UNL, iDiverse sign agreements to develop stress resistant crops

CONTACT: Dipanjan Nag, Director of Operations, Office of Technology Development, (402) 472-3245

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and iDiverse, a biotechnology company based in San Diego, have announced signing of an exclusive license agreement to commercialize UNL's transgenic plant technology provides plants with resistance to a broad spectrum of diseases and environmental stresses.

UNL and iDiverse also signed a research agreement to expand the work of Martin Dickman, Charles Bessey professor of plant pathology at UNL, whose research is the basis for the licensed plant technology. "I am pleased and excited about the opportunity and prospects of taking our research and applying it to field-based agriculture," said Dickman, who also is a consultant to iDiverse. "I am glad to be working with iDiverse. Their support of my work will help expand our knowledge of the mechanism of the genes I discovered and to explore the full extent of disease and environmental stress protection these genes provide to plants."

"This exciting partnership with iDiverse is evidence of UNL's expertise in plant biotechnology and the return on Nebraska's investments in developing our capabilities in this critical area of science and technology," said Prem Paul, UNL vice chancellor for research. "The plant technology that we are developing here can make a real contribution to meeting the challenges agriculture faces in feeding an exploding world population with limited resources of land and water."

"We are very impressed with the broad potential for this technology as demonstrated by the results Dr. Dickman and his colleagues have generated in the lab, the greenhouse and especially in preliminary field trials" said John Burr, president and chief executive officer of iDiverse. "We look forward to a long and productive relationship with Dr. Dickman and with UNL and are eager to aggressively explore the commercial opportunities for this unique technology."

"We are pleased to be working with iDiverse in this area," said John Brasch, UNL associate vice chancellor for technology development. "They bring the right mix of experience in agriculture, proven accomplishments in entrepreneurial environments, and successes in commercializing innovative technologies -- all of which will help drive this program forward."

iDiverse also seeks a location to establish laboratory operations for this project, with Nebraska as a potential site, said Dipanjan Nag, director of operations for the UNL Office of Technology Development.

For more information contact Nag at (402) 472-3245 or by e-mail. UNL, iDiverse sign agreements to develop stress resistant crops