Growing fuel and medicine: Advancing biofuels and plant-produced therapeutics

Scientists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Arkansas Bioscience Institute present their latest research on cellulosic ethanol, therapeutics produced from tobacco roots, and other plant-based research

WORCESTER, Mass. – Oct. 27, 2008 – Can biofuels produced from non-food plant products like corn stalks or wood chips ever become a commercial reality? Can plants be engineered to grow vaccines or anti-cancer drugs? These and other questions were explored by researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Arkansas Bioscience Institute (ABI) at a symposium today at WPI's Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park.

In general, the answer to these questions may soon be "yes" and teams from WPI and ABI are advancing the science and technology needed to reach those ends. "For most of human history, plants and microorganisms were the source for medicinal products, fuels, and specialty chemicals. So in a very real sense, what we're doing is a back-to-the-future approach," says Pamela J. Weathers, PhD, professor of biology and biotechnology at WPI, organizer of the symposium and a leader in the emerging collaboration with ABI.

"With our colleagues in Arkansas, we are making good progress on developing the technology and understanding the biology that will allow us to use plants and microbes to help meet our energy needs and to create new pharmaceuticals and other chemical building blocks essential for a healthy society and environment."

The abstracts from the presentations at today's symposium are:

"Plant produced small- and large-molecule therapeutics"

Pamela J. Weathers, PhD Professor, Department of Biology and Biotechnology, WPI

Plants naturally produce many valuable small molecules like terpenes and alkaloids that have for centuries been used in treatment of disease and as pesticides. More recently plants have also been proposed as suitable production vehicles for large molecules such as therapeutic proteins. Harnessing plants to yield both large and small molecular weight products on a larger scale has been challenging. Although field plants are the least expensive mode of production, conditions can't be controlled and there is often political resistance to field culture of transgenic plants. Here we show two examples of how both native and transgenic plants can be used in inexpensive bioreactors for the production of the therapeutic protein, murine interleukin-12 (m-IL-12) in transgenic tobacco roots, and the sesquiterpene lactone antimalarial drug, artemisinin, in shoot cultures.

"Biofuels: Fuels Controversy"

Alex DiIorio, PhD, Director, Bioprocess Center, and Chris McPhee, MS Lab Manager, Bioprocess Center, WPI