Finally world economic meltdown kissed biotechnology too. It took time, may not be at that extent other fields are affected, but it is. There are several reasons to say it will continue even after other firms recovers.I have some friends working for both research institutions and biotechnology companies. One of my friend in an Indian research institution tells they started re-using eppendorf tube which they have never done earlier. Instead of thrown in to dustbin, now they wash it and sterilise. This is because they are not getting sufficient fund from the corporate firms who were always in back of these research. If this continues for quite a long time they may have to stop research. That is true, research works in biotechnology requires a huge fund, that a research institution alone can not afford. So many firms and also government bodies sponsor these research as their corporate social responsibility. At this economic condition how can you expect funds?
While bio tech companies are still seems to be stable at stock market are also running short of research capital. The capital comes from investment companies and most of the investment firms are now at their worst condition. So now, the research in large bio tech firms have also lost support from capital investment firms.If research in bio tech loses support, it could be a worst hit to mankind.
Photo: part of affinity chromatography column; 2007©Akshay Bhagwat
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