Paris and Minneapolis, March 3, 2010 – Cellectis S.A. (Alternext: ALCLS), the French genome engineering specialist, has announced today the incorporation of Cellectis plant sciences, a subsidiary dedicated to the applications to plants of meganucleases, its core technology. Its main mission is to increase and accelerate usage of Cellectis’ proprietary technology in agricultural biology, broaden the company’s platform to attract new and expanded licensing opportunities and explore the development of proprietary traits for selected applications.
Cellectis plant sciences is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, with laboratory space close to University of Minnesota and its greenhouse facilities. Daniel Voytas, PhD, an internationally renowned scientist and established expert in plant genome engineering will serve as Chief Scientific Officer of Cellectis plant sciences. Dr Voytas is Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Genome Engineering. Feng Zhang, PhD, a key collaborator in the Voytas laboratory since 2008, will join the new company as Research Director. By the end of 2010, the team is expected to have six employees.
“The aim of Cellectis plant sciences is to support Cellectis’ existing collaborators and licensees in the implementation of our meganuclease technology in plants, to provide a comprehensive suite of services and expertise to a broader set of potential partners and to develop our own traits in crops, focusing on high value niche markets that are open to new entrants with differentiating technology,” said Cellectis CEO André Choulika.
“We envision Cellectis plant sciences evolving very rapidly and the subsidiary should offer significant company value in just three to five years time. I’m delighted to be leading this unique project”, added Daniel Voytas, CSO of Cellectis plant sciences.
“The opening of Cellectis plant sciences fulfils two of the main objectives stated at the time of our capital increase last October: to develop and broaden our competencies by organic growth and to become a truly international company by being present in the United States,” said Cellectis CFO Marc Le Bozec.
More information on www.cellectis.com
