Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. is a plant biotechnology company, founded in 1997, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It currently operates as an IP holding company for assets relating to crop genetic traits.
In December 2014, Mendel sold its R&D operations and certain assets relating to the discovery and development of agricultural biological products to a subsidiary of Koch Agronomic Services, a business division of
Koch Industries
Koch, Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiarie ...
. Koch founded a new business unit, Koch Biological Solutions, based on the acquired assets and sourced additional near-to-market biological technologies through in-licenses, supply agreements and strategic investments. This business unit also operated under the name Mendel Biological Solutions. In November 2019, Koch Biological Solutions was spun out of Koch and merged with another company, Plant Response Biotech, to form Plant Response Inc. Plant Response was acquired by the fertilizer company Mosaic in the spring of 2022.
Mendel undertook research into
transcription factor
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription (genetics), transcription of genetics, genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding t ...
s over a 17-year period, and patented the use of transcription factor-based technologies in manipulating crop plant traits.
Since its inception, Mendel collaborated with
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed ...
. The
multinational corporation
A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...
funded certain
agricultural biotechnology
Agricultural biotechnology, also known as agritech, is an area of agricultural science involving the use of scientific tools and techniques, including genetic engineering, molecular markers, molecular diagnostics, vaccines, and tissue culture, to ...
research undertaken by Mendel. Mendel also collaborated with
BP,
Bayer CropScience
Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's a ...
and others.
References
External links
Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. homepage
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Biotechnology companies of the United States
Companies based in Hayward, California
Agriculture companies of the United States
Biotechnology companies established in 1997
Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area