Marine Biotechnology

Marine Biotechnology

Marine biotechnology is an emerging sector of blue economy as its applications spread into many fields of social and economic life. The living organisms, microalgae, sponge and other biological species in the oceans are rich sources of medicine. By setting suitable culture conditions, new compounds and molecules can be developed for drug development. In fact, the successful formulations derived from the marine biological resources encourage further R&D and investment in bio-prospecting and biosynthesis. Besides discovery of new drugs, marine biotechnology has much wider applications in tissue culture, aquaculture, manufacturing of medical devices, among others. Marine biotechnology also helps in introduction of new species and improving understanding of molecular and physiological basis for reproduction. Cells of horse crab could be useful in detecting early infection in human as well as traces of pyrogens in biotechnological products. Similarly, protein and enzymes derived from marine organisms are of great use to food and pharmaceutical industries. Biopolymers is a useful product with a range of uses such as biodegradable plastics to food additives, pharmaceutical and medical polymers, wound dressing, bio-adhesives, dental biomaterials, tissue regeneration and 3D tissue culture scaffolds. As this sector is a knowledge-intensive sector, public support for marine science education and research may be necessary in order to inspire greater applications of innovations in marine biotechnology. There may be numerous other applications of marine derived technologies and biological processes.