Fight Flu With Tobacco

[Voiceover] Medicago, a Canadian pharmaceutical company

is testing an innovative method

for creating vaccines quickly and inexpensively

by using tobacco plants to express the necessary proteins.

Medicago first identifies the viral protein

that the vaccine will target

and then finds the genetic sequence that codes for it.

That DNA is inserted into a bacterium.

Meanwhile, workers cultivate nicotiana benthamiana seeds.

After a two week germination phase,

the plants grow to about a foot tall in a greenhouse

helped by a combination of high-intensity sodium lights,

peat moss, water, and fertilizer.

Trays of mature plants are dipped

into dilute solution of the modified bacteria.

A vacuum pulls air bubbles from between

the plants cells, wringing it like a sponge.

When the vacuum releases the tobacco soaks up the solution.

Plants are nurtured in a temperature controlled chamber

under special lights, while the bacteria make

them temporarily transgenic producing the flu protein.

Workers harvest the leaves and use a food dicer

to chop them into one centimeter squares.

The pieces then go into a large vessel called a digester

which dissolves the cellulose in the leaves,

releasing the protein.

One batch expresses enough viral protein

for about a million doses of vaccine.

The virus-like particles are collected

using chromatography, centrifugation and filtration.

The solution is concentrated and tested

and then ready for use.

(upbeat music)