The biotech industry has not only been on the rise since the Covid19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence and digitization have been the main drivers for a number of years. Biotechnology continuously provides new insights. This not only benefits new treatment methods against AIDS, Alzheimer's or cancer, but also other areas such as agriculture and the food industry in addition to the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Good reasons to take a look at the nine most important biotech trends for this year.
1. AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Artificial intelligence enables biotech companies and especially start-ups to develop new diagnostic methods but also innovative and very precise treatment methods from them. For example, AI is now helping to develop drugs that are tailored to the genetics of the patient. In diagnostics, AI is used to automatically analyze X-rays or blood samples. The pattern recognition of artificial intelligence plays a central role here.
2. Big Data
As in other areas, Big Data plays an important role in the biotech industry. Thanks to increasing computing power, intelligent software can develop innovative treatment options or support physicians in their work with patients. The analysis and processing of large amounts of data offers biotech companies (and organizations within Life Sciences in general) even more precise insights. It shows for example how a disease is evolving or provides informative insights into patient groups.
3. Genome surgery (gene editing)
With the development of CRISPR technology, it’s possible to adapt gene sequences to specific requirements. Gene scissors have multiplied the possibilities for companies, physicians and research. Important goals here include the treatment of inherited diseases or the adaptation of plants and animals to special weather conditions. Among other things, the CRISPR technology should be used to adapt crops to the changing climatic conditions.
4. Gene Sequencing
Just a few years ago, it was extremely expensive to sequence the human genome or genomes in general. Thanks to modern technology and more and more powerful computers, biotech companies can now use gene sequencing as a basis for further research, such as the development of medicines individually tailored to patients. Even if the methods have been used for a long time, genetic research keeps coming up with new findings. Numerous start-ups around the world have now specialized in gene sequencing and are offering it for various purposes at low prices.
5. Personalized medicine or synthetic biology
While drug development is always evolving, each drug is just a product designed for a whole group. Personalized medicine takes a different approach. Based on gene sequencing and analysis with AI and other methods, modern biotech companies are developing medicines for the specific needs of a particular person. Among other things, the metabolism can be precisely taken into account (for example, how a person process a certain active ingredient). The individualization of drugs not only makes them more effective, but there should also be fewer side effects.
6. Biomanufacturing
Biotech companies are now able to produce tissue, organs or other biomass in the laboratories. Among other things, biomanufacturing should one day provide the solution for organ transplants. In the food industry, the technology is used, among other things, to produce meat in test tubes in order to reduce animal husbandry and the associated CO2 emissions.
7. Bioprinting
Building on biomanufacturing, bioprinting is another important biotech trend. With the help of special 3D printers, for example, organs or other biomaterials can be created from cells and tissue. The artificially generated cell products can later be used not only in medicine but also in the food industry.
8. Microfluidics
Microfluidics is both the science which studies the behaviour of fluids through micro-channels, and the technology of manufacturing microminiaturized devices containing chambers and tunnels through which fluids flow or are confined. The areas of application are diverse. For example, research can be used for the further development of printers as well as for the development of new infection tests.
9. Tissue engineering
The development of organic material in laboratories can be realized with the help of bioprinting and microfluids. As a discipline from biotechnology, tissue engineering provides great hope for people waiting for an organ donation. In the future, organs or skin used for transplants should be able to be cultivated at a lower price and much faster in the laboratories. In the food industry, tissue engineering is seen as a solution to future food shortages.
Digitization and AI are also important innovation drivers in the biotech industry
The biotech industry relies on modern software and hardware. The latest developments in the field of AI and digitization have also a direct influence on the innovative power of biotechnology. With the constant further development in the IT sector, new impactful biotech trends are to be expected soon.
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