Genetically modified button mushrooms used for vaccine production in the United States

Researchers in the United States are planning to use genetically modified mushrooms to produce several million doses of vaccines and other drugs within three months. Professor Peter Romaine from Pennsylvania State University and the team he leads have obtained a patent for genetically modified button mushrooms.

The Advanced Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded Professor Peter Romaine 2.2 million US dollars as start-up funding for the project. Department of Homeland Security officials said that if the research project progresses smoothly and can succeed, the total project budget will reach 5.9 million US dollars.

"Our interim goal is to achieve high-efficiency expression of biopharmaceuticals in mushrooms, and then use efficient and economical methods to extract and purify these drugs from the mushrooms," Romaine said.

The vaccines or drugs will ultimately be extracted from the mushrooms and converted into a form that humans can use. In the third year after the project starts, the researchers hope to demonstrate their large-scale commercial production capacity, that is, within 12 weeks, using mushrooms as a platform, to produce millions of doses of vaccines or other drugs.