[아이뉴스24 최상국 기자] The Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology’s National Biotechnology Policy Research Center (Center Director Heung-Yeol Kim) selected and announced’Promising Biotechnology in 2021.
Based on keyword network analysis of innovative research results, expert discussions, and surveys, Life Sciences/Common Infrastructure (Platform Bio), Health Care (Red Bio), Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food (Green Bio), Industrial Process/ In the field of environment and marine (White Bio), 10 promising technologies with great future ripple effects were selected.
Of these, five are post-pandemic-related technologies, which are evaluated to have largely reflected the influence of Corona 19.
‘Cell cultured livestock technology’ to replace the livestock industry, which can cause supply problems due to pandemics, is in the field of green bio, and’eco-friendly polymer producing microorganisms’ that can solve the problem of using disposable plastic products that has rapidly increased due to pandemics are in the field of white bio. It was selected as a promising biotechnology for the post-pandemic response.
‘Artificial intelligence-based protein modeling’, such as Google’s AI program Alphafold, is predicted to have the greatest ripple effect among the top 10 technologies. Using molecular physics approaches and deep-learning artificial intelligence, this technology predicts the structure of a three-dimensional protein from an amino acid sequence and predicts intracellular protein action.It is not only the in vivo mechanism of action of the protein, but also its relationship to disease and drug target identification. Through this, it is expected that the time and cost of new drug development can be greatly reduced.
◇Platform Bio
▲Chemical diversity in nature: A technology that secures a variety of substances produced by living organisms in extreme environments such as deep seas and microbiomes in them. New natural substances discovered through securing chemical diversity from living organisms in extreme environments, which have been difficult for humans to access, are used to develop new drugs and innovative biomaterials such as new-concept antibiotics.
▲In vitro personalized immune system: A technology that simulates an individual’s immune system outside the body through co-culture of immune cells in personalized organoids. Contributing to the development of effective vaccines, from basic research on immune responses to the development of personalized treatments through the in vitro system reflecting individual immune characteristics.
▲AI based protein modeling: A technology that uses molecular physics approaches and deep learning artificial intelligence to predict not only protein structure but also protein action in cells. Through the discovery of the network between proteins, life phenomena that have not been known can be revealed, and the productivity of new drug development is improved through rapid drug target discovery.
◇Red Bio
▲Synthetic immunity: Technology that increases the activity of immune cells or regulates the production of immune substances by genetically synthesizing immune circuits. Maximizes the efficacy of existing immune cell therapy and overcomes limitations on side effects such as cytokine release syndrome, and is used to develop therapeutics for infectious diseases, cancer and various diseases.
▲Single cell repairing: A technology that treats diseases at the level of single cells using gene editing technology. It overcomes the problems of low gene transfer, immune response, correction efficiency and cellular heterogeneity that occur when tissues are targeted for treatment, and enables efficient and safe treatment.
▲Nanovaccine/Nanobody: A technology that exposes a large amount of various antigens to the surface of a nanostructure, or produces a therapeutic agent that is smaller and more effective than existing antibodies. Due to its small size, high stability, high solubility, easy to manufacture, and high tissue penetration, it can be applied to a niche treatment area that cannot be a target of existing vaccine/antibody treatments.
◇Green Bio
▲ Cellular agriculture: A technology that manufactures meat or milk based on cell culture to replace the livestock industry, which may cause supply problems due to pandemics. Realize sustainable green livestock, alleviate environmental problems arising from traditional livestock industry, and respond to increasing demand for livestock products.
▲ Plant microbiome engineering: A technology that helps crop growth or preserves endangered species by controlling plant microbiome functions by analyzing plant symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms. Overcoming the limitations of technology that produces and maintains plant resources with excellent growth potential and resistance to diseases and pests, it is used not only for research on life phenomena but also for breed improvement.
◇White Bio
▲ Eco-friendly polymer producing microbe: Technology that produces completely eco-friendly polymer materials from microorganisms to solve the problem of disposable products and microplastics. Contributing to solving the problem of environmental pollution caused by hardly decomposable plastics and reducing its carbon footprint through the advancement of the eco-friendly material industry.
▲Ecological health assessment using bio big data: A technology that evaluates the health of the ecosystem by integrating environmental and ecological data including bio big data (especially, microbial community structure). The evaluation technique using the microbial microbiota’s ohmics is simple to sample, and the big data analysis process is also fairly standardized, enabling more objective, accurate and detailed evaluation.
In a report, the National Biotechnology Policy Research Center of Korea Life Insurance said, “It is no exaggeration to say that the vaccine development period, which took more than 15 years in the past, has been shortened to 10-18 months after suffering Corona 19, rewriting the history of vaccine development. The speed of the report is a collection of biotechnology research achievements and bioinnovative technologies that humanity has discovered and developed so far, demonstrating the importance of securing bioinnovative technologies in advance.”
Center Director Kim Heung-yeol said, “Covid-19, which has drove the world into chaos, is still in progress, and innovative technologies that can prepare for the post-pandemic beyond the post-corona are expected to become an aggregate of promising bio future technologies.” Five post-pandemic response technologies were included among the top 10 bio future promising technologies, but additionally, we plan to derive’post-pandemic response infectious disease promising technologies’ focusing on responding to infectious diseases.”
The original text of the report’Promising Biotechnology in 2021′ can be obtained from Bioin (www.bioin.or.kr), a bioinformation portal site.
Reporter Choi Sang-guk [email protected]