Transcript Biological Information

Biobased Technologies
Janie Fouke
May 1, 1998
Employment in Bioengineering
Pharmaceutical Industry
Medical Device Industry
Biotechnology Industry
Biotechnology Industry Trends
Employment of 140,000 people: up 19%
(1996 to 1997)
Sales of $13 B: up 20% (1996-1997)
University royalties: 80% of $242M earned in
1996 in biological/medical sciences
Companies rank in top five for R&D
expenditures per employee (1995)
Sources (Bio Report, June 1998; Business
Week 1995 R&D Scoreboard)
Medical Technology Market
World wide market for medical devices
and diagnostic products: $120 B (USD)
Single largest market: U S $58 B
Product segments
Commodity disposables
Technology-intensive therapeutic
devices
Imaging equipment
Import/Export for United States
Manufacturing balance of trade not
generally positive
Medical device sector +$ 7.1 B
Rapid growth rate
1989: $ 5.5 B
1997: $13.7 B
Employment Picture (US)
Medical device manufacturers registered
with Food and Drug Administration:
7,000
Average # employees: ~ 40 people
Salaries: >>>$$$
Social Impact of Permanent and
Interventional Devices
Pacemakers/Defibrillators
Heart valves
Vascular grafts
Intraocular lenses
Hip prostheses
Neurological stimulators
Impact of Monitoring and
Diagnostic Industries
Exploratory surgery does not
exist any more!
Threshold of the future
Yesterday, we leveraged existing
technologies to create innovations
Tomorrow’s medical advances will
incorporate breakthroughs from cellular
and molecular biology
Implantable technology of the future
Biocompatible
Biointeractive
Biological mimicry
Engineering structures/processes that
promote regrowth
Short term vision
Tissue engineered heart valves
Individually grown new blood vessels
Regrowth of peripheral and spinal nerves
Explosion of Data from Biological
Systems
e.g., Information Content in Genomics of
Organisms, in Molecular Dynamics of
Proteins, in Population Dynamics
Driving New Approaches to Data Analysis
and Integration of Data
Biological Information
Three Types of Biological Information
• 1-D Info. of chromosomes and genes
• 3-D info. of protein molecular machines
• 4-D info. (space+time) on complex biological
systems and networks
New Approaches to
Human Disease Classification
Genomics/proteomics
Predicting an individual’s
susceptibility/resistance to
disease/environmental agents
Designing therapeutics/health policies
Common basis of biological systems
Arabidopsis human
mouse
yeast
Drosophila
One-D Analysis needs Informatic
Tools
Large Scale DNA Sequencing
Genome-wide Genotyping
DNA arrays
Global Analysis needs
Nano-technology
Miniaturization
Parallelization
Mass Spectroscopy
Separation Techniques
High Speed, Multi-parameter Cell Sorting
Global Analysis needs
Computational Biology
The Protein-folding Problem: How does the
amino acid sequence direct its folding in three
dimensions?
The Protein Structure-Function Problem:
How does the shape of a protein permit its
function?
Global Tools Required to Decipher
the Systems and their Networks
What are the components and their
interconnections for various biological
systems?
How is the information for these units
regulated?
How to break up intosubsystems whose
properties reflect those of the entire system?
Challenge: Integration
Integration of the following to address the
problem
Engineering
Biology
Chemistry
Mathematics
Computer Science
MODERN BIOENGINEERING
Orchid Biocomputer
By leveraging the same technologies used to
design computer chips, Orchid is designing
microchemical platform technologies capable
of performing high-throughput chemical
synthesis, biochemical assays, and DNA
analysis for applications in drug discovery and
diagnostics. Analogues/variants are available
in hours or days.
Orchid’s Latest Want Ad
Molecular Biology
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Microfluidics
Microfabrication
Instrumentation
Electrical
Engineering
Mechanical
Engineering
Physics
Affymetrix
DNA chips . . . A scanning technology
Using a large segment of human DNA as a
reference, investigators rapidly compared a
sequence of 3400-base pairs with that of
another primate
Faster than generating the DNA de novo
Food Safety: DNA probes
Salmonella
Listseria
E. coli 0157:H7
Mycotoxins
Biosensors
Highly specific actions of biological
molecules can be exploited
Enzymes, antibodies, microbial cells can be
immobilized on solid surfaces
The reactions they mediate can be detected by
a variety of physical and chemical means
Bioelectronics
Use biological molecule in IC or in optical
processor
Build devices on molecular level: high
densities of data storage/nano-sized computers
Irradiate naturally occurring protein with
visible light: it absorbs light. Since it exists in
two states, it can be used in molecular
electronics/switches, and the lithographic
fabrication of nanometer-scale patterns.
Phytase
Pigs and chickens lack the enzyme to digest a
certain sugar alcohol so they excrete
phosphates.
The gene for the enzyme (created from a
genetically modified microbial source) has
been inserted into tobacco seed which is then
fed to the animals.
Salt-tolerance gene
Gene for salt tolerance has been successfully
introduced into tomato, tobacco, and
Arabidopsis
Does seawater irrigation become a possibility?
U. S. Patent and Trademark Office
Number of requests to patent nucleic acid
sequences: 1991
4,000
1996 500,000
More Wild Stuff
Medical prescriptions personalized to
genotype
Neutriceutical foods
Vaccines delivered through raw potatoes
Cosmetic companies merging with
pharmaceutical companies (biologically active
cosmeceuticals)
World Economy
Biotech, chemical, pharmaceutical, and
agribusiness: all invest in molecular
technologies
Merger mania!
Life Sciences Industry
Agri-business
Pharmaceuticals
Chemicals