Moreover, Dr. Behzad Ghareyazie, Head of the Department of Genetic Engineering and Biosafety of ABRII, declared that 26 projects are in the pipeline in the department and our researchers have produced more than 147 events of several crop plants, which are mainly rice, potato and rapeseed. In addition, seven events of transgenic safflower are being tested in the greenhouse experiment stage while four more are in lab research stage.

It is worth noting that safflower is a versatile crop with several desirable traits, multiple applications and is well adapted to semi-arid conditions in the tropics and subtropics. Safflower is grown for its edible oil (high oleic and high linoleic varieties), high-protein seed cake, animal meal, bird seed and is also used for traditional medicine. Apart from these traditional uses, safflower has recently emerged as a broadacre platform for the production of transgenic products, including modified oils such as gamma-linolenic acid and pharmaceutically active proteins including human insulin and apolipoprotein.