Rate My Professor Karen Oishi

Karen Oishi serves as Adjunct Professor of Plant Physiology at Virginia Tech within the Biology faculty. She obtained her B.S. from the University of California, Irvine in 1977 and her Ph.D. from the same institution in 1983. Her career is closely associated with CropTech Development Corporation, located at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she held the position of Vice President of Research. Oishi is listed as adjunct faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, contributing to research, extension, and graduate education in plant physiology.

Oishi's research focuses on plant-based expression systems for producing bioactive recombinant human and animal proteins using transgenic plants such as tobacco. She co-invented U.S. Patent 5,929,304, titled 'Production of lysosomal enzymes in plant-based expression systems,' filed September 13, 1996, and issued July 27, 1999, to CropTech Development Corporation and Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. This work enables production of enzymes like glucocerebrosidase and α-L-iduronidase for enzyme replacement therapies in diseases such as Gaucher’s disease. Another significant invention is U.S. Patent 8,058,512, 'Gene expression and production of TGF-β proteins including bioactive Mullerian inhibiting substance from plants,' filed November 8, 2005, and issued November 15, 2011. She also contributed to patent publications such as 'Production of urokinase in plant-based expression systems' (Publication 20040111765, filed February 26, 2003) for thrombolytic therapy applications. Oishi co-authored 'Bioproduction of Human Enzymes in Transgenic Tobacco' in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in 1996 while at CropTech. Additionally, she served as Principal Investigator for the project 'Oral Vaccination Against Anthrax Using a Transgenic Plant Expression System' documented in 2002. Her contributions highlight the potential of plants for cost-effective bioproduction of complex therapeutic proteins, bypassing traditional cell culture methods.