[Paleopsych] Fantastic Voyage: The Biotechnology Revolution

[Steve Hovland]

As we learn how information is transformed in biological processes, many 
strategies are emerging for overcoming disease and aging processes. We'll 
review some of the more promising approaches here, and then discuss further 
examples in the chapters ahead. One powerful approach is to start with 
biology's information backbone: the genome. With gene technologies, we're 
now on the verge of being able to control how genes express themselves. 
Ultimately, we will actually be able to change the genes themselves.
We are already deploying gene technologies in other species. Using a method 
called recombinant technology, which is being used commercially to provide 
many new pharmaceutical drugs, the genes of organisms ranging from bacteria 
to farmyard animals are being modified to produce the proteins we need to 
combat human diseases.
http://www.fantastic-voyage.net/Chapter2.htm