As fuel prices keep going up, do the prices of lifesaving drugs.

The good news is that a Korean scientist has found a faster way to produce valuable plant resources that can produce mineral resources essential for the production of all-important bio-fuel and medicine from herbs such as ginseng - thanks to biotechnology.

Dr. Sung Ho Son, president of TriSys, Inc. and professor of Dong Yang University's latest biotech project - the "airlift bioreactor" - can accelerate the growth of plant cells and produce millions of seedlings to assure an abundant supply of mineral resources for in-demand products like bio-fuel and medicine.

Mr. Suns is offering his plant's technology and expertise to prospective investors to put up a $1-million bioreactor for plant tissue culture for commercial production in the country.

TriSys is running the biggest bioreactor plant in South Korea and has tested it on ginseng, probably the most famous Chinese herb used in Asia for centuries.

The airlift bioreactor maximizes at a very fast pace the development of plant tissues and cells using oxygen and carbon dioxide. It creates a sufficient amount of plant mineral resources many times over the conventional stirred tank reactors.

The airlift bioreactor was first introduced in 1996 by Mr. Sung. In 2002, he developed the full-auto airlift bioreactor which he now uses for increased productivity of biotech-medicine, one of the many fields of biotechnology.

Korean Mountain ginseng, for instance, takes about a hundred years to mature and harvest to produce lifesaving drugs. But when processed by an airlift bioreactor the waiting time could be reduced to just up to two months.

"This means lower production cost for medicine and [subsequently] cheaper medicine," Mr. Sung said.

Using an airlift bioreactor, Mr. Sung estimated that production cost of medicine could be reduced by as much as tenfold, thus allowing the research and development of cures for various diseases that could help prolong life.

TriSys is conducting a research cooperative program with the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Philippine Council for Agricultural Research and Development, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute.

Mr. Sung said two Filipino scientists will soon visit their bioreactor plant in South Korea to explore the possibility of entering into a partnership with TriSys for the construction of a similar facility in the Philippines.

The objective is to come up with an adequate supply of valuable plant resources through the plant tissue of herbs for possible importation of lifesaving drug ingredients by various drug companies, or to come up with an alternative source fuel owing to the skyrocketing cost of petroleum products in the world market.

He said TriSys has been successfully producing plant coils for lifesaving drugs for the past two years and currently has a 20-ton airlift bioreactor plant - the biggest in the world - for plant tissue and seedling culture.

He said with such technology where weather is favorable to fuel-producing plants such as coconut and other vegetables, there is a big chance of success in producing cheaper, yet efficient bio-fuel.