Kathleen Hefferon
University of Toronto,Canada
Title: Plant- Made Biopharmaceuticals for Developing Countries
Biography
Biography: Kathleen Hefferon
Abstract
Plant-produced vaccines offer enormous potential for providing relief to developing countries by reducing the incidence of infant mortality caused by infectious diseases. Vaccines derived from plants have been demonstrated to effectively elicit strong immune responses. These plant-made biopharmaceuticals are inexpensive to produce, require fewer purification steps, and can be stored at ambient temperatures for prolonged periods of time. As a result, plant-produced vaccines have the potential to be more accessible to the rural poor. This presentation will provide an overview of plant-produced biopharmaceuticals that are under development to target infectious diseases including human immunodeficiency virus, malaria and Ebola virus