Glenda Gillaspy <gillaspy@vt.edu>

Plants as factories for human pharmaceuticals

Transgenic plants have been engineered to express many different recombinant proteins. In some strategies, the recombinant proteins or metabolites produced as a result of recombinant protein expression, can be used to treat human diseases such as Gauchers Disease and Type II Diabetes. Since tobacco is a major cash crop in the state of Virginia, several parties are interested in using transgenic tobacco to produce human pharmaceuticals. The Gillaspy laboratory is investigating the possibility of using transgenic tobacco to produce sugar-like molecules to treat Type II diabetes.