Over the past 5 years OpenPlant has made significant advances in the field of Plant Synthetic Biology by working at the intersection of Biology, Engineering, Chemistry, and Medicine.
At present, some of the major OpenPlant achievements are:
Successful development of cutting-edge foundational DNA tools and technologies for research and industry. OpenPlant has been pioneering the development of open tools and innovation in agri-tech research, industrial biotechnology and bioengineering services.
Production of high value plant molecules for medicinal or industrial applications. Scientists are now able to produce high value molecules at gram scale in plants. These molecules include for example anti-cancer and anti-malaria drugs for pharmaceutical uses, and pigments for food coloring.
Development and fine-tuning of plant production systems for vaccines. Scientists have developed a system to produce virus-like particles in plants, which has enabled the production of vaccines.
OpenPlant Biomaker for global outreach and capacity building. OpenPlant has surveyed the potential benefits and bottlenecks for application of new technologies in the development of bioeconomies across Africa. It has developed the Biomaker programme to harness frugal and open technologies for interdisciplinary project-based learning and capacity building, and supported numerous projects across the UK and Africa.
Moreover, OpenPlant has catalyzed a number of commercial success stories.
The infographic provides a snapshot of OpenPlant in numbers. For further information please visit the OpenPlant website and have a look at our publications and reports.