Rothamsted Research Licenses Agragen Patent for Transformation of Camelina for Omega 3 Fatty Acids

22 Nov 2016 --- Agragen, LLC, an Ohio-based plant sciences company, has been focused on using Camelina sativa as a platform to produce fatty acids for use in human health and disease as well as a sustainable feedstock and its now transforming the license to Rothamsted Research in England.

This will help one of the world’s oldest agricultural research institutes to continue to produce long chain omega-3 fatty acids in camelina. Rothamsted Research is developing a camelina that will produce the same bioactive omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil using the licensed technology from Agragen. 

"We had been in negotiations for some time regarding the use of our patent with Rothamsted to permit them to transform camelina, which is an essential step to make these omega-3 fatty acids. This license gives them the freedom to operate to transform camelina," said Sam Huttenbauer, Jr., chief development officer of Agragen. "Licensing this technology by Rothamsted will not alter our own efforts to make these omega-3 fatty acids in camelina, a long held goal of Agragen.

"Agragen believes that collaborations that advance science will move the use of camelina forward, enabling the further establishment of this crop," said Eric J. Murphy, chief science officer, Agragen. "It's gratifying to know our technology will be used to further Rothamsted's efforts to find a renewable source for these fatty acids that are critical for human health.”

Agragen recently licensed technology from The University of Hong Kong for their own efforts to make a high yield camelina that produces fatty acids found in fish oil. 

"Agragen believes that combining this technology with our own omega-3 program will produce a camelina with twice the yield of traditional camelina", said Murphy. "Using our elite lines of camelina with this technology will give us a significant competitive advantage in production of omega-3 camelina that will require fewer acres." 

"There is a substantial need to produce a sustainable source of marine derived omega-3 fatty acids and with the size of the market, licensing our patent for the transformation of camelina to Rothamsted Research just makes sense," said Murphy. "In the end, this will only propel own efforts forward in this space." 

Earlier this month Rothamsted Research started to seek permission to conduct GM field trials to test whether genetically modified wheat plants can carry out photosynthesis more efficiently and could result in a higher yielding crop. Following a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Rothamsted Research has applied to Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to allow GM field trials at the Rothamsted farm during 2017 and 2018.