Nearly every day there is amazing news about biotechnology and genetic engineering. This is an exciting, dynamic area that includes many applications that we hear about often – cloning, stem cells, genetically engineered plants and animals, DNA fingerprinting and forensics, gene therapy, and the Human Genome Project. This course is intended to provide you with an overview of biotechnology, starting with a review of DNA structure and function and extending to the current research ongoing in the field.
Biotechnology is a course designed to familiarize you with these current innovative technologies based on our use of the DNA molecule. You will examine the opportunities and challenges that these abilities have created for us all. You will look at the techniques that are used in biotechnology and will also see just what kind of work modern biotech companies are involved in.
In this class, we will be looking at how scientists use or plan to use DNA in all sorts of fascinating ways. We have all heard of DNA fingerprinting, but there are many, many other ways in which DNA is being used these days, and that's what we'll be looking at in this course, from DNA vaccines to cell therapy to genetically engineered corn.