Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina and Winnipeg, Manitoba
October 17, 2008
BASF Plant Science
and the University of Manitoba,
a leading Canadian academic institution, today announced a
licensing agreement on a promising gene discovery related to
increased crop yields and stress tolerance. The discovery may be
used in major food crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, canola
and rice. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the agreement, BASF Plant Science will test,
develop, and, subject to positive field trial results, market
the discovery from the labs of Dr. Robert Hill at the University
of Manitoba. Dr. Hill will continue his research at the academic
level to deepen his understanding of its entire function.
“The University of Manitoba has impressed us with important
discoveries in the plant sciences, and the current agreement can
bring powerful synergies to the on-going effort to meet the
increasing demand for agricultural output,” said Dr. Juergen
Logemann, Vice President Technology Management, BASF Plant
Science.
In Winnipeg, Dr. Robert Hill said, “For a century, the
University of Manitoba has been a leading player in agricultural
research in Canada. Its faculty members have trained new
generations of farmers and have developed important new
cultivars and new technologies. Our work with stressed plants
over the past two decades can lead to the new, higher-yield
strains that are so important today. We are excited about this
compelling new discovery.”
The University of Manitoba is western Canada’s first
University and a leading research-intensive Institution of
higher education. The University has an enrollment of 27,000
students and offers 82 under-graduate and graduate degree
programs. For decades, the University has been a font of
important intellectual properties including canola, the RH
treatment for newborns, mass spectrometer technologies and one
of the world’s leading ventilators. Today, the University is
home to vibrant research community.
BASF, the Chemical Company, consolidated its plant biotechnology
activities in BASF Plant Science in 1998. Today, about 700
employees at BASF Plant Science work to optimize crops for more
efficient agriculture, renewable raw materials and healthier
nutrition. Projects include increasing yield in key grain crops
such as corn, rice and soybeans, higher content of Omega-3s in
oil crops to help prevent cardiovascular disease, and potatoes
with optimized starch composition for industrial use.
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