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Developing plants that work with the same technology as “Pfizer” and “Moderna” to replace injections

Amman Today

publish date 2021-09-23 08:52:54

The future of vaccines looks more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm, as scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants into mRNA vaccine factories.

The messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, used in Covid-19 vaccines, works by teaching our cells to recognize and protect us from infectious diseases.

One challenge with this technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transportation and storage.

If this new project succeeds, ingestible plant mRNA vaccines may overcome this challenge by being able to store them at room temperature.

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), are working to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology through edible plants, in the hope that they can advance vaccines with the same technology used to develop Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against Covid-19. -19″.

Plants can be digested more easily than an injection of pollen. If the experiments are successful, these plants will be a boon for low-income countries because they are easier to store and transport than doses of “Covid-19” vaccines.

It is noteworthy that the mRNA technology used in the “Pfizer” and “Moderna” vaccines has been around for a long time, but was rarely used in medicine until recently.

They work by providing instructions to the body about how to make spike proteins that fuel COVID-19 infections.

Once a person’s immune system detects the protein, it will resist it, forming immunity against the proteins if they reappear in the human body through exposure to the virus.

The companies are now working on applying the technology to other vaccines, including the annual flu shot.

“Ideally, one plant would produce enough RNA to inoculate one person,” Juan Pablo Giraldo, principal investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UCLA, said in a statement. “We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and we have long-term goals. range for people who grow it in their own gardens.”

“Finally, farmers can plant entire fields of it,” he added.

The researchers believe that chloroplasts (a type of cytosolic found in plant cells) can carry genes that are not normally part of the plant.

This trait means that this part of the plant holds a lot of potential. “They are small solar-powered factories that produce sugar and other molecules that allow the plant to grow,” Giraldo explained. “They are also an untapped source for making the desired molecules.”

The team is working to discover the ideal way to spread the messenger RNA into the chloroplasts in a way that will not destroy them.

If successful, it will be possible to give “Covid-19” vaccines and other vaccines that use mRNA technology orally. This will also allow the production of a vaccine that can be more easily transported over long distances.

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Source : اخبار الاردن

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