The Chicken that lays golden eggs
We have all heard of the fairytale but soon they may longer be just a mystical creature. Researchers at the Roslin Institute have produced genetically modified chickens that lay eggs full of cancer fighting proteins. This research could lead to a faster and cheaper way of manufacturing drugs on a large scale.
Currently, the active ingredients of drugs are made in industrial bioreactors which are time consuming and expensive to set up. An increase in global demand for pharmaceuticals has led researchers to explore more efficient and economical alternatives to standard techniques such as the use of transgenic animals.
A transgenic animal is one that has had external genes incorporated into its genome. In this way, the gene for a protein of a drug of interest can be transferred into the genome of an animal which transmits it to successive generations. The use of chickens offers many advantages. Chickens reproduce quickly, lay lots of eggs and are cheap to look after.
Ovalbumin makes up more than half of the protein in the white of an egg. Researchers have modified the gene that makes ovalbumin so that it produces therapeutic proteins. The proteins are then easily extracted and used in the manufacture of drugs.
The manufacture of drugs created in this way is in its early stages and it will be some time before we see these drugs available on the market. There are ethical issues involving animal welfare and the genetic modification of animals that need to be debated.
