Biotechnology is a fascinating and wondrous field of science that has continued to evolve by leaps and bounds, particularly after the unravelling of the structure of DNA in the 1950s.

Biotechnology involves the use of living organisms or their derivatives to create products and processes for specific uses. The field has seen significant advancements over the past few decades. Its applications span numerous sectors, but its impact on agriculture and health is particularly profound.

A huge boost to this field was given in Pakistan when I was the federal minister of science and technology during 2000-2002. The National Commission of Biotechnology was set up, and eminent biotechnologist Dr Anwer Naseem was appointed to head it. Several projects were funded under the auspices of the commission, resulting in an exponential increase in scientific publications in biotechnology-related fields from Pakistan.

Centres such as the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) and the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) Faisalabad, operating under the Atomic Energy Commission, have played a valuable part through development of improved varieties of cotton, wheat and other crops utilizing biotechnology tools.

Let us try to understand some aspects of this very important field. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life. Imagine it as a long, twisted ladder made up of four types of building blocks (molecules), which can be thought of as letters. These ‘letters’ form the ‘words’ and ‘sentences’ that tell our cells how to function, grow, and reproduce. There are some three billion ‘letters’ in human DNA.

Just as a recipe tells a cook how to make a dish, DNA provides the blueprint for making all the proteins and structures that our bodies need. It is found in almost every cell of our body and is passed from parents to children, determining everything from our........

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