If new project scientists are currently working on succeeds, plant-based mRNA vaccines, which can be eaten, may be able to overcome such a barrier by being kept or stored at room temperature.
A Brinkwire report specified that vaccines in the future might be akin to salads instead of injections in the arm. Researchers at UC Riverside are currently investigating if edible plants like lettuce can be transformed into mRNA vaccine factories.
Essentially, vaccines using messenger or mRNA technology teach the cells to recognize and protect individuals from infectious diseases.
One of the struggles with this new technology is that it needs to be kept cold while being transported and stored to maintain stability.
Researchers at UC Riverside are currently investigating if edible plants like lettuce can be transformed into mRNA vaccine factories.
Vaccines Delivered Into Part of Plant Cells
The main goals of this project, which were made possible by a US$500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, are threefold which includes indicating that mRNA vaccines can be delivered successfully into the plant cell part where they will copy; demonstrating that plants can generate adequate mRNA to compete against a traditional jab; and identifying proper dosage, a similar SciTechDaily report specified.
According to associate professor Juan Pablo Giraldo from the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences of the UCR, who led the research in collaboration with researchers and scientists from UC San Diego and Carnegie Mellon.
He added, they are experimenting with lettuce and spinach at present, with the long-term objective of people growing it in their gardens.
Foreign Genetic Material Injected into Plant Cells
Giraldo also explained that farmers might grow whole fields of it in the future. Essentially, chloroplasts are tiny organs in plant cells that transform sunlight into energy that the plant can use.
They are slightly "solar-powered factories," he elaborated, that make sugar, as well as other molecules that enable the plant to grow.
They were previously an untapped source as well of desirable molecules. The associate professor has formerly presented that chloroplasts can express genes that do not exist in the plant.
He, together with his colleagues, was able to accomplish this by injecting foreign genetic material into plant cells enclosed in a protective casing.
Use of Nanotechnologies
The laboratory of Giraldo specializes in identifying the properties of such casings that are best for delivery into plant cells.
The associate professor collaborated with nanoengineering professor Nicole Steinmetz from UC San Diego to use nanotechnologies her group developed to deliver genetic material to chloroplasts.
Commenting on the recent technology, Stein explained, their concept is to "repurpose naturally occurring nanoparticles," like plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants," Steinmetz explained.
The professor added some engineering is going into this to make the nanoparticles go to the chloroplasts, not to mention render them non-infectious toward the plants.
A Culmination of Dream
The chance of developing such an idea with mRNA, for Giraldo, it's the culmination of a dream. One of the reasons he began to work in nanotechnology was to apply it to plants and create new solutions for technology.
He elaborated that these are solutions not only for food but also for high-value products such as pharmaceuticals. Giraldo is co-leading a related project as well, with nanomaterials for the delivery of nitrogen, a fertilizer, directly to chloroplasts where it is needed most by plants as indicated in the University of California site.
Related information about plant-based mRNA vaccine is shown on DW News's YouTube video below:
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