The 3-year project will aim to support the growing need for medicinal cannabis by helping standardise the product to meet pharmaceutical quality though environment manipulation and the development of new cannabis plant architectures.
Currently cannabis varieties, or cultivars, vary greatly creating different cannabinoid profiles.
The research in Dundee will aim to use Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technologies to create a consistent product and help the UK to maintain its position as the world's largest producer and exporter of medicinal cannabis.
The plants will be grown to maturity at Glass Pharms’ purpose-built 2.4-hectare semi-closed glasshouse facility that has advanced sensor technology tracking environmental conditions and plant growth with a robotics-based container system that moves the plants through the different climate zones within the glasshouse.
The research will be led by Professor Derek Stewart, Director of the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, who commented: “This is an exciting project for the James Hutton Institute team to be involved with. We will play an important role in furthering pharmaceutical quality of these plants, reinforcing the UK’s importance on the world stage.”
James Duckenfield, CEO of Glass Pharms, said: “We believe that working with the Advanced Plant Growth Centre on this research project will directly lead to better health outcomes for UK patients."
"The APGC and Glass Pharms’ advanced cultivation facility is the ideal combination to develop and stabilise cannabis cultivars intended for use in medicine.”
Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in 2018 and is set to become an increasingly important part of UK life sciences research and medicine manufacturing.
