Collagen is the main component of bone tissue, cartilage, tendons and ligaments and makes up over a third of all protein in the body and 75% of skin tissue. Collagen is now widely used in the world of medicine in many fields such as orthopedics, plastic medicine, wound healing, burn treatment and more
The biotechnology company ColePlant has completed the construction of a unique industrial greenhouse for growing tobacco that produces human collagen in the leaves of the plant. The greenhouse was established in Emek Hula and the scope of investment in the project is about NIS 2 million.
Colplant, which was established in 2004 as part of the Meitav greenhouse in Kiryat Shmona, is one of the few companies in the world that has succeeded in developing the ability to produce collagen in plants. Social scientists led by Prof. Oded Shusiov from the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot and world renowned in the field of genetic engineering in plants, developed a unique method for producing human collagen protein in the cells of the tobacco plant. This collagen has notable advantages over the collagen currently produced from animals.
According to Effie Cohen Arzi, chairman of Colfant, collagen is the main component of bone tissue, cartilage, tendons and ligaments and makes up over a third of all protein in the body and 75% of skin tissue. Today, collagen is widely used in the world of medicine in many fields such as orthopedics, plastic medicine, wound healing, burn treatment, and more, and the global sales volume of collagen-based products is estimated at billions of dollars per year.
According to Cohen Arzi, "The high demand for collagen as a raw material is what led us to invest in establishing a growth incubator that will support production on an industrial scale. Today, the source of collagen on the market is mostly from animals or human corpses. The main disadvantages of the collagen produced from animals stem from the fact that it is different from the human protein, sometimes causes an immune reaction in the patient, does not constitute a natural supportive environment for the cells growing near it and does not encourage the building of normal tissue. In addition, the danger of transmitting infectious diseases, such as "mad cow" disease, caused the FDA to restrict the use of collagen from a source of beech for use in medical preparations.
According to Cohen Arzi, these shortcomings have created a challenge for companies around the world in the search for human collagen from different and safe sources. Indeed, ColePlant succeeded in producing tobacco plants in which the human genes necessary for collagen production were implanted and to develop a production process for the collagen from these plants. The product of the process is highly concentrated collagen that can be used as a raw material for many medical products. As mentioned, its main advantage lies in the fact that the collagen produced is very similar to the human collagen present in our body.
"With the activation of the new growth incubator, we are able to produce quantities of high-quality recombinant human collagen at competitive prices. The expected annual income from collagen sales during full operation of the greenhouse amounts to several million shekels," said Cohen Arzi, "Accordingly, we formulated a business model based on both the self-development of collagen-based products in fields such as plastic medicine and orthopedics and on the market for the collagen we produce as a raw material for international companies ".
ColePlant, which was established as part of the Meitav incubator owned by the stock exchange company Biomedics, acquired the technology in 2004 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem technology commercialization company, and continued the R&D process.
Efi Cohen Arzi, former senior vice president of the international biotechnology company Amgen, joined as the chairman of ColPlant at the end of 2006. This year, ColPlant won the award for the outstanding greenhouse company of the scientist's greenhouse program at the TMT head office.
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According to the title, I was sure that they were going to produce cigarettes with collagen that would penetrate the body with the smoke!
Well, not because I hate smoking because of the smell..but if they find a way to produce healthy cigarettes that not only do not harm and stink up the air but also add health and spread a fragrance smell..I will go back to smoking (I quit at the age of 30)!
I understand that there is no breakthrough here in the production of biological protein from plants? Maybe in the future they will produce human blood in plants? And maybe whole organs like an ear?
Who knows, maybe they will develop special plants whose role will be to produce biological ingredients for people!!
Anyone who wants to can grow in a finger pot!! Maybe even fingers from different animals in different sizes .. the finger will move .. so why not two fingers to hold what you want like a cigarette for example !! They once made drawings that connected plants and animals!
Let's get back to reality, I agree with Ami Bachar, this is indeed a brilliant development and idea!
Very Cool!
It is interesting how the collagen is harvested and isolated from the plant and when it comes to competitive prices, what orders of magnitude are really involved (what are the competitive alternatives to human collagen today?)
Good luck to another Israeli company with a brilliant idea and implementation