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Dow AgroSciences and Biodesign Institute at
Arizona State University collaborate in advancing plant-made
vaccine platform |
Indianapolis,
Indiana
May 05, 2005
Dow AgroSciences LLC
announced today that it has entered into a two-year research
and collaboration agreement with the
Biodesign Institute
at Arizona State University (ASU). The collaboration
will bring forward plant-made technology advancements to
create plant-made vaccines for the animal health industry.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Dow AgroSciences is committed to finding safe, more
effective solutions for poultry and livestock health issues
and food safety through collaboration with world-leading
public and private research institutions like the Biodesign
Institute at Arizona State University," says Steve Webb,
Ph.D., discovery research leader for Animal Health at
Dow AgroSciences.
Previous
collaborations with members of the research team at ASU
resulted in Dow AgroSciences' developing a unique
plant-based technology to produce proteins that will serve
as antigens in vaccines. "Our initial collaboration was very
fruitful and we are excited about the opportunity to
continue our work with the excellent team of scientists and
researchers at Arizona State University," says Webb.
"There are
substantial benefits in partnering with industry to develop
new technologies such as plant-made vaccines.
Dow AgroSciences and my team at ASU have the common goal of
wanting to see this technology reach the public where it
will do the most good. We believe our research compliments
the work Dow AgroSciences is performing to develop the
plant-made vaccine platform," said Amanda Walmsley Ph.D.,
assistant research professor of the School of Life Sciences
at ASU and the principal investigator within the Biodesign
Institute who will oversee this project. "This partnership
is a great opportunity to build on our prior work in
plant-made vaccines and demonstrate the feasibility of this
new vaccine delivery system," said Walmsley.
The
Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University integrates
research in diverse disciplines including biology,
engineering, medicine, physics, information technology and
cognitive science. This approach is designed to accelerate
discoveries that can be rapidly adopted by the private
sector. Master-planned as four interconnected buildings
comprising 800,000 sq. ft., the first building opened in
2004.
Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA,
is a global leader in providing pest management and
biotechnology products that improve the quality and quantity
of the earth's food supply and contribute to the health and
quality of life of the world's growing population.
Dow AgroSciences has approximately 5,500 people in more than
50 countries dedicated to its business, and has worldwide
sales of US $3.4 billion. Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned
indirect subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.
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