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Molecular farming and plant biopharming news

- all the transgenic plant news headlines since April 2007

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A research team at Örebro University in Sweden has succeeded in changing the genes in plants so they can function as a vaccine against HIV. Through gene modification the plants have acquired the capacity to produce a protein that is part of the virus, and mice that have been fed the plants have reacted and formed antibodies against the protein. - May. 09

ETH Zurich researchers have shown that mosses and humans share unexpected common characteristics. These evolutionary relics could be useful in the production of therapeutic proteins. - May. 09

SemBioSys Genetics Inc. (TSX:SBS), specializing in the manufacture of high-value proteins and oils in plant seeds, today announced that it has reached an agreement with AVAC Ltd. for a $1.5 million loan for the development of its Apo AIMilano candidate. - May. 09

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant recipient Eric Lam at Rutgers University in New Jersey is exploring tomatoes as a antiviral drug delivery system. - May. 09

In recognition of Earth Day, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is encouraging people to think beyond the usual ways we can help our planet by highlighting ten ways biotechnology is helping to save the planet. - April. 09

Fear feeding genetically engineered crop debate, rather than science. - April. 09

2nd article ( 1st is below) on how scientists from Europe successfully used genetically modified tobacco plants to generate medicines for a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. - April. 09

High purification yields of the functionally assembled tumor-specific mAb (H10), using an environmentally contained production system based on transient agroinfiltration of N. benthamiana plants, that could meet the requirements for a large-scale economical production, demonstrated. - April. 09

Expression of recombinant proteins in green algal chloroplast holds substantial promise as a platform for the production of human therapeutic proteins. A number of proteins have been expressed in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, including complex mammalian proteins. - March. 09

Field trials at the University of Rostock, Germany, are assessing genetically modified potatoes, which can be used to obtain a biodegradable plastic. - March. 09

SemBioSys Genetics Inc. - preliminary results of its first "in-man" clinical study of SBS-1000, a recombinant human insulin manufactured using its proprietary platform. The trial demonstrated that SBS-1000 was bioequivalent to a recombinant human insulin with the expected safety profile.
- March. 09

European scientists announce they have succeeded in using genetically modified tobacco plants to produce medicines for several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. - March. 09

Plant Research International and the Microbiology group, both part of Wageningen UR, have jointly developed potato plants that are capable of producing itaconic acid, a valuable raw material for the chemical industry. - March 09

Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) receives authorisation to field test its GM poplar trees, enhanced for ethanol production, in Belgium - March 09

Plant made antibody protects against virus attacking different plant type - Feb. 09

MIT chemists have genetically altered a plant to produce entirely new compounds, some of which could be used as drugs against cancer and other diseases - Jan. 09

Hong Kong scientists produce chicken feed with bird flu vaccine - Jan. 09

KDEL-tagged scFv antibody expression in tobacco roots - Jan. 09

SemBioSys receives US$2.5 million from option agreement with MannKind for plant-produced insulin - Jan. 09

Purdue researchers find nature's shut-off switch for cellulose production - Dec 08

Corn cultivar designed for ethanol ( Syngenta's Event 3272 Maize variety ) - Dec 08

Russian scientists grow new tobacco that kills cancer instead of humans - Dec 08

Tobacco giant breathes life into medical startup ( Philip Morris and Medicago ) - Dec 08

Study shows novel bioreactor enhances Interleukin-12 production in genetically modified tobacco plants - Dec 08

SemBioSys begins phase I/II trial of insulin produced in plant seeds - Dec 08

Japanese scientists engineer plants to absorb toxic formaldehyde gas - Nov.08

Aresa's Red-Detect project comes to a close - Nov 08

GM Soya with Omega-3 fatty acids which will have healthy heart benefits could be on the market in 5 years following good test results. The development could help save fish stocks too. - Nov 08

Bayer Innovation GmbH and Kentucky Bioprocessing, LLC (KBP) are collaborating to develop a facility at KBP`s Owensboro plant in Kentucky for the production of biopharmaceuticals from Tobacco. ( This is a part - continuation & redevelopment of the old Large Scale Biology facility ) - Sept. 08

A $16-million investment by Philip Morris International will help Quebec City-based Medicago Inc. develop its early-stage technology that produces vaccines using tobacco leaves as a medium. Avine flu the first main target. - Sept 08

SemBioSys Genetics Inc. announces that it is eligible to proceed with its planned Phase I/II human clinical trial of plant-produced insulin now that the 30-day review period of its Investigational New Drug (IND) application has passed. - Sept 08

MSU’s scientists are molecular farming Maize for cellulositic ethanol, ( Spartan Corn III ) using the digestive enzymes produced by fungi and the microbes in cow rumens. The newly transgenic plants store these enzymes in vacuoles in the leaves and stalk in a way that doesn’t affect the plant while it’s alive. - Sept 08

Researchers at Sweden`s Karolinska Institute and at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London have developed a system that eliminates the need for antibiotics and resistance genes in the engineering of industrial and medical products. - Sept. 08

Farmers standing by tobacco, particularly as researchers find new uses for crop - Sept 08

A personalised Molecular-farming, GM tobacco plant vaccine has been tested in an early-stage clinical trial, and it showed an immune response in 70 percent of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients without harmful side effects. - Aug 08

Why we need GM trees - Aug 08

Henry Daniell, Ph.D., ( University of Central Florida) has been experimenting with a new way to deliver insulin. He and his team inject the human gene for insulin into leafs of lettuce. The lettuce can be ground up and made into a powdered capsule. - Aug 08

UCF professor Henry Daniell develops vaccine to protect against black plague bioterror attack - July 08

SemBioSys Genetics Inc. announced that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for safflower-produced recombinant human insulin to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). - July 08

South Africa - Scientists from the University of Stellenbosch have teamed up with Danish biotechnology firm Aresa to test a genetically engineered tobacco plant that turns red when it grows near land mines, offering hope of a cheap way to help clear fields in post-conflict zones. - July 08

Plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine. - July 08

Molecular Farming - GM providing medical solutions - July 08

Ventria Bioscience has received $3.75 million in financing from the state of Kansas to expand the company's processing capacity and prepare its anti-diarrheal rice products for market. Chief Executive Scott Deeter has said Ventria will launch an over-the-counter product by the end of the year. It would be the first genetically engineered "medical food" to reach the market. - July 08

Medicago to evaluate establishment of a pandemic vaccine production facility in France in collaboration with Genopole d'Evry in Paris - July 08

Tomatoes could be a suitable carrier for an oral vaccine against Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the Biotechnology Letters. HyunSoon Kim from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) in Korea and colleagues from Digital Biotech Inc. and the Department of Biological Science at Wonkwang University conducted the study. - July 08

Ventria's pharmaceutical rice fields are flourishing, - ramps up production lines in Kansas as orders come in. - June 08

Breakthrough in plant medicine production - A research team including scientists from Plant Research International and Wageningen University has succeeded in further unravelling and manipulating the glycosylation of proteins in plants. - June 08

Bayer and its subsidiary Icon Genetics have together developed a new production process that can be used to produce biotech drugs in tobacco plants. - June 08

Article on Om Parkash Dhankher efforts to engineer a rice plant that doesn't take up arsenic, and engineer non-food plants to clean-up arsenic in polluted ground. - June 08

Article on Canada's Molecular-farming companies, - Sembiosys and Medicago - June 08

SemBioSys Genetics Inc. announces that it has demonstrated that its safflower-produced Apo AI(Milano) (safflower Apo AI(Milano)) is functional in a widely accepted animal model - June 08.

Arizona State University Prof. Charles Arntzen, a pioneer in biotechnology and the genetic engineering of plants to trigger an effective immune response in humans and animals, receives an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. - June 08

Antibiotic tobacco plants a possibility - June 08

Dr. Ravinder Sardana from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa produces the cytokine Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) in rice. - May 08

Dr. Nat Kav, University of Alberta, working on the molecular farming of plants that could inoculate cattle against mad cow disease. - May 08

Researchers from Fudan University, Jiao Tong University, and the Institute for Biological Sciences, Shanghai, China report producing a novel hepatitis B vaccine in rice seeds. - May 08

Human papillomavirus L1 protein expressed in tobacco chloroplasts self-assembles into virus-like particles that are highly immunogenic - May 08

Aresa gets permission from the Serbian authorities to plant transgenic tobacco for the detection of explosives - May 08

ORF Genetics, an Icelandic biotechnology company, announces the opening of new and revolutionary 22,000 ft2 (2043m2) cultivation facilities in Grindavik, Iceland. Utilizing its unique Orfeus(TM) protein production system in barley, ORF Genetics produces and markets biorisk-free ISOkine(TM) human growth factors for use in medical research, drug discovery and cosmetics.- May 08

Transgenic plants may be an economical means of producing novel feedstocks, such as biodegradable polymers, if limitations to product accumulation and expression of unwanted traits can be minimized. - Apr.08

SemBioSys initiates toxicology study for safflower-produced insulin - Mar.08

The future of engineered agriculture, including molecular farming - Mar.08

The alternatives for tobacco - Mar.08

Growing non-food proteins and products in transgenic plants - Mar.08

Brazil awaits go-ahead for Biofuel molecular farming sugar cane - Mar.08

Biotechnology will transform sustainable biofuel production, BIO says - Mar.08

Famed geneticist Craig Venter creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel - Feb.08

Japanese Scientists molecular farm rice to act as Cholera vaccine - Feb.08

Iranian scientists alter tobacco to assist with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment - Feb.08

Israeli transgenic plants offer safer human collagen - Feb. 08

Metabolix and Donald Danforth Plant Center investigate Bioplastic Plants - Feb.08

Safflowers may make rennet for cheese - Jan.08

Mexico - Molecular Farming plants may soon offer a solution to HIV - Jan.08

Phytoremediation of volatile pollutants through genetic engineering - Jan.08

Protalix's Plant based biopharmaceutical for Gaucher’s disease - Jan.08

GMO Compass on plant biopharming risks - Jan.08

Purdue University - Hybrid poplar trees to absorb contaminants - Jan.08

Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology - anthrax vaccine work - Jan.08

Trees by Design ? - Jan.08

Russian scientists work on anti-Hepatitis B vaccine in Tobacco and potato - Jan.08

Children's DPT vaccine (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus). Can molecular farming produce a safer version? - Nov.07

Molecular farming of Moss - future discussed in pharmaceutical production - Nov.07

Molecular-farmed mushrooms may aid rapid vaccine response - Nov.07

Engineering trees to produce new biofuels - Nov.07

Biodiesel venture combines refining and plant genetic engineering - Nov.07

Meristem and SBH Sciences, - Joint development of animal-free recombinant proteins - Nov.07

GM plants that produce fish oils could help fight heart disease - Nov.07

Fungus being engineered as biopesticide to kill malaria carrying mosquitos - Nov.07

Periwinkle plant tumour harnessed to produce medicines - Oct.07

Artificial chromosome poised to pump up GM crops with extra genes- Oct.07

Algae-in-a-vat may power the future - Oct.07

Medicago starts production of self-assembled Influenza Virus-like particles in plants - Oct.07

Phytoremediation using molecular farmed plants - Oct.07

Dr. Hilary Koprowski's work on tobacco produced anti Cancer antigen - Oct.07

Prof. Henry Daniell's work on tobacco produced anti Anthrax vaccine - Oct.07

Greenovation and Sartorius Stedim to increase molecular farming moss facilities- Oct.07

Collplant, a developer of collagen from tobacco, to IPO in Israel ?- Oct.07

Scientists ramp up ability of poplar plants to disarm toxic pollutants- Oct.07

Molecular Farming and genetic modification seen key for future biofuels- Oct.07

US Dept. Agriculture's ARS test molecular farmed anti-mastitis protein in cows - Oct.07

Genetically modified Algae to produce Hydrogen for Biofuel- Sept.07

USA,- Conner announces plan to improve quality compliance of genetically engineered products - Sept.07

More on HIV vaccine in Tomatoes - Sept.07

Serbia and Denmark approve open field trials of RedDetect for finding landmines- Aug.07

Transgenic Maize - a safer source of collagen than animal waste- Aug.07

Japanese phytoremediation of Cadmium - Aug.07

Rubicon, Arborgen, International paper working on engineered trees- Aug.07

Tomatoes engineered to produce vaccine against HIV? - Aug.07

Biolex plans to list on a stock exchange - Aug.07

Molecular Tobacco shows promise for cleaning up soil contaminated with TNT - Aug.07

Super trees: The latest in genetic engineering - Aug.07

Discovery in plant virus may help prevent HIV and similar viruses - Aug.07

U.S. to mull changes to oversight of biotech crops - July.07

Change to gene theory raises new challenges for biotech - July.07

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs - July.07

SemBioSys presents positive preclinical data on safflower-derived insulin - June.07

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs - June.07

Greenovation receives first US patent for moss technology - June.07

Rice engineered to carry cholera vaccine - June.07

Effective cervical cancer vaccine from plants - June.07

Molecular farmed chicory brings hope to African malaria sufferers - May.07

Japanese Govt. set up R&D team to promote genetically-modified crops for biofuel - May.07

German scientists make biopharmaceutical production from plants easier - May.07

Maize / Corn stalks engineered to self-degrade into fuel - May.07

GM Eucalyptus trees in trial grown for energy uses. May-07

Ventria given permission to plant up to 3200 acres of Molecular Rice - May.07

New biotech companies rush to genetically engineer biomass for biofuel - May.07

Banana based edible vaccine for hepatitis B - May.07

Phycotransgenics - Molecular farming of algae - Apr.07