Wageningen, The Netherlands
January 12, 2011
Today, KeyGene and LemnaTec announce the start of their joint plant phenotyping facility PhenoFab in Wageningen, the Netherlands.
In the era of Plant Genomics the amount of DNA information of crops has enormously increased. As a consequence more effective and reliable phenotyping data has become the bottleneck in modern genetic crop improvement. PhenoFab is one of the first facilities which exactly addresses the Phenotyping bottleneck by providing contracted research solutions. This will surely generate new opportunities for the seed industry, breeding institutes and academic breeding groups.
The new PhenoFab center is a fully automated greenhouse facility with an average capacity of 1100 plants on the conveyor belt system. The system has three different imaging stations, enabling automated 3D image analysis in visible light, near infrared light (enabling water content measurements) and fluorescent light (enabling the visualization of fluorescent substances e.g. Chlorophyll, GFP or other reporter genes). With an existing system, KeyGene and LemnaTec have generated substantial phenotyping experience for a number of crops (e.g. maize, tobacco, potato, canola and various vegetable crops) and a number of traits (e.g. drought resistance, growth and yield, quality traits, various biotic stresses and root development). Impressed by and building on the striking results and commercial opportunities, a new system has been developed that is now available as a screening device for the seed industry on a fee for service base. The PhenoFab facility is located in Wageningen in the heart of the Dutch Agro Food Center of Excellence: Food Valley. It combines the proprietary and excellent second generation automated imaging and conveyor belt system developed and marketed by the German company LemnaTec and the deep plant breeding and phenotyping algorithm expertise of the Dutch Ag-Biotech company KeyGene.
Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO of LemnaTec: “With our PhenoFab commitment we hope to shift Phenomic research onto a higher level. The combination of experiences from LemnaTec and KeyGene will enable the facility to provide state of the art services in Plant Phenotyping research. LemnaTec has worked in Scientific Image Processing since 1998 and has installed Phenotyping Systems all over the world. With this new joint plant phenotyping facility it is now the first time that LemnaTec will offer direct research services in Plant Phenomics to breeders. This project has a great strategic value for LemnaTec and we look forward to extending our business into Plant Phenotyping Services”.
Arjen J. van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene: “With these new facilities we have now the possibility to generate reliable and robust phenotypic data in a fast and non-destructive way. We can combine these data with our wealth of knowledge of the DNA of the crops involved and create breakthrough opportunities concerning traits that can be directly used in practical breeding programs. Already from the experimental set up we were able to generate new BioMarkers that are now practically used to genetically improve crops for economically highly relevant traits that were otherwise not or only difficult to determine. I have high expectations that our strategic collaboration with the engineering experts of LemnaTec will bring big advancements for us and our clients”.
About LemnaTec
Founded in May 1998 in Aachen (Germany) with 8 partners coming from different backgrounds LemnaTec’s philosophy has always been to consolidate various competences. The interdisciplinary LemnaTec team combines biologists, physicists, chemists, bioinformaticans, ecotoxicologists as well as hard- and software engineers. The LemnaTec team of scientists develops hard- and software solutions for plant phenomics, high-throughput and high-content screening of plants, seedlings, insects and other organisms and for the automated evaluation of bio tests in ecotoxicology. Our aim: to visualise and analyse the biology beyond human vision. For more info please contact: info@lemnatec.com. Phone: +49 2405 412 600, www.lemnatec.com.
About KeyGene
KeyGene is a R&D company with the mission to be the leading company in developing and applying DNA expertise in the field of molecular genetics with a focus on crop plants. KeyGene’s up to date R&D facilities with next generation sequencing platforms, an extensive computational infrastructure and long experience in working with plant genomes form the firm basis of the Crop Genome Center, which focuses on the development of high quality genome assemblies of 6F crops. KeyGene exploits its proprietary technologies, databases and know-how through strategic alliances, contract research and products for applications in the plant breeding industry. KeyGene has its headquarters in Wageningen, The Netherlands, a subsidiary in Rockville Maryland, USA and a joint lab at the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences in Shanghai, China. For more info please contact: niclaudi.boons@keygene.com. Phone: +31 317 466 866, www.keygene.com.
KeyGene is a registered trademark of Keygene N.V. Application for registration of the trademark PhenoFab has been filed.
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