New York, NY, USA and Palmerston North, New Zealand
August 16, 2021
BioLumic Inc. (“BioLumic”), a biotechnology company that develops photomorphogenic light signals for agriculture, today announced the initial formation of a Scientific Advisory Board, composed of leading agricultural plant scientists. The Scientific Advisory Group will provide insights and guidance in the application of BioLumic’s photogenics platform to unravel novel and tractable science that will support commercial light signal applications.
“BioLumic’s clean-green light recipe platform blends photobiology, agbiotechnology, molecular biology, and plant physiology, and we are inspired and grateful to have the deep domain expertise of our advisors” said Jason Wargent, PhD, Chief Science Officer of BioLumic. “Agricultural productivity relies on a pipeline of new technologies which are underpinned by great science – such as BioLumic” said John Bedbrook, PhD, agbiotechnology leader and pioneer. “BioLumic is an exciting agtech company with novel plant science to unlock” said Professor Mark Tester, world-leading plant scientist.
The first members of the BioLumic Scientific Advisory Group are:
John Bedbrook received a PhD in Molecular biology at Auckland University, was a Fulbright Fellow to Harvard Medical School, a Cabot Fellow to Harvard University and an EMBO fellow to The Plant Breeding Institute Cambridge England. Dr Bedbrook founded and/or ran several agricultural biotechnology companies, including Advanced Genetic Sciences, DNA Plant Technologies and was President of Maxygen Agriculture. He was the CEO of Plant Science Ventures, a venture firm investing in biotechnology startups. After DuPont bought Verdia Inc. in 2004, Dr Bedbrook became Vice President of R&D for DuPont Agriculture and Nutrition, and subsequently Vice President of DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology. Dr. Bedbrook is also a member of the Board of BioLumic.
Mark Tester is a botanist and Professor of Plant Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. Prof. Tester is a Highly Cited Researcher in the Plant Sciences, with research foci extending across abiotic stress in plants, agricultural innovation, genetics, and phenotyping. He has published more than 300 scientific articles, with total article citations in excess of 40,000, and has published multiple times in two world-leading scientific journals, Science and Nature. Prof. Tester is also CSO and Cofounder of Red Sea Farms, an Agtech company developing and delivering environmentally sustainable, saltwater-based agricultural systems.
About BioLumic
BioLumic harnesses the power of photomorphogenic light signals to empower growers and seed producers around the globe. BioLumic’s pioneering technology activates natural mechanisms in seeds and seedlings that increase plant growth, vigor, and natural defense mechanisms — resulting in increased yields at harvest without the use of chemical inputs or genetic modification. Backed by top Ag investors, BioLumic is headquartered in New Zealand and is actively growing its presence in North America. To learn more, visit www.biolumic.com.
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