Scientists Genetically Engineer Yeast To Produce Morphine-Like Painkiller

Health and Medicine





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Production of morphine through fermentation could cut production time down from months to days. Pics-xl/Shutterstock.

It normally takes around a year to create painkillers from opium poppies, as first they have to be grown, harvested, shipped around the world and finally processed. This week, however, researchers have been able to cut this time down to just a few days, by genetically engineering yeast to do it instead.