"[Peter Facchini, a Canada Research Chair in Plant Metabolic Processes Biotechnology], who was born and raised in Toronto and completed his PhD at U of T, first made a name for himself a few years ago when his team of researchers identified the genes that program cells and enzymes in the opium poppy to synthesize codeine, morphine and a variety of other pharmaceutically important alkaloids.
"The opium poppy is the only source for these vitally important pain relievers. But it has earned a bad name for itself since morphine is also used to make heroin.
"As it stands now, poppies must be sown and harvested so the codeine and morphine can be extracted. Some are grown for legal purposes in countries like Australia and France. But elsewhere, as in Afghanistan, they are cultivated to supply the illegal drug market; fields in that war-torn country produce five to six times the volume of the legal trade.
"Facchini’s research actually makes it possible to produce codeine and morphine in factory-like settings that could be easily regulated, contained and protected."
Full article: Canada advances into brave new world of synthetic biology.
