Natural human type I collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body and is the main protein found in all connective tissue. Commercially produced collagen (pro-collagen) is used in surgical implants, cosmetic surgery and many wound healing devices in regenerative medicine. In fact – the current market for collagen-based medical devices in orthopedics and wound healing exceeds US $30 billion annually worldwide.

But did you know where  commercial collagen comes from? It comes from farm animals such as cows and pigs as well as from human cadavers. This means that doctors are currently using material with potential human pathogens such as viruses or prions (mad-cow disease) – in your body. Not only that -  human cadaver is scarce, and for certain indications possesses serious ethical issues.

Producing human recombinant type I pro-collagen requires the coordinated expression of five different genes. Thankfully – a Hebrew University professor  – Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture has established the only laboratory in the world that has reported successful co-expression of all of these five essential genes in transgenic tobacco plants for the production of processed pro-collagen. For this work, Shoseyov was one of the recipients of a Kaye Innovation Award during the Hebrew University Board of Governors meeting in June.

What this means for the medical industry is safer collagen related procedures for regenerative and wound-healing purposes. If you’re simply implanting collagen for cosmetic reasons, this means the risk is greatly reduced. Whats more – maybe tobacco companies can stop pushing unhealthy cigarettes into the world and start making their profits off something that actually does some good.

Shoseyov’s invention on has been patented, and the scientific findings behind it were published recently in the journal Biomacromolecules. A company, CollPlant Ltd., has been established based on patents and technology that were developed in Shoseyov’s laboratory. It has raised US$15 million to establish the first commercial molecular farming company in Israel and is already manufacturing collagen-based products that have attracted collaborative commercial interest from companies in the US, Japan Europe and Israel!