Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:
"...any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use."
Biotechnology traces its roots to the agrarian revolution through Mendelism to the initial gene sequencing work of the 1970s. As Ray Kurzweil is found of observing, when the Human Genome Project began in 1990, the cost per sequenced base pair was $10 and would have taken thousands of years based on the rate of sequencing. When the project was completed ahead of schedule in 2004, the cost was $0.02 per base pair.
Biotechnology holds the promise for everything from bioengineered fuel to the removal of contaminants through bioremediation, from novel pharmaceuticals to unique drug delivery mechanisms, from materials such as bioplastics to replacement organs.
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