Research Blossoms in Poppy Lab
Biochemist seeks to unlock the secret of one of the oldest domesticated plants
By Grady Semmens
Photos by Ewan Nicholson
After 6,000 years of cultivation, you wouldn’t think there’d be any mystery left in the opium poppy.
As one of humanity’s oldest domesticated plants, Papaver somniferum has been grown, processed, refined and studied since the earliest days of civilization. In addition to being the world’s most important medicinal plant, it is also a valuable food crop, provides the raw material for the illegal drug trade in heroin and is a favourite of ornamental gardeners who cherish its vibrant flower.
Despite its ancient history, however, science is just starting to unlock many of the opium poppy’s secrets, and researchers at the University of Calgary have become world leaders in understanding the complexities of what the ancient Greeks named the “sleep-bringing poppy.”
“When I first came to U of C, a number of people asked me, “Why would you want to study the opium poppy in Calgary? Why don’t you work on something useful like canola or wheat?” recalls Peter Facchini, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Canada Research Chair in Plant Biotechnology.
“For me, the opium poppy is a fascinating plant and I want to unlock its secrets,” says Facchini, who came to U of C in 1995 after a stint as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montreal. “As academics, we need to pursue what we’re interested in, and what we believe in, even though others might not think it’s important or valuable at the time.”
Since then, Facchini’s work has definitely proven its worth. As a leading authority on opium poppy the 43-year-old biochemist has established one of only two cutting-edge opium poppy research labs in the world. He is sought regularly by government agencies, pharmaceutical companies and other scientists for his expertise on the plant that produces billions of dollars in legal narcotics, including codeine and morphine, every year. Recently, he has provided advice to the European-based Senlis Council, which is considering the future of the massive illegal poppy industry in war-torn Afghanistan.
“Dr. Facchini’s research on the opium poppy has become a main focus of the Faculty of Science’s efforts in support of bioproducts research,” says Sandy Murphree, dean of the Faculty of Science. “His research is setting the stage for socially important usage of this plant, which may ultimately be of significant agricultural benefit to Alberta and Canada.”
With a special licence from Health Canada, Facchini and his team of graduate students and postdoctoral research associates are allowed to grow up to 100 opium poppies in secure incubators on the U of C campus. The team has also worked with researchers in France and Australia—two of only five countries that have United Nations approval to export opium poppy products commercially—to grow larger numbers of the plants for research purposes. Using biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and genetic engineering techniques, their goal is to uncover the complex biological processes involved in the opium poppy’s natural production of morphine and related phamaceuticals. Codeine, oxycodone and other narcotic painkillers are synthesized from these plant-derived compounds, as is heroin.
“The big question is: What makes certain cells in the opium poppy little morphine factories?” Facchini says. “No other cells in nature can do this.”
Understanding the biosynthesis of morphine, in turn, may help scientists breed a poppy variety that produces higher levels of natural codeine—flowers that would be useless for making heroin but would provide a ready-made source of the important pain-reliever.
Facchini’s lab is also working on genetically engineering poppies that are resistant to herbicides and incorporate genetic markers that could be used to quickly identify legally grown plants versus those being grown illicitly. The global market for illicit opium is estimated to be ten times larger than the licit opium trade.
Most recently, Facchini began consulting Alberta businesses interested in the possibility of growing opium poppy as a cash crop, an idea he says has great potential.
“Southern Alberta actually has an excellent climate for growing opium poppy,” Facchini says. “Making it part of our agriculture could really help boost the local economy in a substantial and sustainable way.”
Canadians consume an estimated $100 million in legal opiates each year, all of which are imported.
“The world market for licit morphine is already saturated, but we could meet our own domestic needs if we grew opium poppy in Canada,” he says.
Facchini acknowledges there will be major political and regulatory hurdles to getting an opium poppy industry off the ground in Canada, but says as a scientist he enjoys the challenge of breaking new ground with his work.
“This is an important and iconic plant that we are really just beginning to understand” he says. “I enjoy breaking down barriers and I think that as researchers we need to be thinking ahead and pull the rest of the world along with us.”