Des Moines, Iowa and Seattle,
Washington
July 13, 2009
Custom enzyme design technology
to bring more options to global agriculture
DuPont and
Arzeda Corporation today
announced a technology collaboration to develop new traits to
increase agricultural productivity.
Under the agreement, DuPont business
Pioneer Hi-Bred will use
novel enzymes designed by Arzeda to develop next generation seed
traits in crops of worldwide agricultural importance such as
corn, soybeans, rice, cotton and canola.
“Arzeda’s tools are a perfect fit with our gene shuffling
technology to enable the development of industry-leading
products to increase productivity for our customers worldwide,”
said John Bedbrook, DuPont vice president – Agriculture &
Nutrition Research and Development. “We are pleased to work with
Arzeda, the industry leader in protein engineering and designing
enzymes with novel activities.”
Arzeda will use its proprietary computational protein design
technology to custom-design novel enzymes that catalyze specific
biological reactions that are of commercial importance to
Pioneer. Pioneer will use its expertise in crop molecular
biology and biotechnology, including its proprietary trait
enhancing tool-gene shuffling, to incorporate these traits into
seed products to meet the global demand for agricultural
products.
The agreement provides Pioneer with exclusive rights to traits
resulting from the collaboration. Terms of the agreement were
not disclosed.
“This is our first corporate collaboration, and we are delighted
that it is with DuPont, a company that has attained leadership
in its global businesses by emphasizing the application of
technology to achieve better solutions,” said Michael Martino,
Arzeda’s CEO.
Added David Baker, one of Arzeda’s founders and professor of
biochemistry at the University of Washington, “I’m very pleased
and excited to see technology developed in my lab applied to the
pressing global problem of agricultural productivity.”
Arzeda’s groundbreaking technology integrates the power of
chemical catalysis, the high selectivity of biological
macromolecules, and the speed of computational design to rapidly
design and screen novel enzymes that don’t exist in nature and
are currently inaccessible using traditional enzyme engineering
approaches. Arzeda was founded by David Baker and three senior
members of his lab to commercialize and further develop its
computational enzyme design technology. Arzeda’s team includes
the inventors of the platform and brings more than 20 years of
combined experience in the field of computational and
experimental protein engineering.
Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading
source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers
and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des
Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics
in nearly 70 countries.
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded
in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable
solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for
people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont
offers a wide range of innovative products and services for
markets including agriculture and food; building and
construction; communications; and transportation.
Other news
from Arzeda Corporation |
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