Abstract
Biotechnology is a diverse enterprise that captured the imagination of the general public in the last quarter of the 20th century. The announcement of the rough draft of the human genome at the beginning of the 21st century may prove to be one of the greatest steps in the development of mankind. For this potential to be fully realized, many technical barriers must be overcome. This perspective identifies and briefly discusses the major scientific areas that contributed to the foundations of biotechnology. This is not a complete historical account of the scientific advancements that were hallmarks of progress in the field. But, key contributions are noted to give the reader some feeling for the rapidity with which biotechnology is evolving. Now is an exciting time to be involved in biological research. Hopefully, this perspective will convey some of that excitement felt by the scientific community over the future of biotechnology.
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