene into the patient’s cells to correct the genetic error. While gene therapy is still in its early stages, it has already achieved remarkable success in treating rare genetic disorders, such as some forms of rare inherited blindness and spinal muscular atrophy. The prospect of curing additional conditions that were once considered ‘untreatable’ is now within reach, instilling hope for the future of healthcare.
Biotechnology is similarly revolutionizing vaccine efforts. Traditionally, vaccines relied on weakened or killed pathogens to elicit an immune response. The development of biotechnological vaccines (using Messenger RNA or mRNA) has changed the paradigm. The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is one such remarkable example. Through the innovative and rapid development and introduction of this vaccine, we can see that instead of using a virus, we are teaching cells to make a specific viral protein, so that our immune system can learn to recognize and fight off the actual virus. Furthermore, it is not only fast to produce but can also be easily and rapidly modified in the laboratory, allowing scientists to rapidly adapt the vaccine in response to changing virus variants.
A New Frontier: The Future of Biotech
The future of biotech is in its power alongside artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. AI can analyze vast amounts of genetic information at astonishing speeds, enabling large-scale drug discovery and the rapid development of new targets for diseases, as well as new preventive medicine. This provides a possible transition from a reactive healthcare model in medicine to a proactive model, where a person’s genetic profile can eventually identify health risks and provide preventative healthcare. But with this new frontier comes ethical problems, such as: Where will strong protections for data privacy be taken from? How will advanced therapies be made available and affordable for everyone?
Conclusion
From the fundamental science of genetics and evolution to the life-changing and perhaps life-saving uses of DNA Fingerprinting, biotechnology has changed healthcare. Biotechnology has enabled the development of customized therapies, fundamentally changed how we develop vaccines, and now offers the hope of treating diseases at their origins in the genetic code. The future of personalized medicine is behind us, and in the future, healthcare for each individual will become as unique as the individual themselves. This is then more than only an evolutionary leap in medical technology; it is also a monumental stride toward a healthier, and more personalized, future for everyone.