Transgenic seed technology began to transform India’s cotton industry in 2002. Genetically modified cotton acreage has increased three-fold since that year, and the lives of millions of Indian families have been improved as cotton farmers income has increased by $124 million (USD). Indian farmers today represent some of the world’s most rapid adopters of biotech crops.

The core doctrine of our biology is this: DNA, the twin helix in our cells, makes RNA, which in turn produces proteins. Because it’s the abnormal production of proteins that causes human disease, drugs are typically produced to block their further production. But today, modern biotechnology offers the opportunity to go well beyond blocking the production of proteins to actually silencing them. This exciting discovery, called RNA Interference, or “RNAi”, won Andrew Fire and Craig Mello the 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine. RNAi provides new hope for those who suffer from muscular degeneration, Hepatitis C, Huntington’s Disease, HIV, respiratory infections, and various cancers.

This year, in developing nations, more than 10 million children under the age of twelve will die due to illnesses that are preventable or treatable. Learn about how biotechnology and new health sciences have the potential to promote global health and fight neglected disease in many parts of the developing world.

Each year, 300 million people contract malaria, but only a lucky few are given a drug to combat this deadly disease. See how the drug “Artemisinin” has become one of the most effective in treating the disease, yet remain too expensive for the majority of malaria sufferers. Then learn how scientists are working to increase the yield of the plan required to manufacture Artemisinin, saving millions of lives every year.

This part of the series “Biotechnology: Knowledge Serving Life” asks “What if we had access to an environmentally clean and sustainable domestic fuel source, a source that would lesson our dependence on foreign oil, while also contributing to our national security?”

In the race to discover viable therapies for infectious diseases and various cancers, biotechnology is leading the way with new and novel treatments known as immunotherapies. Immunotherapies attempt to harness the potential of the body’s own immune system to address a variety of diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases.

In this part of the series “Biotechnology: Knowledge Serving Life”, we learn why the Amazon Rainforest is considered by many to be the most powerful bio active and diverse phenomenon on the planet.

Dana Boyle, the Vice President of Business Development for Life Science Alley explains what Life Science Alley is, who their members are and how she became involved in biotechnology.