An Iranian knowledge-based company has succeeded in producing four rare medicinal fungi that play a crucial role in the treatment of diseases.
"These rare fungi are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diseases and illnesses that lead to immune deficiencies," Fars’ Abalon Mushroom Cultivation Cooperative Company’s founder and member of the board said.
“The company’s production plan of medicinal fungi has focused on the four species of Ganoderma, Hericium, Turkeytail and Shitaki,” Hassan Esmaeili also told the news portal of Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology.
Currently, the conditions for producing these medicinal species have improved and with the necessary planning, the medicinal properties of these fungi, which are used in the form of tablets and capsules in many industrial countries, could be harnessed in Iran as well.
Ganoderma has medicinal uses for treating a liver disease, which have been registered with the US Food and Drug Administration. It is also used to cure diabetes, migraines and skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis.
Hericium is used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s. The strategic fungus has been modified and used to a limited extent in the country. This fungus, which is more valuable than the other species, is well known for the production of natural fluoxetine.
Turkeytail has many uses in the treatment of some cancers, including breast cancer but unfortunately, it cannot be harvested in large volumes, or used easily.
Shitaki fungus is the most reliable edible and medicinal fungus in the world. Used in virus treatments, it is the main basis for the treatment of genital warts. Its effects and benefits have been studied in more than 2,000 international scientific articles.
A fungus is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms, which by one traditional classification include Plantae, Animalia, Protozoa and Chromista.
Employment Generation
The cultivation periods of these medicinal fungi have been reduced from 4 to 3 months. With higher productivity, it can provide direct employment for 10 people.
"To develop this project, we need laboratories, facilities, research and budget, which have been provided by the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology to some extent. But as an entrepreneur and knowledge-based company, we have not been able to use our full potential yet,” Esmaeili said.
“If these requirements are provided, the current production volume will increase manifold compared with the current volume,” he said.
Advanced Congenital Disorder Detection Kit
An Iranian biotechnology company has produced a kit for diagnosing congenital and genetic disorders.
The birth defect diagnosis kit was mass-produced by Iranian Pooyesh-e Gen Biotechnology Company after it successfully completed trials due to its advanced technology and made the country needless of similar imports.
“The kit can compete with the best foreign counterparts. Tests on more than 300 clinical samples showed the results were successful,” Mohammad Reza Heydari, the company’s CEO, was quoted as saying by the news portal of Iran’s Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology.
The kits are used to test biological samples from embryos and perform polymer chain reactions through quantitative fluorescence by analyzing 26 sites of repetitive short sequences of the genome.
The Iranian congenital abnormality detection kit has the ability to evaluate all chromosomes in terms of number and structure.
Early Detection
Congenital anomalies can be defined as structural or functional anomalies that occur during intrauterine life.
Also called birth defects or congenital disorders, these conditions develop prenatally and may be identified before or at birth, or later in life.
Such abnormalities and many genetic disorders can be identified early in pregnancy using a variety of invasive and non-invasive procedures.
Tests performed in the first trimester of pregnancy to diagnose birth defects in the fetus include screening tests and diagnostic tests.
Diagnostic kits help perform rapid and accurate prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal disorders, including Down syndrome, Edward syndrome, Patau's syndrome and disorders related to the number of sex chromosomes such as Turner syndrome and Klinefelter syndrome.
Iranian Kits Advanced, Economical
The domestic kit costs one-third of the foreign counterpart, detects more disorders in children and helps reduce birth risks.
The important issue is that foreign kits cannot detect at least two disorders that the Iranian ones are able to.
The production of the congenital anomalies’ diagnosis kit will help prevent imports, while the domestic version is cheaper and more effective.
“If the necessary support is provided, especially in the licensing of knowledge-based companies, the opportunity for development of Iranian-made products will increase,” Heydari said.
