>>>>>>The company said it had an agreement with a U.S. based biotechnology company to do a feasibility study into the project, but would not give any details about its partner.
Julian Cooper, chief operating officer at PPL's Blacksburg, Virginia division, said the company was investigating the possibility of genetically engineering animals to produce natural peptides with antimicrobial properties in their milk.
Antimicrobials work against small organisms including bacteria and viruses.
This is in line with PPL's main business, which is genetically engineering animals to produce proteins, usually human proteins, in their milk.
Cooper said he could give no details about the project but it was hoped, in a few years, that perhaps some kind of antibiotic mimicking the body's natural defenses could be produced.
''You just ask the animal to do it for you and we can make large quantities of many peptides very cheaply,'' he said in a telephone interview.<<<<<
Cacaito, what possibilities do you see? Does anyone see the differences between the way rBPI21 is manufactured now and the way it might be produced if above pans out? I can't be the only one to see the possibilities can I? Doesn't quantities and cheaper mean anything anymore if above pans out?<g>
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