Scan the super-duper QR code with your phone camera or 
A seemingly bizarre experiment in genetically engineering plants has come up with a strain of rice that could make vaccination injections a thing of the past.
Researchers working at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science are working with experts in the fields of drugs, agrobiology and genetics to change the makeup of rice to include cholera proteins.
When the rice is fed to laboratory mice, it causes them to develop antibodies to cholera in the same way a standard vaccination would work.
The implications – if the team can increase the load to a level suitable for humans – are that important drugs could be delivered easily in rice that can be cooked and eaten, instead of having to be transported carefully and distributed like traditional medicines.
Other diseases are also being tackled, as are other foodstuffs. So far, these include influenza vaccines in rice and anti-cancer interferon drugs carried by strawberries.
(Crossposted to TechRadar)
Author: Mark Hiratsuka
Household | R&D | WTF? • Permalink
Tagged with: disease medical university of tokyo
Next entry: Crazy or crazy smart? Toshiba boss bets house on standard DVD
Previous entry: Getting to the Source of Anime
Support DWT and share the love:
Or try our acclaimed members-only dating site:
C'mon - let's hear it...
Spammers beware: Any links in comments to commercial websites will be treated as paid advertising and will be charged at rate of $10 per link per day. Invoices will be sent to the idiots who hire you for so-called SEO jobs. All you good people will always keep it real, of course - thanks!
