Why not take an Egg???
Once upon a time there were golden eggs...now there are pharmaceutical eggs. Sound sophisticated? Not at all!!
Chickens are being breed as pharmaceutical dispensing machines. As most pharmaceuticals are very expensive to make, there has been intense interest into developing ways of producing cheaper and faster methods. Particular interest has been on the chicken, for a few reasons. Chickens have a short breeding cycle; therefore, a pharmaceutical chicken can be produced within 5 months. Proteins can be produced exclusively in the oviduct and harvested from the eggs, without affecting the whole chicken.
Also chickens are cheap and easy to house when compared to other species such as goats or cows. The general idea behind using chickens is that valuable proteins are injected into the egg, the egg develops into a chicken and the chicken lays eggs with the particular proteins. (Yoon, 2000)
Many anti cancer drugs are required in large quantities, currently they are being produced by bacteria. Roslin Institute, creator of Dolly the Sheep, says the theory is that a cheap animal should be able to synthesize the necessary proteins faster and substantially cheaper than using bacteria in labs.
Eggs have been injected with the genetic sequence for two proteins, miR24 and human interferon beta-1a. miR24 is a cancer fighting antibody and the former has antiviral properties.
The proteins are then extracted from the eggs and used to make various products, such as antibiotics. Before this genious idea hits the road, issues such as welfare of the birds and human compatibility of the proteins need to be considered. (Cummins, 2007)
Many anti cancer drugs are required in large quantities, currently they are being produced by bacteria. Roslin Institute, creator of Dolly the Sheep, says the theory is that a cheap animal should be able to synthesize the necessary proteins faster and substantially cheaper than using bacteria in labs.
Eggs have been injected with the genetic sequence for two proteins, miR24 and human interferon beta-1a. miR24 is a cancer fighting antibody and the former has antiviral properties.
The proteins are then extracted from the eggs and used to make various products, such as antibiotics. Before this genious idea hits the road, issues such as welfare of the birds and human compatibility of the proteins need to be considered. (Cummins, 2007)
David McDougall
41184051
Primary Reference
Wayman, E. 2007, “Barnyard Pharmaceuticals”, Science, http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/116/4
Secondary Reference
Wayman, E. 2007, “Barnyard Pharmaceuticals”, Science, http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/116/4
Secondary Reference
Cummins, J. 2007, “Humanized Pharmaceutical Chickens”, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0701&L=sanet-mg&P=6846
Yoon, C. 2000, “If It Walks and Moos Like a Cow, It’s a Pharmaceutical Factory”, The New York Times, Health, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9404EFD81539F932A35756C0A9669C8B63
