Scientists are getting excited about the use of plants as production hosts to produce valuable recombinant proteins and small molecules. During the international congress on "Plants for human health in the post-genome era" in Helsinki, Finland, organized by the Photochemical Society of Europe and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the following cases were presented:

• Production of recombinant proteins from plant systems which are identical to the ones produced in mammalian systems. This alternative expression system provides potential advantages, such as inexpensive, large-scale biopharmaceutical production without sacrificing product quality or safety.
• Possibility of producing human insulin in plants such as safflower seeds. Plant-derived insulin is identical to the one of animal or human origin.

There are already plant-derived pharmaceutical products approved for human use, and many more products are under development. The use of plant-based insulin is undergoing clinical trials and is expected to be commercialized by 2008.

The program of the Congress can be found at http://www.phytochemicalsociety.org/helsinki.