The world is vastly growing into an incorporated global economy driven by technological astuteness, innovation, the urge for entrepreneurship, and an education whose foundation lies in both natural and social sciences.
There is no doubt that with the rising social problems, people have resorted to research and education in order to solve problems. In various countries, the emphasis on science education is enormous—and scientist are busy working day and night to advance their countries technologically, lest they become doomed in the competitive global age.
For instance, in the study of life sciences, the amalgamation of various academic disciplines only serves to enhance science education. Unlike in the past, people have seen the importance of studying life sciences, and with the support from private and public sectors, the number of students enrolling in life science courses is on the rise.
Life sciences comprises of many disciplines of study, some of them interrelated. In fact, some disciplines in biology, for example, molecular biology, draw most of its dogmas from cell biology. Additionally, the discipline of biotechnology draws many of its dogmas from biochemistry. This paper will discuss the central dogmas of biochemistry and their impacts in biotechnology. It will also explain how the changes in biochemistry affect researches and discoveries in biotechnology (Ninfa, Ballou & Marilee, 2010, pp. 7-9).
To start with, biochemistry is a discipline of life science that mainly deals the chemistry of life. In biochemistry, people learn about the physical and chemical characteristics of molecules. It is important to note that molecules are the basis of living organisms. In other words, biochemistry mainly dwells on the chemical reactions happening in the cells and tissues of living organisms, and the interaction of the chemical compositions of body tissues and cells.
Thus, this makes biochemistry different from the normal chemistry courses. Biochemistry is also different from other disciplines of biology simply because it focuses on the understanding of molecular and atomic minutiae of the cells and tissues of living organisms. In biochemistry, students and researchers also study the chemical bonds within the cells and tissues of living organisms as well as the enzymatic reactions. These are some of the basic dogmas of biochemistry (Hunter, 2000, pp. 7-14).
On the other hand, we look at how the dogmas of biochemistry affect those of the discipline of biotechnology. Biotechnology is the study of various modalities of manipulating chemical substances biologically in order to come up with medicinal products, especially drugs. Clearly, we can see that biotechnology applies the first principles and dogmas of biochemistry in order to come up with solutions to the problems affecting the biochemical composition of living organisms.
We know that the cells of living organisms have genes. Now, having known the chemical composition of cells through biochemistry, biotechnologists use the information to develop genetically engineered species. Additionally, the techniques and dogmas of biochemistry enable the transfer of genes from one species to another—the case in biotechnology (Thieman & Palladino, 2008, pp. 3-7).
There is no doubt that both biochemistry and biotechnology are indispensable disciplines in life science. However, the former is an opulence of the later. In fact, the dogmas and techniques of biochemistry are the trademarks of biochemistry. This means that research discoveries in biochemistry impacts heavily those in biochemistry.
For example, research in biochemistry lead to the development of new biological processes. On the other hand, biotechnologists use these biological processes to come up with new biological products. Additionally, the biochemical study of insulin molecules forms the basis in which biotechnologists will research the corresponding medicines by using biochemical properties (Ninfa, Ballou & Marilee, 2010, pp. 91-97).
Reference List
Hunter, K. (2000). Vital Forces: The Discovery of the Molecular Basis of Life. San Diego: Academic Press.
Ninfa, A., Ballou, D. & Marilee, B. (2010). Fundamental Laboratory Approaches for Biochemistry and Biotechnology. (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & sons.
Thieman, W. & Palladino, A. (2008). Introduction to Biotechnology. San Francisco: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings.