Why biotechnology will likely dominate the 21st century

You could call me a little bastard. I’m skinny, of no special height, and I’m the product of last century’s baby-making revolution called donor insemination (D.I.). A young, anonymous medical student decided to contribute his “seed” in exchange for quick cash, enabling my mom to have a kid. I was born at a time when this advancement in biomedicine was still in its early stages, before private sperm banks became commonplace. Yet the technology that made my existence possible was only the faintest harbinger of the kind of progress occurring right now in the life sciences—and that will continue to be made in the coming decades.

In his prescient 1997 book Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, well-known theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku writes:

For most of human history, we could only watch, like bystanders, the beautiful dance of Nature. But today, we are on the cusp of an epoch-making transition, from being passive observers of Nature to being active choreographers of Nature.

He goes on to predict:

The techniques of molecular biology will allow us to read the genetic code of life as we would read a book. Already, the complete DNA code of several living organisms, like viruses, single-cell bacteria, and yeast, have been completely decoded, molecule for molecule.

The complete human genome will be decoded by the year 2005, giving us an “owner’s manual” for a human being. This will set the stage for twenty-first century science and medicine. Instead of watching the dance of life, the biomolecular revolution will ultimately give us the nearly god-like ability to manipulate life almost at will.

Considering that the Human Genome Project was actually completed in 2003, and seeing some of Kaku’s other predictions come true earlier than he anticipated, I’m inclined to believe him. I now sometimes catch myself imagining a future, perhaps foolishly, in which I live to be at least 200 (“the new 20”) with a sharp mind and a super-strong, perfectly sculpted, six-foot-three physique that could make even those smart, beautiful people in the Alpha-Plus social caste from Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World scurry away in confused jealousy.

Within just a seven-day period, I watched news segments about labs that are growing human body parts for transplantation, controversy over companies that are patenting human genes, new fuels being created from algae, and countless pieces exploring the science and ethics behind genetically-engineered food and the sale of meat from cloned animals. In fact, such news now occurs with such regularity that I’m no longer astounded by it.

The biotech revolution has begun and will likely come to be regarded as one of the most dominating forces of the twenty-first century. It will reshape human society in ways we haven’t imagined—for better or worse.

Along with these changes will come a new wave of employment opportunities. And it won’t just be scientists and researchers enjoying them. As new developments occur, companies will race to take advantage, and governments will try to play catch up by designing new regulations. That means professionals will be needed in many different skill and knowledge areas—workers like biomedical technologists, laboratory assistants, sales and marketing personnel, quality assurance professionals, legal specialists, manufacturing consultants, and biotech ethicists.

If you plan on hanging around civilization these next few decades, then biotechnology is a sector you won’t be able to ignore. Here’s why:

Plants = energy

With climate change threatening to make our lives miserable and petroleum on its way to depletion, finding new ways of generating clean, abundant energy is perhaps the most challenging problem humanity currently faces. Advocates for wind, solar and nuclear energy production all have good reason to believe they are part of the solution. But sometimes minimized in conversations is the potential for biofuels—derived mostly from plants—to become a major piece of a new energy paradigm.

Most of us are already familiar with the ethanol produced from common crops such as corn. In Brazil, ethanol from sugarcane is widely used as part of a large and growing biofuels infrastructure unique to that country. Even so, many believe that the production of bioethanol carries too many drawbacks, not least of which is its current inefficiency.

Enter biotechnology with its potential to solve that problem. Soheil Mahmoud, assistant professor of biology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, is actively involved in developing a full understanding of how plants work. He believes that biofuels represent the most exciting development today in the biotech sector. “I think we are getting closer to perfecting the technology to actually take advantage of it quite a bit,” he says. “In the shorter run, there is going to be big progress. And I think lots of money is going to go into it. I think we will probably start using fuel generated by biotechnology within the next couple of decades.”

Some of the most promising research focuses on producing ethanol from almost any kind of organic matter by using biotech-created enzymes, yeasts and bacteria. Other research is targeted at maximizing crop yields by developing plants that are more drought-tolerant and disease resistant.

Yet another area of research involves growing huge quantities of algae to produce biofuels. But the jury is still out on this approach, with some scientists remaining highly skeptical that biofuels from algae can ever be created on a large enough scale.

No matter which approach ultimately proves most successful, there is not much doubt that plant-based solutions like biofuels are here to stay. Mahmoud says, “I think the answer to many of our problems, such as running out of natural resources, relies on the appropriate use, or efficient use, of plants using biotechnology.”