--- title: "Students Concoct Ingenious Scheme To Grow Ozempic At Home" description: "Student scientists have developed an incredible new way to synthesize drugs on plants — and they're using Ozempic as their test case." date: "2025-03-19" modified: "2025-03-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/students-grow-ozempic-plants" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "biopharming" - "glp-1" - "ozempic" - "semaglutide" --- # Students Concoct Ingenious Scheme To Grow Ozempic At Home ![Student scientists have developed an incredible new way to synthesize drugs on plants — and they're using Ozempic as their test case.]() *\Image: Michael Siluk / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty / Futurism\* Up in Canada, students have developed an incredible new way to synthesize drugs on plants — and they're using Ozempic as their test case. In a [press release](), the University of Ottowa revealed that some of its undergraduate students have invented a process that they're calling "Phytogene" turn tobacco cousin *Nicotiana benthamiana* into a pharmaceutical factory for the popular weight-loss drug. Though it could have lots of use cases in the future, Phytogene's first order of business is synthesizing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists — the class of medications Novo Nordisk's Ozempic belongs to — which [mimic the stomach's feeling of fullness]() to help patients lose weight and lower their blood sugar. Building on so-called "[biopharming]()," or the process of genetically engineering plants to produce pharmaceutical proteins, the group led by bioscience students Victor Boddy and Teagan Thomas was inspired by the recent Ozempic shortage to uncover sustainable and inexpensive alternatives. "We aim to create a future where people can reliably grow their own treatments at home," Boddy said, "free from concerns about insurance, cost, or availability." While the nascent field of biopharming has had some success in [creating vaccines]() and [cancer treatments]() with the help of transgenic plants, none have been able to synthesize anything as popular as semaglutide or other GLP-1 drugs. According to a [*KFF* poll released last year](), a whopping 12 percent of Americans have taken some form of GLP-1 drug. As such, increasing access to these [blockbuster drugs](), which are [costly and often not covered by insurance](), could be a massive breakthrough. On their [award-winning]() "[Phytogene]()" website, the U Ottowa students explained that essentially, the *N. benthamiana* plant acts as a copy machine for whatever genetic sequence they plug into it. "With our 'plug-and-play' design, we can incorporate any peptide sequence into the plant genome," the site detailed. "The plant’s molecular machinery then transcribes and translates our peptide in impressive quantities." Though the team was successful in "biopharming" GLP-1s on plants, they noted in the school's press release that the resulting compound hasn't yet been tested on humans. "We are currently analyzing blood glucose and insulin levels to assess response," said Thomas, one of the project's coleaders. "We also plan to conduct bioactivity assays to test the drug's effectiveness on human cells." **More on Ozempic:** [*More and More People Are Microdosing Ozempic*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()