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Biotechnology is a rapidly growing field that combines biology and technology to create innovative solutions to a variety of problems. From developing new medicines and treatments to improving crop yields and protecting the environment, biotechnology has the potential to transform the world and make a positive impact on the lives of people around the world. Biotechnology trivia questions are a great way to test your knowledge of this exciting field and to learn more about its history, applications, and future possibilities.
This list of biotechnology trivia questions covers a wide range of topics and is designed to challenge your understanding of the field. From the earliest developments in biotechnology to the latest breakthroughs, this list of questions is sure to be both educational and entertaining.
Whether you're a biotechnology student, a professional, or simply someone who is interested in learning more about this exciting field, this list of biotechnology trivia questions is sure to provide you with hours of enjoyment and learning. So why not put your knowledge to the test and see how you fare? Let's explore the fascinating world of biotechnology and see how much you really know.
1. In the world of appropriate ticker symbols, $MRNA on the NASDAQ represents which biotechnology company and vaccine developer that used MRNA technology to compete against Pfizer-BioNTech to bring a product to help protect people from COVID-19 to market?
Answer: Moderna
2. In 2000, Intuitive Surgical Company launched a robotic surgical system to assist surgeons with everything from prostate removals to heart valve repairs. The system was named after which famous artist who was known for his anatomical drawings and a portrait of a smirking lady?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
3. Sporting the NASDAQ symbol of “ME,” what personal genomics and biotechnology company became quite popular in the early 2020s for selling at-home tests that identified your ancestry composition?
Answer: 23andMe
4. Placed in the chest to monitor and correct abnormal heart rhythms, the medical device known as an "ICD" is short for "implantable cardioverter" WHAT?
Answer: Defibrillator
5. Biotech that exists on a scale of one billionth of a meter is what kind of biotechnology? The one-word prefix is also the name of a flash memory version of the iPod Mini that was sold from 2005 to 2017.
Answer: Nanobiotechnology
6. The flu shot is recommended by the WHO and CDC for yearly vaccination for nearly all people over the age of six months. What animal's eggs are often used to produce this vaccine each year?
Answer: Hen/Chicken
7. Announced in 2020, the AlphaFold 2 program became record-settingly good at using AI algorithms to accurately predict the structure of what biomolecules?
Answer: Proteins
8. Biopharming is the process of producing edible pharmaceuticals in plants and domestic animals, such as what “V” medical method of causing a person to develop antibodies against a disease without direct exposure to that illness?
Answer: Vaccine
9. In 1974, Rudolf Jaenisch created the first GM animal when, to use them to study cancer and neurological diseases, he inserted foreign DNA into what mammal?
Answer: A mouse
10. What medical device includes the Latin word for “cloud” and has the ability to evaporate liquid medication into mist to enable users to inhale it into their lungs?
Answer: Nebulizer
11. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, also known as a DEXA scan, is frequently used to measure the density of what material in the body?
Answer: Bone
12. A glucometer can be used by people with diabetes to check their blood sugar levels. What’s the medical term for blood sugar?
Answer: Glucose
13. Developed at MIT and at Boston Dynamics, Spot is a contact-free robot that helps with basic patient care and is mounted on a body with what guessable number of legs?
Answer: Four
14. COVID-19 revived the near obsolete Drinker Tank, popular polio-era negative pressure ventilators better known by what metallic name?
Answer: Iron Lung
15. Played by LeVar Burton, Lieutenant Geordi La Forge wore a VISOR, a curved device worn over the face like sunglasses, to restore his vision on which TV series in the "Star Trek" franchise?
Answer: Star Trek: The Next Generation
16. First performed by physician Raymond Damadian in 1977, MRI is short for what radiology technique that uses scanners with strong magnetic fields to create anatomical images of the physiological processes of the body?
Answer: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
17. "Keyhole" is another name for minimally invasive surgery that’s known by what L-word that roughly means "seeing a flank"?
Answer: Laparoscopy
18. Declared by medical device manufacturers in each market where they plan to sell a new product, the intellectual-property acronym FTO stands for "freedom to" to what?
Answer: Operate
19. The Kerry biopharmaceutical brand is a leader in what “N” concept as it applies to cells? It is the scientific analysis of how food provides cells with life.
Answer: Nutrition
20. Lixte is a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering drugs and more effective treatments for what endemic “C” disease?
Answer: Cancer
21. A DNA microarray is also called a DNA what? Think computers not a crunchy snack.
Answer: Chip
22. What does the “C” in cDNA stand for? It’s a homophone for an adjective that means you like telling people what you like about them.
Answer: Complementary
23. A colposcope is used to look in the vagina up to which organ that makes up the lower part of the uterus?
Answer: Cervix
24. Which term that starts with “bio” generally refers to materials used to make things like implants and prosthetics that work with the body and are not toxic to it?
Answer: Biocompatible
25. If the star of the "Mission: Impossible" movies takes a nasty spill, he might get a CT scan. The C stands for "Computed," and what does the T stand for?
Answer: Tomography
26. In what 1987 film starring Peter Weller and Nancy Allen, the city of Detroit signs a deal with the company Omni Consumer Products to rebuild parts of the city into a utopia and introduce a law enforcement robot, ED-209?
Answer: RoboCop
27. In the medical field, what is the name for a tube typically made of plastic or metal that is inserted into the lumen of a vessel or duct with the goal of keeping a passageway open?
Answer: Stent
28. In October 2020, a San Francisco-based company named Whisper raised $35 million in Series B funding. Coincidentally, Quiet Ventures led the fundraising round for Whisper, and the company is known as a manufacturer of what piece of medical technology?
Answer: Hearing aids
29. A Danish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company that makes the drugs Levemir and Victoza is _______ Nordisk?
Answer: Novo
30. The robot "Flippy," produced by Miso Robotics, is primarily sold to aid in the specific practice of preparing what food item? The robot became commercially available for $30,000 in October 2020.
Answer: Burgers
31. Blood-forming stem cells are important in cancer treatments because they form red blood cells, white blood cells, and what clotty things?
Answer: Platelets
32. In 2011, a Swedish university hospital performed the world's first transplant operation using a synthetic organ that was fully grown in a laboratory. What organ, also known as the windpipe, did they successfully transplant?
Answer: Trachea
33. Used to amplify RNA targets, the RT-PCR method stands for "reverse transcription polymerase chain" what?
Answer: Reaction
34. What “M” cancer center is a nonprofit located in Tampa, Florida? Established in 1981 by the Florida legislature, it opened on the USF campus in 1986.
Answer: Moffitt Cancer Center
35. What author of both popular science and science fiction laid out his “Three Rules Of Robotics” in 1942, explaining how robots could protect humans and themselves, which influenced later real-world robot makers? He expounded on these rules in many short stories, including his “I, Robot” collection.
Answer: Isaac Asimov
36. Often implanted in people who have had cataract surgery, a "pseudophakos" is an artificial replacement for what part of the eye?
Answer: Lens
37. Usually including an adjustable cuff and a rubber tube, the device called a sphygmomanometer takes what important measurement?
Answer: Blood pressure
38. What “D” technique is electrically induced heat often used during surgery to help maintain blood flow and prevent excessive bleeding? It gets its one-word name from Greek words literally meaning “heating through.”
Answer: Diathermy
39. What word follows “Wartenberg” in the alliterative name of a medical device designed to test a patient’s sensitivity as it is rolled across their skin?
Answer: Wheel
40. QuantBioRes, a company that is experimenting with electromagnetic resonance to treat viruses, acquired in 2022 a major shareholder in what Serbian tennis player, winner of several Grand Slam titles in the 2010s?
Answer: Novak Djokovic
41. A biotechnology company, founded in 1996 by Martine Rothblatt in Silver Springs, MD, specializing in lung disease and organ manufacturing, is ______ Therapeutics Corporation. The word is also the “U” name for an airline based out of Chicago.
Answer: United Therapeutics Corporation
42. The vaccine codenamed AZD1222 was developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with which multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company?
Answer: AstraZeneca
43. The gene gun, a device used to infuse a new organism with genetic material that is then incorporated into the organism’s DNA, was invented by research scientists at what “C” Ivy League university, located in Ithaca, New York?
Answer: Cornell University
44. What “N” Biotechnology company seeks to transform the field of proteomics by democratizing access to the proteome? Its name is the same as Nemo’s ship in “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.”
Answer: Nautilus Biotechnology
45. Named for its three functions of sensing, recording, and computing, what handheld device is used by doctors in the "Star Trek" franchise to diagnose medical conditions?
Answer: Tricorder
46. ELISA is a common way to test for antibodies in a blood sample. The test wasn’t named after a lady—it’s actually an acronym. What does ELISA stand for?
Answer: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
47. Medical technology has made use of the natural light-up ability of some creatures (like fireflies) for everything from tests to imaging scans. What is the term for the chemical reaction that happens between an enzyme called luciferase and oxygen?
Answer: Bioluminescence
48. Which U.S.-based medical technology company, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, created the Mako™ Robotic Arm?
Answer: Stryker
49. Pacemakers and infusion pumps are examples of AIMDs, which stands for Active _________ Medical Devices.
Answer: Implantable
50. Which term applies to a drug delivery method, like a patch, that is placed on the skin?
Answer: Transdermal
51. Some of what kind of diagnostic devices, like an over-the-counter urine pregnancy test or a glucometer, can be used to get information about your health at home instead of in the doctor’s office?
Answer: Vitro
52. Which federal agency in the U.S. is tasked with reviewing and approving medical devices, which includes putting them into one of three classification categories based on how invasive they are and how much influence they could have on a patient’s health?
Answer: Food and Drug Administration
53. You might have to “focus and think hard” on this one. Which C-word is a kind of medical device that filters out the nitrogen from the air in a room, then supplies the purified oxygen to a patient through a cannula or mask?
Answer: Concentrator
54. Transfection is the process of putting DNA or RNA into cells artificially. Which compounds are DNA and RNA classes of?
Answer: Nucleic Acids
55. Any living thing that’s had its genetic material changed through the power of technology (usually in a lab) is a GMO, which stands for genetically modified _______.
Answer: Organism
56. What is the medical term for the thin tubes placed in a patient’s body to deliver or remove something? For example, putting a tube in their nose to give them oxygen.
Answer: Cannula
57. Which M-term describes the process where the DNA of an organism changes either naturally (spontaneously) or intentionally (for example, in a lab)?
Answer: Mutagenesis
58. What monitor is a wearable medical device that monitors a patient’s heart while they’re going about their usual activities (usually for 24 hours)? Often, it has a button a patient can press to note when they are having symptoms, which can then be cross-checked with the captured heart data to help make a diagnosis.
Answer: Holter
59. Which A-word refers to something that’s added to a treatment to enhance it, for example, adding aluminum hydroxide to a vaccine to boost the immune system response it prompts?
Answer: Adjuvant
60. Hemodialysis filters blood through a dialyzer, which is basically like an artificial version of which organ?
Answer: Kidney
61. UNOS, a scientific and medical non-profit based in Richmond's Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, administers the United States' "network" for "sharing" what, represented by the "O" in the acronym?
Answer: Organs
62. What “V” biotech startup, started in Boston in 2011, is working on a platform of stability to allow for global delivery of vaccines? Their name is fittingly a spin on a shorthand of the word “vaccine.”
Answer: Vaxess Technologies
63. Which interdisciplinary field is concerned with the computational interrogation of large-scale biological data, typically as applied to molecular genetics and genomics?
Answer: Bioinformatics
64. Founded in 2009 to combine expertise in fuels and industrial biotechnology, Butamax is a joint venture between BP and what Delaware-based chemical company?
Answer: DuPont
65. Ancient Chinese doctors used onion stalks to perform the function of what tube that’s used to remove fluids from a body cavity?
Answer: catheter
66. A medical device company, founded in 1998 in Shanghai, China, makers of the ENO pacemaker and the Spyderview arrhythmia assessment, is what kind of Port? It’s the one-word metric prefix meaning “one millionth.”
Answer: MicroPort
67. Green biotechnology refers to biotechnology used in the environmental sector, whereas what color is used to describe biotechnology used in the medical and pharma field?
Answer: Red
68. Juliano Pinto is a paraplegic man who symbolically "kicked off" an event in what country in 2014 by using a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton?
Answer: Brazil (World Cup)
69. The field workers for the FDA are often known as "Investigators," but they have a more technical name abbreviated as CSOs. What does this initialism stand for? These are the folks who inspect production facilities, illnesses, and review cases of medical devices or drugs.
Answer: Consumer Safety Officers
70. Lonza Group AG is a multinational chemical and biotechnology company headquartered in Basel, a city in what European country? It was established in the late 19th century.
Answer: Switzerland
71. What parent company of several medical technology companies, founded in 2015 in Erlangen, Germany, traces its origins back to 1847 and Werner von WHO? The “S” company likes to refer to itself as “Healthineers”.
Answer: Siemens
72. The term "robot" was introduced in what form of literature by Czech writer Karel Capek in 1920?
Answer: Play
73. Joseph F. Engelberger, considered the "Father of Robotics," created the world's first industrial robot in 1961, which was used on the assembly line for what automotive company?
Answer: General Motors
74. A patient with type 1 diabetes may have a wearable device that automatically delivers the medicine that helps keep their blood sugar in check, which is necessary for their survival. The technical name is “continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy,” but what’s the common term for the device?
Answer: Insulin pump
75. ECMO is an acronym for the type of life support a patient would need if their heart and lungs weren't working on their own. ECMO stands for _______ membrane oxygenation. The word means that it happens outside the body.
Answer: Extracorporeal
76. Which R-word related to recovering from an injury or illness applies to robots or other such devices that could be used by professionals like physical therapists to aid a patient with their exercises or as mobility aids (for example, exoskeletons)?
Answer: Rehabilitation
77. What is the five-letter "B" word that is used to refer to a dosage of fast-acting insulin that is often given via the continuously-attached "pump" device worn by some diabetics?
Answer: Bolus
78. RoboCop, meet RoboDoc! In 1985, surgeons in California performed the first-ever robot-assisted surgery. Which organ did they use the robot to probe?
Answer: The brain
79. What “D” medical device company, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Diego, California, manufactures blood glucose monitors for diabetes management?
Answer: Dexcom
80. ESR, which is measured by placing a blood sample in a test tube to see how quickly the red cells settle, stands for erythrocyte _______ rate.
Answer: sedimentation
81. Which “E” word describes the lab technique that uses an electrical current to separate molecules by size (for example, in DNA or RNA)?
Answer: Electrophoresis
82. Which field of biotechnology involves breeding crops to be resistant to pests, for example, through genetic modification?
Answer: Agricultural
83. Baha hearing devices are good for more than the beach, since Baha is just an acronym for WHAT-anchored hearing aids?
Answer: Bone
84. Considered critical components of nanotechnology, what is the term for liquids (and their manipulation for scientific users) that are geometrically constrained to sub-millimeter sizes?
Answer: Microfluids
85. If you've got some hollow needles filled with cold fluid meant to destroy cancerous fluid, you're performing what cancer treatment that starts with "C"?
Answer: Cryoablation
86. Combining an integrated image guidance system and a linear accelerator on a robotic manipulator, what is the name of the medical robot invented by John Adler at Stanford and released by Accuray Incorporated? The dangerous-sounding device is frequently used for tumor removal and other oncological procedures.
Answer: CyberKnife
87. In June 2021, Medtronic announced a successful prostatectomy performed by their robotic-assisted surgical system with what name it shares with an annual science fiction literary award?
Answer: Hugo
88. What “S” biotech company, started in Seattle, WA in 2018, is using engineered cells to repair damaged cells and genes to fight disease? Its name is the Arabic word for “year.”
Answer: Sana Biotechnology
89. Biotech scientists at Germany's Max Planck Institute have experimented with using what stimulating chiral alkaloid as a defensive substance against herbivorous insects? This substance is often associated with human usage in various forms, including smoke.
Answer: Nicotine
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