Jing-Ke Weng thinks plants can save us.
The director of Northeastern University’s Institute for Plant-Human Interface has dedicated his career to understanding what makes plants tick –– and how those lessons could change humanity. The work he and the members of his institute are doing to bioengineer the processes that plants naturally do will help create new drugs and more resilient crops, they say.
A biochemist, Weng has discovered hormonal pathways in toxic foxglove that could make cancer drugs safer. He is tracking exactly where in our bodies peanut allergies take place, research that could lead to a vaccine for the common food allergy. He even figured out how certain plants create an almond-scented compound that could be reproduced to bioengineer flavored drinks on the moon.
“Plants have done a lot of things right to survive and thrive in this terrestrial environment,” Weng said. “We really need to learn from them.”
Weng spoke with Northeastern Global News about his groundbreaking work, where his interest in plants started and why humans should pay more attention to the plants around them.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
