We are participating in a new EU-funded project, NEWCOTIANA. It is a research and innovation action that combines several new plant breeding techniques to produce medical and cosmetic products in tobacco plants.
- Taking advantage of cutting-edge molecular breeding methodologies, researchers will develop new varieties of tobacco and its wild relative Nicotiana benthamiana to produce added-value compounds such as antibodies, vaccines and drugs in a sustainable manner.
- NEWCOTIANA is a 7,2 M€ H2020 EU project coordinated by scientists at the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP) from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) with participation of 19 industrial and academic partners form 8 European countries and Australia.
“We will breed new varieties of tobacco and Nicotiana benthamina that will work safely and efficiently as biofactories,” explains Diego Orzaez from Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), leading scientist in the project. “Plants will be used as production platforms for molecular farming to harvest high value medical substances.”
Biofaction will contribute to the project by taking care of regulatory issues, public dialogue, and communications.
To access project website: www.newcotiana.org
NEWCOTIANA, which was launched in February 2018 in Brussels, is a 4,5-year project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 760331.
For more information:
you can see our press release (ENG) / (DE)
or contact the project leader Diego Orzaez (CSIC), dorzaez[at]ibmcp.upv.es
or contact us office[at]biofaction.com .