Riassunto
Biotechnology is advancing at a rapid pace with numerous applications in medicine, industry, agriculture and environmental remediation. Recognizing this, government, industrial and academic research and development invest ment in biotechnology has expanded rapidly. The past decade has seen the emergence of applications of this technology with a dual-use potential. Mili tary applications focus on four major areas: biomedical technology, such as vaccine development and medical diagnostics; detection of toxins, chemicals and pathogens; material biotechnology; and biological decontamination, in cluding biodegradation and bioremediation. This conference emphasizes the non-medical applications of biotechnol ogy. The first two sessions focus on the synthesis and properties of molecules that may be used in detectors. The traditional approach to detection of chemical and biological agents relied on the development of specific assays or analyses for known agents. Advances in molecular biology have made possible the production of large quantities of toxins which were previously available in minute quantities, and the molecular engineering of toxins and pathogens with specific pharmacologic and physical-chemical properties. In addition to the traditional approaches to detection of specific known compounds, biotechnology now offers generic approaches to detection. Physiological targets, known as receptors, are primary targets for many drugs and toxins. Similarly, pathogens rely on receptors to gain access to cells. These receptors function as sensitive detectors, generating signals which are transduced and amplified.
Contenuti
Biological Applications of Synthetic Polypeptides.- Manufacturing and Biotechnology Synergisms for the Early 2000’s.- Biosensors Based on Solvated Bilayers Attached to Electrodes.- Alternatives to Radioimmunoassay.- The Use of Intact Luminous Bacteria in Analytical Chemistry, Clinical Microbiology and Acute Toxicity.- Deposition of Enzymes by Electropolymerization.- Computerized Biospecific Electrodes.- NMR-Structural Studies of Membrane Bound Peptides and Proteins.- DNA as a Biosensor for Environmental Agents.- Detection of Pathogens with Nucleic Acid Probes.- Structure-Function Relationships, in Vivo Mutability and Gene Amplification in Human Cholinesterases, Targets for Organophosphorus Poisons.- Assessment of Genetic Damage in Human Tissue by Immunoassay.- Field Operable Devices for Immunological, Molecular and Toxicological Diagnosis — A Review on a Unified Approach.- Design and Properties of Enzymes Immobilized in Sol-Gel Glass Matrices.- Microbial Degradation of Agent Orange and Mustard Related Compounds.- Surface Active and Drag-Reducing Bacterial Polymers.- Towards Catalytic Antibodies for the Degradation of Toxic Agents.- Bacterial Heavy Metal Resistance Systems and Possibility of Bioremediation.- The Cholinergic Binding Site: Structure and Application.- Outdoor Cultivation of Microalgae in a Closed System for the Production of Valuable Biochemicals.- Chemical Sensing Applications of Semiconductor Photoluminescence.- High Speed DNA Sequencing and the Analysis of the Human Genome.- Interacting Light Energy with Biocatalytic Assemblies: Biocatalysed Photosynthesis and Photoregulation of Enzymes.- Modifying Specificities of Restriction Enzymes.- Pulsed Laser Fluorometry for Environmental Monitoring.- Recognition of the Human CD4 Receptor by the AIDS Virus: A Molecular Target for AIDS Therapeutics.- Antibody-Catalyzed Concerted Chemical Reactions.- Engineering Altered Substrate Specificity into Subtilisin BPN’.- Summary of Conference.- Concluding Discussion.- List of Participants.
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