THE MANUFACTURE OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH PRODUCTS BY TRANSGENIC PLANTS
by Esra Galun (The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
&
Eithan Galun (Hadassah University Hospital, Israel)
Esra Galun was born in 1927 in Liepzig, Germany and emigrated to Israel (then Palestine) in 1933. He obtained his MSc (1954) and PhD (1959) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He became a staff member of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, in 1953 and is presently Emeritus Professor at the institute. Prof Galun had also done postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, USA as well as sabbatical research at Harvard University, USA, USDA Beltsville, USA and Roche Institute for Molecular Biology, USA. His research interests include the genetics and physiology of sex expression in plants through developmental genetics, somatic hybridization in plants, production of plant cybrids and molecular genetics of stress resistance. In recent years, Prof Galun is engaged in the production of transgenic plants. He published about 200 research papers in reviewed journals and is the co-author of two books: Pollination Mechanisms, Reproduction and Plant Breeding by R. Frankel and E, Galun (Springer-Verlag, 1977) and Trangenic Plants by E. Galun and A. Breiman (Imperial College Press, 1997). Eithan Galun was born in 1954 in Rehovot, Israel. He studied medicine at the Tel Aviv University, Israel. After obtaining specialization in internal medicine, he did research at several institutes in Israel. Presently, he is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and Director of the Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene Therapy, Hadassah University Hospital. At the same time, he also maintains clinical work at the Liver Unit, Department of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital. His main clinical and research interests are in liver diseases and he had published 72 articles in reviewed journals.
In the mid-eighties, there was a revolution in plant biotechnology. Simple procedures could be used to genetically transform plants. Such transgenic plants will express alien genes, virtually from any organism, provided the genes are flanked by appropriate controlling elements. Soon after this biotechnology became available, there was an awareness that crop plants can serve as manufacturers of high-value medical products. This book provides the molecular and biotechnological background for genetic transformation in plants, as well as updated information about the production of antibodies, antigens and other medical and health products by transgenic plants. The book handles the relevant information in a critical manner by pointing out the risks and problems as well as presenting the outlook for development in this field. It provides a comprehensive and well-balanced treatment of its theme.
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