Medicago’s plant-based COVID-19 vaccine shows positive Phase 2 results

Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced the positive interim Phase 2 clinical trial safety and immunogenicity data for Medicago’s plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which was tested in combination with GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. These results are part of the ongoing Phase 2/3 study and …

Researchers use CRISPR to prevent eucalyptus trees from being invasive

An international research team led by Oregon State University reported that Eucalyptus, a pest-resistant evergreen valued for its hardy lumber and wellness-promoting oil, can be genetically modified not to reproduce sexually, a key step toward preventing the tree from invading native ecosystems. The team used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique to …

International Research Team Releases Rye Genome Sequence

An international team of researchers from the International Rye Genome Sequencing Group (IRGSG) and their collaborators from 14 countries led by the IPK Leibniz Institute in Germany has released the genome sequence of rye, a distinctly climate-resistant cereal plant that is of considerable importance for Germany and north-eastern Europe. Rye …

International team first to successfully stack virus resistance plus iron and zinc biofortification in a non-cereal crop

An international team of scientists has successfully developed cassava with high-level resistance to cassava mosaic disease (CMD), cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), as well as higher levels of iron and zinc. This is the first time that disease resistance and multiple biofortification traits have been stacked in this manner in …

Overexpression of plasma membrane proton pump gene in rice promotes less fertilizer use

Japanese researchers from Nagoya University, in partnership with Nanjing Agricultural University, developed a method to increase simultaneously the nutrient uptake through the roots and stomatal opening of rice paddy to increase its yield with less use of fertilizer. The researchers created a new variety of field-grown rice paddy with an …

Cyanobacteria could revolutionize the plastic industry

Cyanobacteria produce plastic naturally as a by-product of photosynthesis—and they do it in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Researchers at the University of Tübingen have succeeded for the first time in modifying the bacteria’s metabolism to produce this plastic in quantities to be used industrially. Around 370 million tons …