ISU biopharmaceutical research focused on preventing bacterial infections has been approved.

On June 10, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service approved a permit for Iowa State to plant a biopharmaceutical corn field trial. The corn will be used for analysis of efficient methods to extract and purify a therapeutic protein that has immunogenic capabilities in animals.

“This particular project proposes to produce a protein in corn that may protect people and animals from bacterial infections,” said Wendy Wintersteen, senior associate dean for the College of Agriculture. “It opens up the possibility of a more effective system for production of vaccines, a goal that transcends boundaries.”

Feed corn ingested by animals will be engineered to produce a certain protein, LT-B, that can prevent bacterial infections which cause diarrhea in humans and animals, said Kan Wang, director for Center for Plant Transformation, co-leader for Biopharmaceutical Initiative of the Plant Science Institute and director for agronomy.

Ellen Daly, senior in women’s studies and Wheatsfield Grocery employee, disagrees with the resulting effects of the study.

She said the amount of energy these studies use actually costs more to try to feed cows protein-fortified food and it would be better to give countries resources, rather than trying to give them feed that has been genetically engineered.

“The idea of growing corn to get rid of disease is good in theory, but not in practice,” Daly said. “Countries should be given resources for food that is culturally unique to their location.”

Manjit Misra, director for the Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products said two reasons for growing the crop are cost effectiveness because it would provide opportunities for producers, and health benefits.

“It’s cutting-edge science that will provide results for Iowa farmers who are seeking promising new market opportunities in growing products that can be extracted from plants,” Wintersteen said. “The other important part of this research is that it gives us an opportunity to study how to evaluate the safe production and to use of these kinds of plants.”