Biotechnology Biotechnology is the application of biology and genetic engineering (manipulating genes to obtain certain favorable traits) to industrial, medical and agricultural problems. At one extreme, biotechnology refers to any manipulation of organisms for human purposes. This definition views biotechnology as ancient. At the other extreme, in which biotechnology is viewed as a recent phenomenon, the term is invoked only when the manipulations of organisms involve specific techniques such as the construction of recombinant DNA molecules. There are several methods of biotechnology including recombinant DNA techniques, tissue culture, gene transfer, embryo manipulation, and bioprocess engineering.