Funding Opportunities with Industry

HortiEdit: Advancing health & enhancing nutrition via gene editing

What questions do you have about this RFP?

Get them answered by the team at Bayer Crop Science.

Background

Are you passionate about using science to improve human health and the environment? We are seeking to partner with academic researchers and companies to develop new fruit and vegetable products that have increased nutritional content, enhanced consumer appeal or positive impact on the environment by harnessing the speed and precision of gene editing/new breeding techniques. Let’s work together to create a future where fruits and vegetables are even more delicious and nutritious, while decreasing food waste.

What we're looking for

We are looking for anything from a product concept around a gene edit in a fruit or vegetable crop to an existing and characterized edit.

Solutions of interest include:

Technology maturity: ranging from early in-crop proof of concept to commercial-ready leads
Crops: all vegetables and fruits excluding fruit trees
Product Concept: nutrition, taste, consumer appeal, food waste reduction
Technology: gene editing (not transgenic traits)

Our must-have requirements are:

A product or focus developed through gene editing or NBTs in a fruit or vegetable crop.

What's out of scope:

Transgenics.

Acceptable technology readiness levels (TRL):

Levels 2-6

What we can offer you

Eligible partnership models:

Sponsored Research

Depending on the maturity of the concept, we offer a range of partnership opportunities from small grants for early ideas to commercial co-development and licensing, all supported by Bayer technical and business experts with the ultimate goal of commercialization.

Expertise

Connection to Bayer's scientific and/or market development teams to help develop and advance your concept.

Who we are

Bayer’s vision of #HealthForAll, #HungerForNone drives our need to strengthen innovation capabilities in all areas of agriculture. We know we can’t accomplish this alone, so we're always interested to hear about novel, early-stage scientific innovations that can contribute to feeding the world without starving the planet. You have our commitment to take a look, match with our R&D priorities and provide you timely feedback.

Learn more

Reviewers

Alessandra Frizzi

External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables

Gustavo Belchior

Open Innovation & Strategic Partnerships LatAm

Phil Taylor

Director of Open Innovation & Outreach

Dan Ruzicka

Innovation Sourcing Lead - Biotech Breeding

Q&A with Bayer Crop Science

The Q&A is now closed.

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Most upvoted

Do you have a list of fruits or vegetable crops that you are interested in?

Thao Ninh, Researcher, The University of Queensland

June 24, 2024

All crops in Bayer Vegetable portfolio https://www.vegetables.bayer.com/us/en-us/products.html would get priority.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

June 24, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Do you have information on how much money you would fund?

Thao Ninh, Researcher, The University of Queensland

June 24, 2024

There are various models based on the technology maturity. We are looking into development of a product where both parties benefit for the revenues.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

June 24, 2024

Is this response helpful?

I hope this message finds you well. I am interested to submit a proposal for the 'Advancing health & enhancing nutrition via gene editing' opportunity. We are interested to improve the global acceptance of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). Grass pea ( Lathyrus sativus L.) is a protein-rich crop which is resilient to various abiotic stresses, including drought. However, it is not cultivated widely for human consumption due to high level of the neurotoxin β-N-oxalyl-L-α, β-diaminopropionic acid (β-ODAP), and its association with neurolathyrism. We are interested to employ CRISPR/Cas to edit key genes in the β-ODAP biosynthesis to eliminate or significantly reduce the β-ODAP content. I am writing to ask if this topic is relevant. Thank you. Ayalew

Ayalew Osena, Principal Investigator, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

July 9, 2024

Hello Ayalew, grass pea would not be considered a target of this proposal for fruits and vegetables, but I will pass your information to colleagues working in the area of protein. Thanks for contacting us!

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 11, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Hi Bayer Colleagues, would you be interested in sugar kelp = vegetable? Primary Crispr targets would be to lower iodine but increase thermal tolerance. Either for the US NE, but also Korea and Japan are very interested.

Sergey Nuzhdin, Principal Investigator, University of Southern California

July 15, 2024

Hi Sergey, unfortunately sugar kelp is not part of our fruit/veg portfolio of crops. I will have to read more about it because it was definitely not on my radar. Thank you for letting me know about it!

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 17, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Will be happy to provide information on this Alessandra. We've been funded (since 2018) by Arpa-E and NOAA to establish kelp seed banks see my non-profit here: (https://www.altaseadsconservancy.org/), and to start breeding programs for sugar and giant kelps for a total of $11M. Have it all going, for example with sugar kelps 3* more efficient than wilds. We also have a 'non-reproductive kelp' patent (non-GMO, non-gene-edited), that will enable permitting of big offshore farms - WWF has assumed work on public/regulatory acceptance. World bank estimates macroalgae-based economy will add $11B a year to current $25B a year by 2030. I will be happy to share some materials with you, if Bayer becomes interested.

Sergey Nuzhdin, Principal Investigator, University of Southern California

July 17, 2024

Thank you for the information. I will share with our new business/specialty crops managers to get their input. Do you have the GE targets identified for the phenotypes you would like to achieve? would they have a value as single "trait" or only in combination? What is the status of genome annotation for Kelp? As I said I don't know much about it.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 17, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Thanks Alessandra, here is our paper on giant kelp genome assembly/annotation (jointly with JGI, https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-023-09658-x), and the sugar kelp one will be submitted by end-month. The biggest target is temperature resilience, especially Japan needs temperature-resilient sugar and wakame kelps (we aim to collaborate with Japanese on this, specifically Chikako Nagasato, Hokkaido University) as oceans are warming fast, we have GWAS targets (paper in press in Communications Biology, will be happy to share). For food properties, the biggest sticking point is the proportion of iodine - which varies genetically among species and genotypes, and would be easy to come up with the disruption target for. Either of those would be a very valuable advance. And if you want to scroll some fun info about kelp importance for planet future, including food security, here is one good link: https://www.wri.org/insights/what-kelp-forests-protect#:~:text=Most%20predictions%20of%20the%20future,impacted%20all%20over%20the%20world.

Sergey Nuzhdin, Principal Investigator, University of Southern California

July 17, 2024

We are developing electromagnetic treatments to increase crop productivity and resistance. In pinto beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), we achieved 40% more germination and 35% more production. Is this research of interest for your call?

Jesús García, CEO, SEPOC

July 23, 2024

Thanks Jesus for your inquiry. Unfortunately this would be out of scope as it doesn't involve gene editing.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 24, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Hi, I am currently exploring various methods to produce high-anthocyanin sweetcorn, and gene editing appears to be a promising approach. Would this be of interest to you? Thanks.

Pauline Okemo, Research Associate, University of Queensland Australia

July 22, 2024

I am curious about your question. Sweet corn is part of our vegetable portfolio, so this would be in scope. There are some corn lines that are very high in anthocyanin, and I was wondering if you were thinking of a yellow/white corn background or a purple corn.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 23, 2024

Is this response helpful?

The team at my Institute have developed purple sweet corn through breeding. I would ideally like to generate purple sweet corn using gene editing technology. Additionally, I would also like to explore gene editing to produce other economically viable sweetcorn varieties using different backgrounds.

Pauline Okemo, Research Associate, University of Queensland Australia

July 24, 2024

I would encourage you to submit the proposal, and we will rate it in comparison to the other submissions. It would probably depend on the level of anthocyanin that can be achieved and if it would be different from the conventional breeding counterpart- the technical team will have to evaluate.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 24, 2024

Is this response helpful?

What is the limit of number of proposals that can be submitted for a project?

Lbr impact Innovation, Researcher, LBR Impact Innovation

July 24, 2024

There are no limits. But I would encourage you to submit a proposal that is aligned with the topic of gene editing for increased nutrition and flavor in vegetable crops via gene editing.

Alessandra Frizzi, External Innovation and Partnership- Breeding and Vegetables, Bayer Crop Science

July 24, 2024

Is this response helpful?

Hi we have developed some gene edited lines and pyramided them with a dominant negative mutation and that resulted in tomatoes with enhanced flavor, carotenoid content and shelf life. Will you be interested?

Yellamaraju Sreelakshmi, Principal Investigator, University of Hyderabad

July 27, 2024