Diagnostic Medicine
This common biotech tool detects COVID-19 by amplifying viral RNA.
What is PCR (polymerase chain reaction)?
This hormone, discovered at UofT in 1921, is the main remedy for Type 1 Diabetes.
What is insulin?
These crops have been genetically engineered to resist pests using genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.
What are Bt crops?
This process, used by yeast, is harnessed in industry to produce bread, beer, and wine.
What is fermentation?
This transparent roundworm is one of biotech’s most famous model organisms.
What is C. elegans?
This imaging technique uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of soft tissues, making it especially useful for brain and spinal cord evaluation.
What is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)?
mRNA vaccines, like those used during the COVID-19 pandemic, work by instructing cells to produce these.
What are antibodies?
This gene-editing technology, adapted from bacterial immune systems, allows for precise modification of crop genomes.
What is CRISPR-Cas9?
Oil-eating bacteria are sometimes employed in this type of environmental cleanup.
What is bioremediation?
This Canadian research council funds much of the nation’s biotechnology R&D.
What is NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada)?
This diagnostic technique uses fluorescently labeled antibodies to detect proteins in cells or tissues.
What is immunofluorescence?
This cutting-edge therapy, tested in Canadian clinical trials, modifies a patient’s T cells to fight leukemia.
What is CAR-T cell therapy?
Golden Rice, engineered to contain beta-carotene, was designed to combat this deficiency.
What is vitamin A deficiency?
These bacteria, found in wastewater treatment plants, help break down organic matter in the absence of oxygen.
What are anaerobic bacteria (or methanogens)?
This technique allows scientists to amplify DNA fragments millions of times in vitro.
What is PCR (polymerase chain reaction)?
This term refers to medical diagnostic tests performed near the patients, outside a traditional lab setting to provide rapid results.
What is point-of-care testing?
This genetic disease is caused by a single nucleotide mutation that reduces red blood cells’ oxygen carrying capacity.
What is sickle cell anemia (or thalassemia)?
This agricultural biotechnology technique involves copying whole plants from a single cell or tissue sample in a lab.
What is plant tissue culture (or micropropagation)?
These specialized reactors are designed to maintain optimal conditions for microbial or enzymatic processes in large-scale industrial production.
What are bioreactors?
Canada contributed to the global effort of this early-2000s project, which sequenced all human DNA.
What is the Human Genome Project?
A positive Mantoux test, which measures skin induration after injection of purified protein derivative (PPD), is commonly used to screen for this infectious disease.
What is tuberculosis?
Monoclonal antibodies are widely used in therapy. They are produced by fusing a B-cell with this type of cell.
What is a myeloma cell (hybridoma technology)?
This soil bacterium naturally transfers part of its DNA (the Ti plasmid) into plants, and scientists now use it as a tool for genetic engineering.
What is Agrobacterium tumefaciens?
This technology involves using plants to extract heavy metals from contaminated soils.
What is phytoremediation?
In stem cell research, adult cells can be reprogrammed into this extremely versatile cell type. It is used in both disease modelling and regenerative therapies.
What are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)?