How Has the Covid-19 Pandemic Changed Biotechnology?
To understand the changes to this field, let us understand what Biotechnology is. Biotechnology is a field that makes use of biological organisms and systems to engineer new products. These products help in improving our lifestyles and in maintaining a healthy environment around us, thereby protecting our planet.
A degree like Bachelor of Biotechnology, teaches about science that has been around for thousands of years. The Bachelor of Biotechnology, Bachelor of science in Biotechnology, and Bachelor of biotechnology, focuses on the usages of biotechnology that dates back to ancient times.
Biotechnology Process and Products
An example of this could be the production of beer using fermentation techniques. This process involves the use of living organisms such as yeast, in its natural form, to induce a biochemical reaction in food products. In fact, the process has remained unchanged till date.
Biotechnology engineered products make use of scientifically modified versions of living systems like bacteria and viruses. It has found many applications in the fields of agriculture, environmental usage, biofuels, self degrading plastic and many more.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of biotechnology. Let us look at how the scope has changed with biotech and Covid-19.
Biotechnology has played a vital role in understanding the spread of diseases and their potential fatalities among humans. The inter-field connection has helped speed up the identification process, which generally cannot be solved by one particular field.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was Artificial Intelligence that associated the drugs with the pathogens that caused Covid-19. Various fields in the Bachelor of Biotechnology, have helped in the various stages involved during the development of vaccines.
What are Vaccines?
Vaccines are actually weakened versions of the viruses or copies of the proteins that form the outer covering of the viruses.
These vaccines and the studies made in undergraduate courses like Bachelor of Biotechnology, are used to protect humans from the possible infections caused by these viruses and bacteria. This helped in the accelerated development of the vaccines provided to the public as protection from Covid-19.
Identifying the right vaccines was formed by how to understand how the vaccines work on the SARS-Covid-2 virus.
During the initial days of identifying the right vaccines, the laboratory activities were brought to a standstill as no one was quite clear about the situation.
Most of the researchers working from their homes, analyzing data and documentation, had limitations. For the vaccines to work, it is important to believe that the vaccines work.
Career Options with Biotechnology
Bachelor of Biotechnology, Bachelor of science in biotechnology, Diploma in Biotechnology, are some of the undergraduate and diploma degrees awarded in the field of biotechnology.
These courses specialize in biostatistics, biophysics, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and immunology, among the basics.
These graduates often get into bio-technical roles as microbiologist, immunologist, virologist, epidemiologist, biochemist, etc.
Biostatistics deals with developing statistical methods for different biological processes. Biophysics makes use of methods in physics to understand and study biological mechanisms.
Immunologists study the immune systems of organisms and try to find the connection between disease-causing pathogens and diseases.
This is a very important study to identify the right strain of viruses, and their extracts for the vaccines. Virologists study the various viruses and manage the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases.
Virologists are one of the most sought-after medical professionals during the current pandemic as their experience provides valuable insights into how COVID-19 can be brought under control.
Important Changes in Biotechnology
What has majorly changed after the pandemic is the disruptions in clinical research that have a long-lasting impact on drug and vaccine development timelines and procedures. Clinical trials were impacted in a way, Bio Scientist had ever imagined.
Covid-19 got into completely unrelated trials with infections that side-lined patients and also changed results for the whole batch. Prior infections were also identified to affect patient selections for years to come in trial testing for medicines for respiratory illnesses.
The Side Effects of the Covid Virus
Another side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic was the renewed interest in vaccines. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies learned new ways to swiftly move vaccines through the clinical trial and regulatory process, which otherwise took years to finalize.
This period also saw the rise of a few biotech companies focused only on Covid-19 and SARs.
On the other hand, Covid-19 had been brutal to small sized bio-techs. Many smaller companies joined the effort to find vaccines, medicines, or treatments, testing theories that were unproven.
They wanted to see if those theories actually worked, only to watch the attempts flame out and literally empty out the coffers.
In Closing
It is important for governments to encourage scientific research and practices while improvising on campaigns to improve awareness among the masses.
Post the Covid-19 pandemic, virologists are the most sought after professionals as their experience provides valuable insights into how the mutations of the SARS Covid virus, can be brought under control, and many other areas.
