Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. announced today the award of a 2-year Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation.

The SBIR phase II grant provides additional funding for Mendel's development of commercially important crops using its WeatherGard(TM) technology for improved frost and drought tolerance. Freezing and drought are two of the most systematic plagues affecting agriculture. It is estimated that global crop losses due to frost damage and drought exceed $10 billion annually.

"We are delighted to receive the award,'' commented William Goure, VP of Commercial Development for Mendel. "With this grant, Mendel can more aggressively develop our WeatherGard technology in canola and other important agricultural crops. We expect WeatherGard crops with improved frost and drought tolerance to be important contributors to increased global food production. Additionally, our efforts will expand previous studies showing that heterologous plant genes, in particular those from Arabidopsis thaliana, can be used to
dramatically improve stress tolerance and other valuable traits in commercially relevant crops.''

The WeatherGard technology has been exclusively licensed by Mendel from Michigan State University. Mendel is collaborating with academic and industrial leaders to bring WeatherGard technology to the world's farmers.

Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. is a pioneer in the application of functional genomics to the study of plant genes. Mendel's business objective is to discover and characterize the function of important plant genes and to develop and commercialize high-margin products based on these discoveries. These products will benefit customers in agriculture, healthcare, specialty ingredient, and consumer products markets. Mendel has already identified several significant leads including those that: 

• improve plants' tolerance to weather-related stresses in order to enhance crop yield and to reduce the risks farmers must face;
• improve plants' tolerance to pests and disease;
• improve the sugar, protein and oil content of plants; and
• improve the economic value of plants via changes to plant architecture and development.

Mendel employs over 60 people and is a privately held company located in Hayward, California. 

Company news release
N2733