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Therapeutic human protein grown in tobacco plants

Ben Coxworth February 26, 2019

Made by our kidneys, interleukin 37 is a protein that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It's produced in small quantities in the body, but if made externally in larger amounts, it could be used to treat many conditions. Scientists have now developed a way of producing it in tobacco plants.

Tony Jevnikar (left) and Shengwu Ma are affiliated with both Western University and the Lawson Health ...

Medical

A “biochemical cigarette”: How smoking inspired a potential new anti-obesity treatment

Rich Haridy October 23, 2018

An international team of researchers has harnessed two known metabolic modulators, tobacco smoking and exposure to cold, to create a potential anti-obesity treatment that in early mouse experiments has successfully lowered body weight and corrected glucose intolerance.

A new proposed anti-obesity treatment incorporates the appetite-suppressing element of nicotine with the energy-burning effects of ...

Health & Wellbeing

Enzyme to help smokers quit by eliminating nicotine in the blood before it reaches the brain

Rich Haridy October 17, 2018

New research has revealed a promising new candidate to help smokers kick their damaging addiction. An enzyme has been engineered that can gobble up nicotine in the bloodstream before it reaches the brain, with the compound proving to be incredibly successful in early animal tests.

A new treatment for smoking cessation is ready to move into the first stages of human ...

Environment

A tobacco-derived insect repellent – for crops

Ben Coxworth June 7, 2018

Although it's associated with nasty cigarettes, the tobacco plant is also a potential source of vaccines, biofuel and antibiotics. Now, a chemical from the plant is also being used as a bug repellent for crops, which could replace eco-unfriendly insecticides.

If aphids have the choice between wheat seedlings with (right) and without CBT-ol treatment (left), they ...

Medical

New antibiotic found in tobacco flowers tears into superbugs

Michael Irving May 17, 2018

The world is in desperate need of new antibiotics, as bacteria continue to evolve and develop resistance to the ones we have. Now, researchers at La Trobe University have found a peptide in the flower of a tobacco plant that could be the first of a new kind of antibiotic.

La Trobe researchers have isolated a peptide from tobacco flowers that could be a promising new ...

Science

Study finds third-hand smoke more pervasive than previously thought

Rich Haridy May 9, 2018

A new study has found that third-hand smoke – chemical residue from cigarette smoke – can spread more pervasively than previously thought, even moving throughout a seemingly “smoke-free” building. But despite this compelling research the dangers to human health still remain unclear.

A new study has found third-hand smoke is more pervasive than previously thought, but questions remain ...

Health & Wellbeing

Will taxing sugary soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco help the poor?

Rich Haridy April 4, 2018

A major study examining ways of stemming the rising rates of non-communicable diseases worldwide has concluded that taxes on unhealthy products, such as sugary soft drinks and tobacco, would produce major health gains for the poor.

Several new studies suggest taxes on unhealthy products will have broad benefits for low-income households

Science

How tobacco plants and their relatives are helping us win the war against polio and Zika

Rich Haridy August 15, 2017

Offering hopes of complete eradication of polio, a team of scientists in the UK has created a synthetic polio vaccine that contains non-infectious virus particles that can be grown quickly and cheaply in a close relative of the tobacco plant.

Nicoatiana benthamiana, a close relative of the tobacco plant, is helping scientists create new vaccines for ...

Health & Wellbeing

E-cigarettes found to cause as much DNA damage as unfiltered cigarettes

Rich Haridy June 12, 2017

A new study has found the vapor from electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, can cause as much DNA damage as smoke from tobacco cigarettes. The results surprised researchers, who concluded that e-cigarettes are "potentially as harmful as tobacco cigarettes."

Biology

"Magic" native Australian tobacco plant could be key to space-based food production

Darren Quick November 5, 2015

Scientists at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia have discovered a gene in an ancient Australian native tobacco plant that they say is the key to growing crops in space.

QUT researchers Dr Julia Bally and Professor Peter Waterhouse with the "magic" ancient Australian native tobacco ...