The direct and deliberate manipulation of living systems using engineering principles. It's the application of design, analysis, and construction to biology, treating cells and DNA as programmable hardware and software. This includes genetic modification of crops, designing microbes to produce pharmaceuticals, growing tissues in bioreactors, and creating synthetic biological circuits. It's not just studying life; it's inventing new forms of it to solve human problems.
Bioengineering Example: Creating a yeast strain Bioengineered to produce the antimalarial drug artemisinin instead of brewing beer, or designing bacteria that can detect and destroy cancer cells in the body, are acts of bioengineering. It's turning biology into a precise manufacturing technology.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026
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