Biotecnologia e Biomateriais

Abstrato

The History of Modern Biotechnology in Iran: A Medical Review

Ramin Mazaheri Nezhad Fard, Masoumeh Moslemy and Hannaneh Golshahi

The origin of biotechnology goes back to millenniums ago. The ancient China and Egypt were the first countries that used biotechnology in the form of food fermentation. The modern biotechnology especially in the field of medicine is introduced as “Technology of Hope” as many people are favored from the medical biotechnology products in therapeutic or prophylaxis form worldwide. Interestingly, Iran is one of the pioneers in many fields of biotechnology especially medical biotechnology in the Asia-pacific region. About nine decades ago, vaccine production was commenced in Pasteur and Razi Institutes in Iran by the emphasis on human vaccines and animal studies, respectively. It was a start point in development of modern pharmaceutical industries in Iran. Continued national research has led to investigate and launch various medical products at both national and international scales. Now, results of incoming research in medical biotechnology have various promising advances at different views from experimental to clinical trials. One of these surprising approaches includes animal cloning for the basic research and therapeutic agent recovery means. Other applications are related to genomics, proteomics, tissue engineering, stem cell techniques and diagnostic tools. However, any efforts in this area must be supported financially and educationally by the government and private sectors to continue the rich history of biotechnology in Iran.