With help from the federal government, a Saskatchewan biotechnology
firm is going to research how plants can be used to fight diseases such
as cancer, heart disease and dementia.
“Those three are all potential targets for us,” said Wilf Keller,
director of research for the National Research Council’s Plant
Biotechnology Institute.
“We would like to be making an impact in one of those areas for sure
with these substances.”
The institute will receive $10 million over five years to learn more
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about crops that produce chemicals that can enhance human health.
“What we want to do is understand how the plants make these
phytochemicals,” Keller said.
Once researchers understand how the plants work, they can use tools
such as genetic engineering to create crops with higher levels of
desirable components and fewer undesirable chemicals that can cause bad
side effects.
The first phase will screen 50 or 60 potential nutraceutical plants,
many of which fall into the mint or dill families.
“We certainly want to work with plants that can grow on the Prairies,”
Keller said.
By the end of the project Keller wants to have whittled down the longer
list to six good candidates.
Keller said there is solid proof that eating broccoli decreases the
risk of developing certain types of cancer, but some of the benefits
attributed to crops such as St. John’s Wort and echinacea are based
more on “traditional observations” than the “crisper evidence”
associated with biochemistry.
The nutraceutical industry is soon going to come under regulatory
scrutiny and will need solid proof that these crops contain real,
active ingredients. Keller hopes the research project will provide that
proof.
Kelly Fitzpatrick, president of the Saskatchewan Nutraceutical Network,
said developing a scientific knowledge base will benefit the industry.
“It’s fantastic because it’s an area where research is really, really
lacking,” she said.
“We have an industry here that’s going to require proof of efficacy,
safety and quality of their products.”
She said the institute’s research should identify constituents in
certain crops that have proven medicinal properties and will lead to
“non-transgenic” cultivars of those plants.
The funding will also pay for genetic modification work, such as
“molecular farming” research where plants will be identified to serve
as hosts for genes introduced from other species, such as animals,
which have shown medical promise.
Keller said the institute’s basic biochemistry lab work will be
augmented by the POS Pilot Plant, which has expertise in gene
extraction and processing technology.
Medical researchers will also be called upon to test certain
phytochemicals to see if they have the potential to help treat
diseases. If they do, the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development
Centre will be asked to develop a breeding program to create a
nutraceutical crop that prairie farmers can easily grow.
Worldwide sales of nutraceutical products top $100 billion annually and
have been growing at a rate of 25 percent a year, Keller said.
He thinks the development of a good prairie nutraceutical crop that is
backed by solid biochemistry research could be a real boon for the
processing sector, because it’s a “hot area” in the health field.
Federal public works and government services minister Ralph Goodale
said the funding will have a broader impact than just benefiting one
company.
“Research in the nutraceutical area presents a growing opportunity to
address market needs,” he said.
“It will support the development of a Saskatchewan-based nutraceuticals
cluster.”
