by Rex Dalton
Nature 426, 216 via Agnet Nov. 20/03


An industrial–academic partnership on plant research that rocked the University of California (UC), Berkeley, when it started five years ago is, according to this story, quietly coming to an end.

The story explains that the deal, under which Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural biotechnology firm, provided $25 million to the university's department of plant and microbial biology, will expire on 23 November, after the company declined to exercise its option to continue it.

Plant biologist Simon Bright, head of technology interaction for Syngenta at Jealott's Hill, Berkshire, UK, was quoted as saying, "There is a shift in how we do discovery research. We are focusing on moving discoveries in the pipeline to products."

UC Berkeley officials say that they are unsurprised, but that they would have liked to renew the agreement. "It funded a lot of blue-sky research that would not otherwise have taken place," says political scientist Robert Price, UC Berkeley's associate vice-chancellor for research.