Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Given the option, would you rather get vaccinated by taking a shot in the arm or eating a bowl of vegetables?
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) are currently studying whether they can turn edible plants, such as lettuce and spinach, into mRNA vaccines people can grow themselves.
The research project has three goals: to show that DNA containing mRNA vaccines can be successfully integrated into plant cells; to demonstrate that plants can replicate enough mRNA to rival current injection methods; and to determine the correct dosage.
"Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person," Juan Pablo Giraldo, lead researcher and associate professor in UCR's Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, said in a news release.
"We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens," he added. "Farmers could also eventually grow entire fields of it."
The key to introducing mRNA vaccines into plants are chloroplasts, according to Giraldo, which are the small organs in plant cells that are responsible for photosynthesis.
"They're tiny, solar-powered factories that produce sugar and other molecules which allow the plant to grow," Giraldo said. "They're also an untapped source for making desirable molecules."
Previous lab work by Giraldo has shown that chloroplasts can express genes that aren't naturally part of the plant. This was achieved by sending foreign genetic material inside a protective casing into plant cells.
Similar research into an edible COVID-19 vaccine is also being conducted close to home.
A team of scientists led by Allyson MacLean, an assistant professor in the University of Ottawa's Department of Biology, have been working on an alternative means of immunization against the virus for more than a year now.
Their method involves the expression of viral antigens in edible plants, including lettuce and spinach, which people would then eat. Testing of the vaccine has already begun as part of a partnership with The Ottawa Hospital.
The mRNA technology used in some conventional COVID-19 vaccines works by using mRNA to provide human cells with genetic instructions for making antibodies against specific diseases. One of the challenges of mRNA vaccines, however, is they must be kept at cold temperatures to maintain stability during transport and storage.
If the UCR research project is successful, not only could it make edible mRNA vaccines possible, but also create an mRNA vaccine able to be stored at room temperature.
"I'm very excited about all of this research," Giraldo said. "I think it could have a huge impact on peoples' lives."
The research project is being backed by a US$500,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.