Bayer CropScience and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. Hayward, Calif, have announced a new multi-year collaboration to jointly identify herbicides with novel modes of action.
Increasing evidence of herbicide-resistant weeds in different geographies - including those resistant to multiple herbicide classes - has spurred renewed interest in the discovery of herbicides. Bayer CropScience, the global No. 2 in herbicides, will bring in its leading expertise in herbicide research and development. Together with Mendel's deep knowledge of plant genetic regulatory networks (PGRNs) and its suite of proprietary genetic tools and assays for understanding plant development, this promising collaboration offers significant synergies.
Stress research: Dr. Dirk Ebbinghaus (left) and Dr. Albert Witzenberger in a Bayer CropScience greenhouse.
"There is a major need in agriculture for herbicides acting through novel modes of action," notes Dr. C. David Nicholson, Global Head of Research & Development at Bayer CropScience. "We believe that this collaboration will help us continue our significant contributions in agricultural chemistry and will further strengthen our partnering to cultivate new ideas and answers to help growers to tackle weed resistance issues and to protect their crops."
"We are excited to expand our partnership with Bayer CropScience into this new area of herbicide discovery," says Dr. Neal Gutterson, Mendel's President and CEO. "This collaboration is recognition of the broad applicability of Mendel's core technology platform and know-how in various fields across agriculture, and another important step towards realization of our new open architecture business strategy."
Mendel Biotechnology, Hayward, Calif has been deploying its PGRN platform and proprietary tools to harness a crop's genetic potential, in order to enhance agricultural productivity, resource use efficiency and crop quality. This PGRN platform is the foundation of an existing collaboration with Bayer CropScience to develop a pioneering class of crop performance chemistries.