Following the issuance of US Patent No. 6,753,139 by the United States Patent Office for methods of detection of gene silencing in plants and methods of isolating gene silencing effectors from plants, Plant Bioscience Ltd. (PBL) is now offering non-exclusive licences to practice this invention.

This technology is based on the seminal invention for the detection of short RNAs and using RNAs as effector molecules for gene silencing made by Professor David Baulcombe and Dr Andrew Hamilton at the Sainsbury Laboratory as published in Science (Vol. 286, pp950-952, 1999).

A series of additional patent filings are pending in the United States directed to the effector molecules themselves, methods of detection of gene silencing in organisms generally and to methods of inducing gene silencing.

PBL is actively exploring its options for commercial recognition of this proprietary technology. PBL has already signed a licence with a major AgBiotech company under its granted patent for the detection of short RNAs in plants and for a limited period, is now offering licence rights to its entire portfolio of issued and pending rights to siRNA effectors of gene silencing.

Enquiries: lars@pbltechnology.com