The biotechnology industry emerged in the 1970s, based largely on a new recombinant DNA technique whose details were published in 1973 by Stanley Cohen of Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of California, San Francisco. Recombinant DNA is a method of making proteins such as human insulin and other therapies in cultured cells under controlled manufacturing conditions. Boyer went on to co-found Genentech, which today is biotechnology's largest company by market capitalization.

DNA fingerprinting, a biotech process, has dramatically improved criminal investigation and forensic medicine. It has also led to significant advances in anthropology and wildlife management.

Industrial biotech applications have led to cleaner processes that produce less waste and use less energy and water in such industrial sectors as chemicals, pulp and paper, textiles, food, energy, and metals and minerals. For example, most laundry detergents produced in the United States contain biotechnology-based enzymes.

There are more than 400 biotech drug products and vaccines currently in clinical trials targeting more than 200 diseases, including various cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and arthritis.

Biotechnology is responsible for hundreds of medical diagnostic tests that keep the blood supply safe from HIV and detect other conditions early enough to be successfully treated. Home pregnancy tests are also biotechnology diagnostic products.

The biotechnology industry has mushroomed since 1992, with U.S. health care biotech revenues from publicly traded companies rising from $8 billion in 1992 to $58.8 billion in 2006.

DNA fingerprinting, a biotech process, has dramatically improved criminal investigation and forensic medicine. It has also led to significant advances in anthropology and wildlife management.

The biosciences - including all life-sciences activities - employed 1.3 million people in the United States in 2006 and generated an additional 7.5 million related jobs.