Biotechnology Availability
The issue of biotechnology availability depends on many factors, including their cost, government regulation and approval, and, of course, the time factor.
But certain positive tendencies in this matter have already appeared. In particular, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has developed a technology that allows you to print an organ in 19 minutes, compared to 6 hours using a different technology. This became possible thanks to the fast stereolithographic printing method (FLOAT), which allows creating a multi-stabile model of a centimeter-sized solid hydrogel in a matter of minutes (onlinelibrary.wiley.com).
Another example is the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine (North Carolina, USA), which has been involved in both the printing of artificial organs and their transplantation to humans for several years. In 2006, bladders were obtained from a 3D printer and transported to patients. In 2016, this institute began to make other parts of the body, in particular, the bones of the arms and body, cartilage, ears, while the key fact is that they remain stable after transplantation. In 2019, this institute made even more progress in its solutions, they developed a bioprinter that allows you to print skin directly onto the wound, in addition, this institute creates reduced copies of the liver, heart and other organs, which allows them to test the effect of various drugs, and, accordingly, identify side effects (newatlas.com).
In 2015, using the CRISPR / Cas9 technology, a gene drive was created that causes infertility in malaria mosquitoes, for several generations it was possible to get rid of the population that is a vector of the disease, but, from the point of view of scientists, it will take several years before testing this technology in the wild nature (www.imperial.ac.uk).
Despite the risks that CRISPR / Cas9 technology entails, in particular, for example, the risk of bioterrorism or other consequences, all of which cannot be predicted today, nevertheless, this technology has significantly reduced the time for DNA research. Thus, the growing possibilities of genomic transformation open up opportunities for an increase in the number of species and modifications.
In addition, digital biotechnology platforms can play an important role in the direction of the availability of biotechnology, providing an increase in the volume and speed of production of biotechnological solutions and products.