The Role of Technological Advancements in Molecular Biology

Introduction

The advancement of technology is now helping most of the biologists to implement their research or any other activity in accurate time. The discovery of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the development of the in vitro assays are the few examples that show the technological advancement in the sector of biology. The polymerase technologies machine now becomes an important part of the scientific laboratory and without which the research could be time-consuming or difficult to execute. There are some of the modern imaging technologies that have the highest impact created on the field of the molecular biology department. Various technologies are driven to provide necessary efforts to gain or obtain a complete understanding of the complicated biological system or researches and also to manipulate the systems. The gene silencing, generation of novel binding, advanced networking, and bioinformatics are some of the useful technologies or its concept which is used now by most of the biologist in their research. The impact of technology helps in real-time monitoring with the group of molecular cells and also to identify the cycle of their interaction. The study will discuss or illustrate the role of molecular tools or technologies in the different activities of the biology sector.

Discussion

Modern Technologies and tools in Biology

The biology and the technology both are progressing rapidly with each other which brings enhancement in the field from neuroscience to medicine. The list of technological tools which are used by the biologist in the research and other activities are listed below

Optogenetics: It is the recently developed technology that is used by the biologist to control the activity of individual neurons. Here the neuron signals are transmitted through the movement of charged atoms or ions with the help of channels in cell membranes. Some kinds of algae posses light channel protein encoded in their respective DNA. Thus using the methods from one of the gene therapy the scientist can be able to inject this gene to that of animal neurons which are turn makes the cell turn on or after getting a response from light (Yang et al. 2020). The researchers can also be able to observe the brain activity of any individual and they can manipulate it instantly. Optogenetics works following the theory of genetic engineering and here the biologist changes the number of information in the scientific code. The code allows the list of neurons to make or produce the range of special proteins called opsins. The opsins responded to the light and it can also be used for mapping the brain of the mouse in several ways.

Bionic Limbs: The inventor of this technology is Darth Vader and invented by the company DEKA. The arm which is controlled through the help of foot-operated joystick and also provides vibrated feedback related to the strength of the hand's grip. The Luke arm in this helps in getting a direct signal from the upper arm muscles which will help in controlling the movement of the hand as opposed to that of the foot joystick. The Bionic limbs are classified into three different categories like direct nerve interfacing, direct muscle interfacing, and targeted muscular reinnervation. The bionic limbs help an individual to strengthen the muscle sites and it can require more rehabilitation for some of them.

It has an adjustable dynamic socket which helps the individual in getting more comfort and performing easy activities or movement. The electrodes that are connected to the limbs record the pattern for the nerve signals and allow the individual in training the prosthetic limbs to act like a real hand. It also provides the individual proportional control and also features like multiple grip modes. Thus the one who lost their real hand because of an accident can use this device (Sreedhar et al. 2019). Even though the help of brain-computer interfaces the bionic arms can be controlled by the brain directly. [Referred to Appendix 1]

Brain-Computer Interface: These tools are used mostly to restore mobility to people who are subjected to paralysis by spinal cord injury or any brain diseases. It is also useful in restoring the memory of an individual who lost it by any accident. The emerging field of the Brain-computer interfaces allows the individual or provides them the capability to speak or use the limbs to communicate or operate various objects. The technology allows the signal to the brain and converts it into various commands which are used to carry or continue with the desired action. The basic-computer interface does not use the normal output paths or peripheral nerves and muscles. The technology records the signal that is representing particular movements and connections.

Thus the purpose of the Brain-computer interface is to detect and identify different features of the signals in the brain which basically indicates the intention of a user and further decodes the commands to perform the necessary action. The electric signal is produced by the neuronal postsynaptic membrane that basically occurs because of the activation in any of the voltage or ion channels. The computer decodes the signal and uses it to control the prosthetic limb or cursor of the computer. [Referred to Appendix 2]

Molecular Computer: The computer chips of this device are constructed using fundamentals of logic gates like AND, OR, and NOT which performs mathematical calculation of any given input. The molecular computer is the branch of computing that basically uses the molecular biology hardware instead of using silicon-based technologies. This device can be used to run computation inside the cells by biologists (livescience.com, 2020).

The AMSCOPE Compound MI58C-E Monocular is one of the modern scientific tools that are used to transfer light for better viewing of microbes or any other organism in a scientific laboratory. The USB of the machine makes it easier to connect with any projector or computer. It also consists of interchangeable eyepieces and traditional side clips. The PCR which is one of the latest scientific techniques is used by the biologist for cloning of gene-fragments. It also helps to analyze or identify various diseases that might be genetic. The PCR can also help in amplification of DNA that can be used further for sequencing. The image analysis software like Typhoon and LAS500 is now widely used in biological laboratories all over the world (sciencing.com, 2020).

Conclusion

The technology had shown vast growth in this world and now it also aims to improve the functionality of the research made by any biologist. This is concluded by some of the biologists that this technology had made their work easier and also results in making the process less time consuming and useful. Modern technologies like Brain-Computer Interfaces and Bionic limbs helped people to live life once again who lost their memory or hands by any accident. Therefore the modern tools and technologies had impacted the research and various activities of biologists in laboratories. The latest techniques like PCR and image analysis software helps most of the biologist to implement different laboratory activities with less error and also in accurate time. The advancement in technology not only makes research more time consuming but also it provides a correct solution with proper evidence.

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Reference List

Journals

Sreedhar, M., Shekar, S.S.M., Vardhan, K.A. and Krishna, S.V., 2019. A Review on Bionic Arm.

Yang, S., Deisseroth, K.A., Allen, W.E., Kauvar, I.V. and Andalman, A.S., Leland Stanford Junior University, 2020. Methods and devices for imaging and/or optogenetic control of light-responsive neurons. U.S. Patent 10,568,516.

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