زیست فناوری

Bioactive compounds in microalgae biomass, such as protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, vitamins and minerals, play an important role in functional food. Their favorable effects on human health, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiviral effects, as well as prevention of stomach ulcers, constipation, anemia, diabetes, and high blood pressure, have been proven. With the increase in cancer diseases, bioactive compounds extracted from microalgae can be a suitable alternative to synthesized chemical products. The probiotic function of many microalgae is due to their ability to produce biologically active substances, including hormones, neurotransmitters, and immune stimulants. In addition, algae polysaccharides stimulate the growth of beneficial intestinal microorganisms, so they act as very efficient prebiotics. Finally, many components of microalgae cells and the chemical agents they produce, can be very significant in their own right as potentially valuable metabiotics. The results of reviewing a large number of articles in this field showed that despite the basic potential of microalgae in food formulation, extensive research and efforts are still needed so that microalgae can be used commercially in food and feed formulation.

In this study, we delve into the international legal dimensions of biotechnological practices applied to the human body. Our analysis covers a broad range of critical issues. First, we examine the legislations governing stem cell research and the methods for preparing stem cells, exploring how different countries regulate these advanced biomedical procedures. Second, we review the declarations and frameworks established by international legal systems to set boundaries on biotechnological research, ensuring it aligns with global ethical standards. Third, we analyze assisted reproductive techniques, such as in vitro fertilization, and the ethical and legal challenges they pose, including the implications of using these technologies. Additionally, we address the potential impacts of genetic interventions on a child's future life, particularly in the context of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Finally, we scrutinize the controversial area of human cloning, focusing on the various legal and ethical concerns it raises worldwide. This research is theoretical in nature, employing a descriptive-analytical method to provide a comprehensive overview of these complex topics.

More than forty states worldwide currently pursue explicit political strategies to expand and promote their bioeconomies.  Since the 21st century, developed countries have paid increasing attention to bioeconomy strategies. In particular, since the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, global biotechnology has been expanding, and the impact of public health and biosafety events has increased significantly. Therefore, bio-economic strategies have attracted unprecedented attention. In this article, four paths of bioeconomy developments are briefly mentioned. The extent of bio-economic developments that lead to increased sustainability along these lines depends on the structure of effective governance mechanisms. In this context, it is necessary to arrange and study international bioeconomy strategies. This article examines selected national and international bioeconomy strategies as well as their characteristics.

Gold and silver nanoparticles are utilized in various industrial applications because of their unique properties. Physical, chemical, and green methods exist to synthesize these plasmonic nanoparticles. In green synthesis, biocompatible compounds, plants or their extracts, and microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria, actinobacteria, fungi, and algae are used to synthesize gold and silver nanoparticles. These biological sources have biomolecules that produce plasmonic gold and silver nanoparticles by reducing gold and silver ions. Green synthesis is easy, secure, high-yield, economically sensible, and eco-friendly. The synthesized nanoparticles should be characterized to determine their physiochemical properties (size, shape, surface, homogeneity, stability, and other properties). There are various techniques for the characterization of plasmonic nanoparticles, such as transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential. Gold and silver nanoparticles have diverse applications including antimicrobial and antitumor activities, usage in textile, food, and agriculture industries, wastewater treatment, and bioremediation. This review paper aims to introduce gold and silver nanoparticles and their synthesis approaches with an emphasis on green synthesis, explain different characterization techniques, and express the applications of these nanoparticles in biotechnology.

Over the past few years, due to the shortage of forest resources as well as the increasing consumption of paper and paperboard, many pulp and paper manufacturers have developed the use of different sources of recycled (secondary) fibers. Therefore, recycling of paper is an effective and eco-friendly way to preserve forest resources, which eventually save the natural diversity and energy. The use of biotechnology in various sectors of the cellulosic products industries such as bio-pulping, bio-bleaching, bio-deinking, bio-wastewater treatment, etc. has been considered and good achievements have been obtained in this field. One of the most important applications of biotechnology in the cellulosic industries is the use of enzymes in the processing of recycled fibers. The use of enzymatic technologies, as environmental friendly process, has led to changes in industrial processes as much as possible and indicated great potential in solving many problems of recycled fibers, especially problems related to waste paper deinking, pulp drainage rate, fiber hornification, refining and stickies materials. In general, deinking with enzymes under acidic or neutral conditions declines the chemicals usage and reduces the yellowing of recycled paper under conventional alkaline deinking conditions. Today, the use of cellulosic enzymes (cellulase and hemicellulase) and oxidative enzymes (such as laccase) as well as amylase and pectinase have shown acceptable results for deinking different types of waste paper and most experiments in semi-industrial as well as industrial units have shown that deinking with them can reduce the cost of chemicals, increase the separation of ink particles

Coral bleaching, loss of symbiotic algae of Symbiodinium sp. or photosynthetic microalgae pigments from their coral host have become commonplace in recent decades due to the rising of sea temperatures and changes in physicochemical factors. It is essential to study the susceptibility of corals to bleaching, the physiology of its symbiotic algae, and its capacity to cope with abiotic stress. Oxidative stress is of particular importance due to the fact that it can be caused by photosynthetic dysfunction drived by temperature and other physicochemical factors. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of physicochemical factors on the photosynthetic performance of Symbiodinium sp. symbiosis with Stichodactyla haddoni in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. To determine whether the cultured Symbiodinium sp. has different sensitivities to oxidative stress and whether winter and summer play a role in oxidative stress and coping with it, DPPH test and Freak ion reduction method (FRAP) were used and Physicochemical factors were measured through the HQ40D prototype device. Moreover, air data (wind speed) was obtained from the website www.irimo.ir. Statistical analysis was performed through one-way analysis of variance at the level of 0.05 and heatmap analysis. The results showed that the highest antioxidant capacity was assigned to Symbiodinium sp. extract in Chabahar in winter (IC50:135.768 μgr/ml) and the lowest antioxidant capacity was allocated to Chabahar in summer (IC50:349.090 μgr/ml). Ferric ion reduction of Symbiodinium sp. extracts showed the highest inhibition compared to ascorbic acid at a concentration of 2 mg/ml (0.297) and the lowest inhibition at a concentration of 0.063 mg/ml (0.015) in Chabahar in winter.

Complexity is a prominent aspect of our world today that imposes requirements on national and international thinking, institutionalism and governance. Almost all areas of human life, including the economy, have been overshadowed by this phenomenon. Although the idea of changing economic paradigm is not new, the comprehensive requirements and challenges of the 21st century have transformed it from a "choice" to a "must". The occurrence of the global pandemic crisis of the Covid-19 disease is a convincing proof of this necessity which emphasizing such a change as well as introducing its origin, i.e. biological sciences and technologies. Scientific advances in biology have led to the fact that instead of depending on natural resources as raw materials, they can be reproduced with the help of biological data, molecules and systems. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, it seems that the fusion between biological and data sciences has led to a huge and disruptive leap which put the world on the brink of a revolution in economy. In this article, the transformative aspects of biological science developments in the context of the global economy and the emergence of the bioeconomy as irreplaceable alternative of the oil economy is briefly discussed.

Inulinases are a class of enzymes that are widely used to produce fructose syrup. Due to the importance of this group enzyme in the production of fructose and high fructose syrup, developed countries continue to research in this field. The most important source of inulinase production is microorganisms. In this article, firstly, the structure, types, and applications of inulinases are mentioned and then its global market is discussed based on various criteria. Further, solid-state fermentation is overviewed as a suitable production system for industrial production of this enzyme and finally, the production and refining stages as well as challenges in their production are addressed and solutions to overcome these problems are proposed.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus responsible for an ongoing human pandemic (COVID-19). There is a massive international effort underway to develop diagnostic reagents, vaccines, and antiviral drugs in a bid to slow down the spread of the disease and save lives. One part of that international effort involves the research community working with plants, bringing researchers from all over the world together with commercial enterprises to achieve the rapid supply of protein antigens and antibodies for diagnostic kits, and scalable production systems for the emergency manufacturing of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Here, we look at some of the ways in which plants can and are being used in the fight against COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of transgenic crops in human health. In this paper, which is based on studies conducted in the corners of the vast world, the role of biological reinforcement of plant products, transgenic functional foods and biological drugs derived from these plants is discussed. The results indicate the undeniable benefit and effect of these products on the prevention and treatment of many diseases and physical problems. By using the right strategies and creating the necessary conditions for this industry, it is possible to benefit from this industry and take a step towards the production of technology, resistance economy and job creation. Transgenic plants (genetically modified) are widely distributed around the world. It may be tempting to kill and plant these plants in the short term, but their longterm effects on the environment and human health are in a state of ambiguity. Unfortunately, for more than a decade, transgenic plants have entered Iran's food basket without any labeling or compliance with the Carthage Protocol. Given the ambiguous state of transgenics and the risk to Iran's organic farming and exports, it does not seem necessary to rush into cultivating them. With the release of transgenics in farms and gene escape, there will be no turning back.

With the approval of the law for supporting knowledge-based firms in 2010, a new wave in
Iran’s science, technology and innovation system began with a focus on the knowledge based
economy and innovation-based. Currently, there are more than 4,000 knowledge-based firms
in Iran that nearly 5% of them are active in biotechnology. The aim of the present study is to
design an empirical model of the relationship between financial and tax incentives of this law on
some of the performance indicators of biotechnology knowledge-based firms. For this purpose,
after analyzing the content of related documents and designing the study model, for evaluating
the direct and interacting effects between policy tools, identifying the important empirical
factors and their level, “23 factorial design” was used. Study target community includes 113
manufacturing knowledge-based firms in the field of biotechnology. The findings of this
study on input additionality indicators show the positive effect of the threefold interaction of
factors on the R&D expenditure and the positive effects of commercialization financing and
technology financing and their interactions on R&D employee. In the present study, there was
no relationship between the effectiveness of policy tools on output additionality indicators.

Plant genetic engineering has been the fastest technology adopted in human history to achieve quantitative and qualitative superiority by farmers. This technology has real benefits to the environment and the livelihood of farmers. Unfortunately, despite numerous credible scientific studies on the safety of GM products for the consumer and the environment, this technology still faces misleading claims by some. The results of a comprehensive study of articles published in the authoritative scientific journals show that the transgenic plant cultivation reduced pesticide use by 37%, increased yield by 22% and increased farmers' income by 68%. Given the new purpose of development and cultivation of transgenic plants in the country, it is necessary to answer some questions raised by officials, farmers, consumers, media and others on various aspects of transgenic crop safety at the community level. Provide them with concise and simple ones. Therefore, this article will answer 20 important questions about transgenic products.

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) due to its simplicity and effectiveness have been used to improve important industrial straits properties such as carbon source utilization, stability in unpleasant environmental conditions and tolerance to chemical inhibitors. No need for prior genetic knowledge of desired strain makes ALE as a powerful approach for strain development even for species with minimal genotypic information. While the procedures for adaptive laboratory evolution has remained similar for many years, recent advances promise for improving the experimental workflows for evolutionary engineering by accelerating the pace of evolution and simplifying the analysis of evolved strains. The aim of this review is highlighting recent advances in this area and evaluation of this technique application in biotechnology.

Emerging sciences and technologies have huge potential in the field of innovation; therefore, they should be protected against large uncertainties caused by unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate biotechnology forecasting innovation pathways based on its convergence with other technologies. In this systematic review, by the future-oriented assessment of biotechnology innovation pathways, future biotechnology strategies were developed at the national level. All potential applications of the future innovation pathways of this technology were identified in the combination and convergence with nanotechnologies, information, and cognitive science and technology. The strength and weakness of the effects and barriers in all areas of biotechnology were considered in terms of the short-, mid-, and long-term; in the same timeframe, the barriers to these technologies were identified in the field of combined dual technologies and ultimately for biotechnology itself, and future strategies for biotechnology were proposed based on 4 strategies, including ignorance, investment, exploitation, and opportunism. In the field of biotechnology- information technology- in the mid-term, the greatest impact was on improving the quality of human life, improving social outcomes, and increasing the level of innovation, and in the field of biotechnology- nanotechnology and biotechnology- cognitive science on improving the quality of human life, increasing security and defending power, and improving the positive social consequences. The highest number of applications is the mid-term. The "exploitation" strategy should be used in biotechnology- cognitive science and biotechnology- nanotechnology, respectively. The "investment" strategy should be the most widely used in the common areas of biology with information technology. In the common areas of biotechnology with nanotechnology and cognitive sciences, the most application is the “opportunism" strategy.

The cultivation techniques of dinoflagellates is often problematic due to their sensitivity to hydrodynamic (shear) stress. For this study, sea anemone was collected from the east coast of Hormuz Island. First, we extracted symbiotic dinoflagellate, Symbiodinium sp. from Stichodactylla haddoni using manually homogenization. After transferring to the laboratory, samples were cultured in different mediums of ASP12, ASP8, F2-Gillard and L1, under temperatures of 17±1, 23±1 and 29±1 °C. The amount of light was about 100 µ mol.photon.m-2.s-1. Then, microalgae were cultured again in the selective medium ASP12. Cell counting was performed using a Neubauer chamber every day. Growth and mitotic index were measured during the period of cultivation. Maximum mitotic index, cell numbers and growth rates were observed at 23±1 °C at a rate of 40%, 12×105 cell/ml and 0.086 d-1,respectively. The results showed significant differences between cell numbers and growth rates of Zooxanthellae at three different temperatures (P <0.05). In conclusion, this study showed that environmental factors such as temperature can affect the growth rate of dinoflagellate, Symbiodinium sp.

Many countries have entered in trade and cultivation of transgenic plants. Some countries don’t enter in this area because of transgenic plants risk for the natural environment. However, most of countries have program on research and development about transgenic plants (even if there isn’t commerce of transgenic plants). In our country, numerous research centers and universities have researched on basic and applied science in the field of transgenic plants with different purposes. It is better to culture transgenic plants in transgenic plant greenhouse instead of conventional greenhouses to eliminate environmental concerns associated with transgenic plants producing research. Also, existences of these greenhouses are useful in commercialization, cultivation development and releasing studies of transgenic crops. Our country is very weak in transgenic greenhouse properties. Little scientific resources (or almost no) on this issue have been reported in published books and articles within the country; Thus, we aimed to in this paper to study the characteristics of transgenic greenhouses (especially in terms of structure and levels of biosafety).

In the past two decades، given the importance of biotech drugs and its effective role in the treatment of many diseases، the commercialization and selling of these products is dramatically grown worldwide and many large companies have obtained macro-economic benefits for their own and their mother country by investing in this area. The United States is the largest investor in the research، production and sales of pharmaceutical products derived from biotechnology; therefore، studying the biotechnological drugs market can provide an overall vision about the commercialization process and the market for these types of drugs in the world. For the young researchers in biotechnology and pharmaceutical field to be familiar with commercial status and sales of biotechnological drugs، the business development and selling of these products in the United States in a period of 10 years (2002-2012) was studied as a reference model. Data presented in this article is based on the reports from 2007 to 2014، which are published in each year in the Nature Biotechnology Journal.

One of the biotechnology applications in food industry is production of microbial exopolysaccharides. That are used as additives these microbial metabolites are high molecular weight polymers composed of reducing sugars that produced during the growth cycle by various strains of lactic acid bacteria and Bacillus. The exact role of microbial exopolysaccharides depends on structural unit and environmental conditions of producing microorganisms that protect food from against environmental stresses. Diversity in structure and composition of microbial exopolysaccharides in comparison to animal and plant polymers is the main superiority of these metabolites. To date, the exact function of microbial exopolysaccharides remained relatively unknown and by increasing researches for isolation and identification of these metabolites and newly applications of microbial exopolysaccharides, these compounds can be used as reproducible source in food industries. Microbial exopolysaccharides have also numerous applications in pharmaceuticals, paint, biotechnology and petrochemical. The most important applications in of these product food industry including thickener, causing the gel, hygroscopic properties and emulsifiers stabilizer that will be discussed briefly in this article.

Nuclear technology in medicine, food security, agriculture, nanobiotechnology and estimation of erosion and sedimentation of soil are examples from the applications of nuclear technology in life science and biotechnology. However widespread use and commercial production of these two fields require public awareness and gaining the trust and confidence of people toward the products with radioactive substances; but the combination of nuclear technology and life science has opened new peaceful windows into the treatment of diseases, reducing mortality, improving crop's quality, and also new research applications.