# Biotechnology Past, Present and Future

> How biotechnology has changed over time, its uses in medicine, farming and conservation, gene therapy, and how to weigh up its ethical, social and biodiversity effects.

From HSC Biology on WhizzNotes, free study notes for NSW students: https://whizznotes.com/biology/biotechnology-and-society/. Updated 3 November 2026.
Year 11 and Year 12 boxes go deeper than the Year 10 text around them.

### Story time: The girl whose cells were edited
In 2022, a 13 year old named Alyssa, treated at a London children's hospital, had a leukaemia that no treatment could stop. Doctors used a new form of gene editing, called base editing, to change single letters of DNA in donated immune cells. The edited cells could attack her cancer without attacking each other.

Months later, her cancer could not be found. It was a world first. A few decades earlier, the idea of editing one DNA letter in a living person's cells would have sounded like science fiction. Biotechnology moves fast, and every new step brings new choices for society.

**In short:** Biotechnology has grown from breeding and fermentation to gene editing and mRNA vaccines, and it is used in medicine, farming, conservation and forensics. Each use brings benefits, risks and ethical questions, such as editing embryos and the privacy of DNA data.

## Starting point: what you already know

- Recombinant DNA, PCR, CRISPR and cloning (see Biotechnology and Genetic Technologies).
- Mutations can cause genetic disease (see Mutations).
- Genetic diversity helps populations survive change (see Genetic Variation in Populations).

## A timeline of biotechnology

| When | Development |
|---|---|
| About 10 000 years ago | Farming begins. Selective breeding of wheat, rice, dogs and cattle |
| About 6000 years ago | Yeast used for bread and brewing |
| 1928 | Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin from a mould. Howard Florey, an Australian, and Ernst Chain later mass-produce it |
| 1953 | Structure of DNA described |
| 1973 | First recombinant DNA organism (a bacterium) |
| 1982 | First GM medicine: human insulin from bacteria |
| 1983 | PCR invented by Kary Mullis |
| 1996 | Dolly the sheep cloned |
| 2003 | Human Genome Project completed |
| 2012 | CRISPR-Cas9 used to edit genes |
| 2020s | Gene therapies approved. mRNA vaccines used worldwide. Base editing in patients |

## Uses today

**Medicine.**

- **Gene therapy**: adding a working gene to cells to treat a genetic disease. Treatments now exist for some inherited blindness and spinal muscular atrophy.
- **mRNA vaccines**: give cells instructions to make a harmless virus protein, training the immune system (used against COVID-19).
- **Genetic screening**: testing embryos, newborns or adults for disease alleles.
- **Personalised medicine**: choosing the drug that suits a person's genes.

**Agriculture.** GM crops that resist pests, drought, salt or disease. Animals bred with the help of DNA testing.

**Environment and conservation.** Bacteria that clean up oil spills (bioremediation). DNA tests to catch illegal wildlife trade. Frozen "zoos" that store cells and sperm of endangered species.

**Forensics and industry.** DNA profiling. Enzymes in washing powder. Biofuels.

## Thinking about ethics

**Ethics** is about what is right and wrong. Biotechnology raises big questions, and different people answer them differently.

| Question | Points to weigh up |
|---|---|
| Should we edit human embryos? | Could prevent serious disease, but changes pass to future generations, and the risks are not fully known. In 2018 a scientist in China edited twin babies and was jailed. It is illegal in Australia |
| Should companies patent genes or seeds? | Rewards research, but can make medicines and seeds expensive for poorer people |
| Who controls genetic data? | Helps research, but raises privacy and discrimination risks |
| Should we bring back extinct species? | Exciting science, but money might do more good protecting living species |

### Exam tip: How to answer an "evaluate" question
1. Say what the technology is and how it works (briefly).
2. Give **benefits** with examples.
3. Give **risks or limitations** with examples.
4. Consider **ethical, social and economic** issues.
5. Finish with a **judgement** supported by your points.

**Mind map**

```text
Biotechnology over time
  Past
    Breeding, bread, brewing
    Penicillin
  Present
    Gene therapy
    mRNA vaccines
    GM crops
    Bioremediation
  Future
    Base editing
    Gene drives
    De-extinction
  Ethics
    Embryo editing
    Patents and access
    Privacy of DNA data
  Biodiversity
    Can lower diversity
    Can help conservation
```

### Year 11: Gene drives and biodiversity
A **gene drive** is a genetic change made so that it is passed to almost all offspring, instead of half. It could spread through a whole wild population in a few generations.

Researchers are studying gene drives that would make invasive mice or cane toads produce only male offspring, so the population collapses. This could protect native species. But a gene drive released into the wild is very hard to recall, and it could spread to places where the species is not a pest. Scientists in Australia have not released one, and any release would need strict approval and community consultation.

### Year 12: Biotechnology and biodiversity, both ways
**Reducing biodiversity:** monocultures of one GM or cloned crop, and selective breeding, narrow the gene pool. The 19th century Irish potato famine shows the danger: almost all the potatoes were one variety, and one disease destroyed them.

**Supporting biodiversity:** seed banks store crop diversity. Biotechnology is used to restore genetic diversity in small populations, test for disease in threatened species, and develop corals that tolerate heat. Engaging with Traditional Owners respects their rights over native species and knowledge (ICIP), for example in research on bush foods like Kakadu plum.

An HSC answer should show that the **same** technology can help or harm biodiversity depending on how it is used.

**Resistance.** Growing Bt crops everywhere can select for pests that resist the Bt toxin, and the toxin may harm insects that are not pests. Spraying glyphosate on Roundup Ready crops year after year selects for **glyphosate-resistant weeds**.

**Correlation is not cause.** A graph showing that countries using more GM crops have higher yields does not prove GM caused it; those countries may also use more fertiliser, water and machinery. Yield alone also ignores cost, access, food waste and fair distribution.

**Cloning does not add diversity.** Clones are genetically identical, so cloning an endangered animal does not add new alleles to its small gene pool.

**Keeping GM animals contained.** AquAdvantage salmon are farmed as sterile females so they cannot breed with wild salmon if they escape.

**Increasing biodiversity.** Biotechnology can raise diversity by using stored sperm and eggs to bring back lost alleles, or by making new crop varieties that farmers grow alongside old ones.

## Quick summary

- Biotechnology began with breeding and fermentation and now includes gene editing and mRNA vaccines.
- Uses include medicine (gene therapy, insulin, vaccines), farming (GM crops), conservation and forensics.
- Ethical issues include editing embryos, patents, access and privacy of DNA data.
- Biotechnology can lower biodiversity (monocultures) or help conserve it (seed banks, DNA testing).
- Evaluate by giving benefits, risks, ethical issues and a supported judgement.

## Quiz

Try these questions from the chapter quiz.

1. Which is the oldest form of biotechnology?
   - A. Selective breeding of crops and animals
   - B. CRISPR
   - C. PCR
   - D. Gene therapy
   - Answer: A. Selective breeding of crops and animals. Farming and breeding began about 10 000 years ago.

2. Which Australian helped turn penicillin into a mass-produced medicine?
   - A. Charles Darwin
   - B. Howard Florey
   - C. Gregor Mendel
   - D. Robert Hooke
   - Answer: B. Howard Florey. Florey and Chain developed penicillin as a medicine.

3. Gene therapy aims to
   - A. remove all genes
   - B. treat a genetic disease by adding or fixing a gene
   - C. clone a person
   - D. make vaccines from plants
   - Answer: B. treat a genetic disease by adding or fixing a gene. A working gene is supplied to affected cells.

The whole chapter quiz is on the page, for signed-in students: https://whizznotes.com/biology/biotechnology-and-society/#quiz