Full Press Release Details
Announces Research Collaboration and Licensing Agreement for Trait
Development in Wheat, Rice and Corn
NEW BRIGHTON, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 16, 2015--Calyxt, Inc., a
Minnesota-based company focused on developing healthier food products to
benefit both consumers and farmers, today announced that it has signed a
research collaboration and option to exclusive licenses with Plant
Bioscience Limited (PBL) for certain new crop plants developed using
gene editing by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology
(IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Plants with new
traits in wheat, rice and corn are currently at various stages of
development using gene-editing technology and include quality
improvement and yield increase traits.
Calyxt previously announced a licensing agreement with PBL for a
resistance trait to powdery mildew, a devastating disease in wheat,
which was developed by IGDB. This new collaboration expands on that
relationship and boosts the trait development pipeline at Calyxt for
gluten-reduced wheat. It also provides access to traits in two new
crops: rice and corn.
"Our partnership with PBL would supplement our internal trait
development pipeline with new traits that will be pivotal additions to
our existing trait portfolio," said Dan Voytas, Chief Scientific Officer
of Calyxt, Inc. "More importantly, it will also help to expedite
Calyxt's mission to bring healthier food products to market."
Dr Jan Chojecki, PBL's managing director, said: "We are delighted to
extend our partnership with Calyxt in this new agreement which secures
funding for some very exciting research at IGDB and which promises to
lead to new crops with a wide range of benefits both for farmers and
Founded in 2010, Calyxt, Inc. (previously Cellectis plant sciences,
Inc.) is based in New Brighton, Minnesota (USA). The company aims to
create healthier crop products such as high-oleic/low trans fat soybean
oil, cold-storable potato, gluten reduced wheat and low saturated fat
canola oil for the food and agriculture industries. Calyxt is developing
a network of partnerships in order to secure accessibility of its food
products to consumers. For further information please visit our website: www.calyxt.com
Calyxt and the corporate logo are trademarks owned by Calyxt, Inc.
Talking about gene editing? We do it.
TALEN is a registered trademark owned by the Cellectis
PBL (Norwich, UK) invests in and promotes innovative technologies from
public and private sources worldwide and is owned jointly by the John
Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory, and the BBSRC (Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council). PBL has the right to sublicense
certain new traits emerging from research at the Institute of
Developmental Genetics and Biology. For further information about PBL
please visit www.pbltechnology.com
Strategic Communications
Caitlin Kasunich, 212-896-1241
Simon Harnest, 646-385-9008
VP Finance and Investor
Chojecki, +44 1603 456500