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Internet E-Seminar
(pls forward announcement to your friends)
Date: 09-22 August 2004
Title: Biotechnology and Human Development
Presented by: Dr. Horst Doelle, Deputy Director,
MIRCEN-Biotechnology Brisbane and Pacific Regional Network.
Chairman of IOBB (1996-2003)
Organized by :
International Organisation for Biotechnology and Bioengineering
http://www.biotech.kth.se/iobb
Internet Venue: http://segate.sunet.se/archives/et-w2.html
Registration:
By Internet: http://segate.sunet.se/archives/et-w2.html
click on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)"
By Email: email [log in to unmask]
and use the subscription command:
SUB ET-W2 yourfirstname yourlastname, countrycode
e.g. sub et-w2 Horst Doelle, AU
This e-seminar will enable participants to discuss the seminar papers
(see
below) with the author as well as to join the public discussion on
aspects
and issues covered by the papers on "Biotechnology and Human
Development".
Access to an email account is a prerequisite to your participation.
E-Seminar Papers:
1) Microbial Metabolism and biotechnology. Chapter 4. Biotechnology and
Human Development.
http://www.biotech.kth.se/iobb/news/doelle-c4.doc
2) Biotechnology and Human Development in Developing Countries.
Electronic
Journal of Biotechnology, 2001. 4(3).
http://www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol4/issue3/issues/02/
About the Author :
Horst Doelle obtained his degrees in Germany with the Dr.rer.nat in
microbiology from the University of Goettingen. After two years in the
wine
and beer industry, he was contracted by CSIRO to Australia in 1960 to
help
establishing a wine industry in Australia. 1964 he followed an
invitation
to the University of Queensland to establish the field of microbial
physiology in the Department of Microbiology. Since 1975 he was called
upon
by Unesco to teach and help in the establishment of teaching staff and
infrastructure in developing countries all over the world in more than
20
courses. He received a D.Sc in 1976 from the University of Queensland
and
a D.Sc [honoris causa] in 1996 of the Univ. of New England for his work
in
microbial biotechnology. He became Oceanian's representative of IOBB in
1980, Vice-Chairman and in 1996 he served as Chairman of IOBB until end
of
2003. He wrote a number of books on Bacterial Metabolism. He retired
from
the university in 1992 and acts since then as adviser in microbial
biotechnology.
Abstract
Throughout the past century, humankind has made a tremendous effort to
understand the biological intricacies of nature. It started with the
traditional fermentation of food to the commercial exploitation of all
types of biological cells. The most incredible advances occurred since
the
mid 1940s with the discovery of the life saving antibiotics, followed by
the green revolution in agriculture in the 1950s to the present rapid
progress in understanding the genetic basis of living cells. The latter
progress has given us the ability to develop new products and processes
useful in human and animal health, food and agriculture, and the
environment. It appears, however, that at no stage have we been able to
integrate these enormous discoveries into the natural cycles of matter.
As
a consequence, prevention is being replaced by curing continuously
occurring medical and agricultural ailments. This can easily be
visualized
by the enormous over- and misuse of antibiotics causing a lowering of
the
immune systems and an ever increasing resistance against these drugs
amongst microorganisms, which in turn requires the never ending search
for
new antibiotics. The intensification of agriculture during the green
revolution with its the reliance on antibiotics and hormones in feeding
animals in so-called animal factories (i.e. chicken, pigs) as well as on
irrigation and chemical inputs in crop fields has led to serious health
and
environmental problems. Much of Asia, for example, faces problems of
severe
salinity, pesticide misuse and degradation of natural resources. It is
therefore not surprising to see the ever increasing development of
opposition against any further biotechnological applications, especially
those arising from genetical modification of microbial, plant and animal
cells.
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