- It's an incredible thought that
in this rather simple plant
we can make things like polio vaccines.
Really quite extraordinary.
Plants are fascinating organisms
because they almost grow from nothing.
I first started proposing plant based methods
for making vaccines around 1990,
and actually people laughed.
It's wonderful to see that people don't laugh about it now.
The amazing thing about this approach is it combines
science with what is essentially gardening,
and we've come to this stage where it actually
might save human lives.
- So is this part of your usual science getup?
- Yeah, this is what I'm, what I'm showing,
I'm actually showing people things,
so people can instantly recognize me as the head honcho.
I wear a tiara.
- I'm George Lomonossoff.
I'm a project leader in the
Department of Biological Chemistry
at the John Innes center in Norwich.
The John Innes center specializes
in plant and microbial science.
- I actually joined it about 37 years ago,
and so I sometimes get the feeling
I'm part of the furniture.
- So, vaccines for the immune system,
to protect you against disease,
and what you do with vaccination is you take something
which looks like the disease causing organism,
but actually isn't.
You can call it a surrogate or mimic,
and that fools the immune system into making antibodies,
and those antibodies will actually protect
against the real infectious organism.
The problem is that it takes traditionally many years
to produce a new vaccine against an emerging disease,
and we don't know what the next one to emerge will be,
so the great thing about plant based production
is you can identify the virus,
and extremely quickly, in three to four weeks
go to making new vaccines.
We use the plants to make just the parts
of the disease causing organism,
which can stimulate immunity,
but don't have any of the weapons
which actually cause the disease itself.
- You can see I'm dressed in a rather stylish way,
ready for a dinner party
wearing this rather fetching hairnet.
- The plant we use is Australian Dwarf Tobacco.
- This is an Australian Dwarf Tobacco plant.
They grow like teenagers from now on.
In a week's time, they'll be right.
Another week, it'll be too big,
so you have to get them just right.
Bit like Goldilocks.
- We use this plant
because it has a defective plant immune system,
which means it's easy to produce new vaccines in it.
The technique we use is called transient expression,
where you infiltrate the leaves with the material
for the new vaccine,
and you'll get production within about a week.
We tape the leaves and then blend them,
and then use that material to isolate
the new vaccine.
- Incredible thought, really,
that something so simple as this,
and so cheap to grow can actually be a lifesaver.
- A lot of emerging diseases appear
in less developed parts of the world.
- The Ebola outbreak
in West Africa is spiraling out of control.
- This is the deadliest outbreak of Ebola on record.
- At the time, there was no vaccine,
but fortunately, some colleagues in the United States
were exploring the use of plants to make a therapy
for the treatment of Ebola victims.
The development of ZMapp offered a glimmer of hope,
and showed how such therapies
could be developed in the future.
- The handful of people
were successfully treated with ZMapp
- Today is a miraculous day.
I'm thrilled to be alive, to be well,
and to be reunited with my family.
- It's fantastic to see
fundamental science being used to increase the health
of the population throughout the world.
This technology is faster, safer, more readily scalable,
and can be used reactively to combat emerging diseases.
This approach that we've developed is particularly suited
for production in the countries
where the vaccines are most needed,
and it's actually amazing to see how
that work can help save lives.