Collagen is an essential building block of the human body, providing structural support and biological signals to connective tissues and organs, and therefore it is a crucial component for tissue regeneration.
To date, collagen has been extracted from animal and human cadaver sources, baring risk of contamination and allergic response and subjected to harsh purification conditions resulting in irreversible modifications impeding its biofunctionality. Yet, the highly complex and stringent post-translational processing of collagen has prevented the development of large-scale recombinant expression systems.
CollPlant is the first company to succeed in developing a plant platform that effectively expresses human collagen.
The production of our recombinant human Type I collagen (rhCollagen) starts in the genetically engineered tobacco plants. The recombinant human protein in the form of “procollagen” is extracted from the leaves of mature plants and further processed to achieve a highly purified rhCollagen that can be used for the production of medical products.
Our rhCollagen is identical to the type I collagen produced by the human body, making it the ideal building block for regenerative medicine. It has significant advantages over the currently available tissue-derived collagens, including improved biofunctionality, high homogeneity, and reduced risk of immune response.
Clear advantages over animal-derived collagen
Animal Extracted |
Plant Derived |
|---|---|
 Few cell binding domains due to partially denatured crosslinked collagen |
 Many cell binding domains enabled by perfect triple helix enhance cellular attachment |
 Slow cell proliferation and slow tissue repair Foreign body reactions (e.g. granuloma) |
 Fast cell proliferation and fast tissue repair |
Production of type I human collagen is a complex process, starting at the intra-cellular level, with the synthesis of the correct mRNA, translation into the primary amino acid sequence, post translational modifications and assembly of a stable procollagen. Conversion of the extracted procollagen into collagen via enzymatic digestion is followed by purification.
Extensive studies done to characterize the protein at the different stages confirmed its identity to human collagen at the molecular, physical and biological levels, specifically:
The following diagram illustrates the various characterization studies conducted, demonstrating rhCollagen identity to human collagen.
rhCollagen can be fabricated in different forms, shapes, and physical properties. Applications include BioInks for 3D bioprinting of organs, tissues and scaffolds as well as products aimed at aesthetic medicine, orthopedics, advanced wound care and others.
We are advancing collaborations with leading companies in the regenerative medicine field, through licensing of our rhCollagen technology platform for the development of ground-breaking products.