Unitech Biotechnology Centre (UBC)

The term ‘biotechnology’ refers to any technological application that uses biological systems, living or organism, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use. Biotechnology, in the form of traditional fermentation techniques, has been used for decades and centuries to make bread, cheese or beer. It has also been the basis for traditional animal and plant breeding techniques, such as hybridization and the selection of plants and animals with specific characteristics to create, for example, crops which produce higher yields of grain. Modern biotechnology – the difference here compared with ‘traditional biotechnologies’ is that
researchers can now take a single gene from a plant or animal cell and insert it in another plant or animal cell to give it the desired characteristics, such as a plant that is resistant to a specific pest or such as a plant that is resistant to a specific pest or disease. Modern biotechnology is therefore centered on the application of, a) in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant DNA technology and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or b) fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection in plants and animals. Modern biotechnologies can be categorized into three main areas:

1) Cell & Tissue Cultures,
2) Molecular Biology/Breeding and
3) Diagnostics.

The potential and possibilities can be appreciated in the diagram on the left. The Unitech Biotech Centre has the basic facilities and expertise in national scientists and technicians to provide services and advice in each of these three areas.