Discovery and Biotechnology for the Better of Humanity and Environmental in Asia Region

Biotechnology is a rapidly growing cross-disciplinary field involving medicine, biology, chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology, and computer science. Based on the need to  discover biotechnology in Asia with new tailored properties, thus this field became the supporting line for scientific discovery, creating innovative medical devices, drugs/vaccine development, disease management products, higher agricultural yields and algorithms that improve human health and the environment around the world. To address challenges related to biotechnology at this moment, miniaturization technology, material innovation, personalized treatment of rare diseases, and cell or gene therapies are needed to support the biotech industry and lead to reach innovation. We have been introduced to new treatment methods against Alzheimer's or cancer and also other areas such as food industry and agriculture. Not forget that this field has risen since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the increasing rate of medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Recently, technology advancement has proven to play an important role in the healthcare system. The intensive use of biomedical instrumentation helps with diagnostics in normal and pathological states. Herein, it leads to a better understanding of human physiology, for example, by mapping the cognitive measurement of dementia patients using their cortex activities, the electrocochleography of acute stroke patients using neural network data and developing a case of miniature technology that enables us to diagnose dopamine deficiency in a shorter time and in a more simple manner.

In turn, an intervention is likely to be interpreted as surgical treatment according to the available clinical capacity. According to the orthopedic report, the traumatic cases were quite unusual for people in South and East Asia. A higher rate of accidents leading to orthopedic surgery was evident in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Pakistan and India. A unique anatomical feature requires a specific geometry of the implant and the study related to it. Research on this orthotic device was also reported, such as the design of the spine cage and lumbar spine model that is very important to establish a general framework facilitating the understanding of the technical and medical requirements to develop new tools and methods.

Similarly, modern biotech companies are developing medicines for the specific needs of a particular person. The individualization of drugs makes them more effective, but there should also be fewer side effects. Therefore, a study on drug delivery model has also been discussed, such as the newer chitosan-based drug carrier, the molecular study of genotypes related the thalassemia patient, specifically patients in Java, stipulated a gene polymorphism as a risk factor in hypertension and also validation of the cryoprotectant to improve embryo during the preservation.

For developing countries, including Indonesia, in the development of biotech, there is still a gap between research results by academics and products downstream by the medical device industry. The product downstream process takes a long time because not many local medical device industries have developed it. On the other hand, the government's policy for product certification is still very rigid and requires long stages. This is one of the challenges for the local government to come up with the right policies so that biotech development can progress more quickly.

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, scientists have been forced to consider novel vaccine development and research methods, such as the evaluation of novel vaccine manufacturing from the insect cell baculovirus platform. While vaccine and drug development is constantly evolving, each vaccine/drug is just a product designed for a whole group. Regenerative medicine takes a different approach. Living tissue can be made from biologically active cells that are deposited on biodegradable scaffolds in controlled conditions, such as in a cell culture bioreactor to easily grow cell organoids; the aseptic condition was the main feature of this controlled environment that was harnessed; cell engineering was then followed by tissue recreation to put in a complete cycle of regeneratively engineered tissue; and working on a photo-initiator on natural biomaterial as tissue sealant.

As we know, the Asia Pacific continent has been known as a megabiodiversity region because of the high level of biodiversity it has, including medicinal plants, animals, energy, and also food production. Therefore, there is a need to develop an alternative antibacterial and unique antimicrobial agent, as well as address emerging issues related to antimicrobial resistance. Innovative products derived from the environment were thoroughly investigated, such as the development of an antibacterial agent from the venom of the Asian apis cerana bee and an antifungal agent from Brunei propolis. To increase the possibility and implementation of research, further feasibility studies were also emphasized. A techno-economic analysis of bioethanol production from the palm oil empty fruit bunch to put extra layer on its circular economy. However, in order to ensure the sustainability of the environment in life and in the future, it is necessary to process and treat waste, which is also an important consideration.