Funding Home Grown Research To Help Crops Flourish
Ground-breaking research into crop genetics could help feed and power the world thanks to Proof of Concept Funding.
Creative Gene Technology (CGT) - a spin-out from Durham University - received £90,000 from the POC Fund, and has now gone on to attract a further investment of £200,000 through the North East Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences.
The business is based around research into plant biochemistry, molecular biology and developmental genetics by Durham University professors Toni Slabas and Keith Lindsey.
Their findings can be used to increase crop yields by making them resistant to nematodes – tiny soil organisms that can cause huge economic damage by eating the roots of plants.
This genetic technology is an effective alternative to highly-toxic chemical pesticides, and can also be used to improve the quality of the oils produced by plants. Increased oil yields could help make bio-diesel crops more profitable, and benefit other oil-using industries such as cosmetics and healthcare.
CGT Director Dr Paul Rodgers said: "We continue to develop our unique portfolio of technologies which will provide farmers with new ways of protecting crops against pests and diseases, and will lead to improved crops tailored for production of new products such as biofuels. We will begin marketing our technologies this year. This is a new and exciting phase in the development of the company."
