The Future of the Biotech Industry

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

What is Biotech? The Future of Biotech. Are biotech companies good investments? Future of biotechnology, genetics, health care, pharmaceutical industry. Dr Patrick Dixon lecture to biotech venture capital investors about future medicine and health care, gene therapy, biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical industry.

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What is Biotechnology? - Video on biotech innovation, genetics and health care - Keynote Speaker

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Biotechnology is the use of the science of genetics: alteration of genetic code by artificial means, and is therefore different from traditional selective breeding. Biotechnology makes the whole digital revolution look almost as nothing. Digital technology changes what we do.

Biotechnology has the power to change who we are. Biotechnology will alter the basis of life on earth - permanently - unless controlled. This could happen if - say - mutant viruses, or bacteria, or fish or reptiles are released into the general environment.

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Germ warfare - mutant bugs could wipe out human life - Biotech Keynote Speaker

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

The thought of catching a cold and then getting cancer is horrifying. Such a scenario has come a big step closer - British scientists trying to make new mutant superbugs out of human cancer genes and viruses closely related to strains causing common cold. Although designed to help find cancer cure, the possibility of accidental escape is alarming.

Even more worrying is the thought that a hundred similar or more dangerous experiments may be going on that we have yet to find out about with military or terrorist use as biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction.

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Future Stem Cell Research: New Tissues, Organs. Future of Biotech Keynote Speaker

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Bone marrow and other tissues could repair your brain, spinal cord and heart and cure diabetes or old-age blindness. 

Clinical trials of many kinds are continuing, after a range of successful studies of stem cell use in animals.  Comment in 2008 with very accurate predictions.

Adult stem cells promise astonishing medical advances and investor returns while embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning raise major ethical, legal, and image problems.

Many ethical questions remain about use of stem cells from aborted foetuses, but reseachers are discovering the huge potential of stem cells from a patient's own body.

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Gender selection - is it right to chose a boy or a girl?

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Should gender selection be allowed for parents wanting a baby boy or girl? Gender selection is widely practised around the world. Gender selection is something many parents want: to decide the sex of their children. Gender selection is easy to do but raises huge moral / ethical issues. Gender selection can take place by encouraging in vitro fertilisation (IVF) only by sperm carrying the x or y chromosome. Gender selection can take place immediately after IVF when embryos are tested before implantation. Gender selection can take place when the developing foetus is tested, either genetically or by looking at ultarasound images, with abortion of a foetus if the "wrong sex". Gender selection can take place after birth when one or both parents kills their own baby.

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Cultural Differences in View of Science and Progress

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

There is a huge cultural gap between different world views on things like technology and science.

Popular views of science, ethics and morality.

Take for example the perspective of the Taliban or those living in the United States.

But we also see big variations within nations, expecially in ethical debates about human or animal experiments, or fusion of their different characteristics.

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Gene Tests for Insurance – Ethical and Legal Issues

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Why gene screening for insurance will be allowed to prevent fraud against life insurance companies.

Over the counter gene testing kits create life insurance risks for underwriters, because personal and private gene test results are not available to the insurer when assessing life insurance premiums.

The risk is that widespread requirements for gene tests by insurers could meant that people with certain genes are unable to get life or health cover, which in turn may impact things like eligibility for mortgages.

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Human genes into pigs to make hearts for people - Safe? Right?

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Xenortansplants - safety, reliability and ethics. There are three fundamental questions to ask regarding the use of organs from "humanised" animals to treat medical disorders. Are they safe? Do they work? Are they ethically right to use?  What are xenotransplants?

Archive 1997 - Updated 1999.

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Monarch Butterfly deaths from GM pollen - Futurist keynote speaker and advisor on global trends such as biotech and GM food

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Monarch butterlies may be threatened by pollen from genetically modified maize. That's the conclusion of a new Monarch Butterfly survival study by Cornell University published in Nature (Archive 21 May 1999).

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The Future of Biotechnology - pharma and health trends, biotech keynote speaker

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Indian biotechnology sector is expected to become a five billion-dollar (around Rs 23,400 crore) industry by 2010.Two children on gene therapy trial in France develop cancer. Inkjet printers to print living structures. Growing Organs on Hosts. Recent Stem Cell Research.

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Future of Medicine and Biotech - Video by Futurist Keynote Speaker Dr Patrick Dixon

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Everything you wanted to know about the future of health care industry and related themes. Keynote speech plus videos below by Dr Patrick Dixon (physician and futurist keynote speaker) for gene technology companies and biotech analysts / investors in Zurich. Comment by Dr Patrick Dixon on science of ageing, health care, life expectancy, medical advances, pensions, retirement, lifestyles and government policy. Audience of 150 - October 2002. Read more for video presentation.  Need a world-class health trends keynote speaker? Phone Patrick Dixon now or email.

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Should Scientists be told when to Stop? - Video

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Should scientists be told when to stop human cloning and other controversial research? (Video Archive 1997)

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Scorpion poison genes added to cabbages kill caterpillers

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Frankenstein goes shopping. Designer food - Co-op food retailing group announced a ban on selling beef, pork or other meat with added human genes. They also banned "superveg" containing genes from animals, and committed to labelling all foods where new genes have been added from other species.

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What is Human Genetics? - Video

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Future of biotechnology, genetics, health care, pharmaceutical industry. Human genetics to change people, study inheritance, alteration of human genetic code by artificial means etc. Human genetics to predict who has genetic abnormalities - see genetic testing. Watch video lecture about future medicine and health care, gene therapy, biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical industry.

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Humanised pork chops, scorpion poison salad and rubber tomatos

Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - BioTech and MedTech Keynote Speaker

Human genes for breakfast?  You may one day be eating steak, chicken, pork or lamb made from human and animal genes. Genes are the building blocks of life. They control eye colour, height, intelligence, and a million other things that make us human.

Archive 1994

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