Medicine from Moss

Biologists at the University of Freiburg, Germany, have produced in the moss bioreactor a human protein, the absence of which leads to age-related blindness in 50 million people. Freiburg, 22. Diabetics use human insulin produced in bacteria in order to treat their metabolic disorder. Many other genetically engineered proteins are also on the advance. They are being used for diagnosis as well as for therapy. Whereas insulin used to be extracted from slaughterhouse waste today it is produced genetically in bacteria. However, more complex proteins have to be synthesised in more complex organisms.