Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November 17, 2009

• Malaysian BiotechCorp, Malaysian Agricultural Research & Development Institute (MARDI) and DNA LandMarks collaborate to advance major breeding programs
• Joint commitment to establish leadership in crop genomics

During today’s opening event of BIOMalaysia 2009, a collaboration designed to advance major crop breeding programs in Malaysia, was signed in the presence of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak. The participating parties, BiotechCorp, MARDI and DNA LandMarks, sealed their commitment to create laboratory facilities at MARDI to boost the competitiveness of Malaysian agriculture through modern breeding technologies.

DNA LandMarks, a BASF Plant Science group company, will provide the required technology, know-how, training and long-term support drawing from its experience as a world leader in agricultural genomics. The initial focus of the collaboration is on developing marker technology that is central to improving the productivity and quality of rice and cucurbits – a plant family including squashes and melons – key products of Malaysian agriculture. Marker technology allows plant breeders to screen large populations of plants for those that possess the trait of interest and manage complex traits throughout their breeding programs.

“Every breeder wants the best performance for his crops,” commented Dr. Joachim Richert, CEO of DNA LandMarks. “Our leading DNA marker technology immensely facilitates screening for such traits and brings breeding programs to new levels of productivity,” he added.

“BiotechCorp has been instrumental in bringing this collaboration to life,” said Dato’ Dr. Sharif Haron, Deputy Director General, MARDI. “We at MARDI are very eager to take up the challenge of building a state-of-the-art marker centre and help provide Malaysia with the tools to drastically speed up its breeding efforts.”

“Modern breeding and DNA marker technology are essential for getting the best out of traditional agricultural crops,” stated Y.Bhg Dato' Iskandar Mizal Mahmood, CEO of Malaysia Biotechnology Corporation. “I am very excited that MARDI is part of this important collaboration. We are convinced that MARDI will emerge as a leader in molecular breeding technologies providing superior services to the vibrant agricultural industry within the country and the entire region.”

About DNA LandMarks
Since its foundation in 1995, DNA LandMarks Inc. has been a world leader in DNA marker development and applications. Today the company offers a full array of marker technologies to the agricultural sector from development to mapping to high-throughput application. DNA LandMarks is a unit of BASF Plant Science and its Centre of Excellence for DNA sequencing and genotyping. For more, please visit www.dnalandmarks.com

About BASF Plant Science
BASF – the Chemical Company – consolidated its plant biotechnology activities in BASF Plant Science in 1998. Today, about 700 employees are working to optimize crops for more efficient agriculture, renewable raw materials and healthier nutrition. Projects include yield increase in staple crops, higher content of Omega-3s in oil crops for preventing cardiovascular diseases, and potatoes with optimized starch composition for industrial use.
To find out more about BASF Plant Science, please visit www.basf.com/plantscience.

BASF- The Chemical Company is the world’s leading chemical company. BASF has more than 97,000 employees and posted sales of €63.2 billion in 2008.

Website: http://www.basf.de

Published: November 19, 2009