Biotalys Enters into Academic Collaborations with Key Scientific Leaders in Europe and U.S.

Cooperations will support Biotalys’ targeted approach to biocontrol development and help to advance earlier-stage programs

Ghent, Belgium, Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biotalys (Euronext – BTLS), an Agricultural Technology (AgTech) company developing protein-based biocontrol solutions for crop protection, today announced that the company has entered into several academic collaborations with leading researchers in plant pathology in both Europe and the U.S.

Biotalys is developing a series of biocontrols to support growers in protecting their crops from pests and diseases. The company’s R&D program BioFun-4 was initiated last year to develop a biofungicide against Phytophthora infestans, an oomycete (water mould) that causes late blight/potato blight, a serious disease that particularly affects fruit and vegetable crops and potatoes. Biotalys has now entered into a research collaboration agreement with the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom), under which Biotalys will sponsor a three-year PhD project in the Oomycete Laboratory of Prof. Pieter van West, Chair in Mycology, a leader in the field of plant and animal pathogenic oomycetes. This project will deepen the expertise in oomycetes at the molecular level and fits well with Biotalys’ highly targeted strategy of applying a discovery method based on defined molecular targets, as core of its AGROBODY 2.0 technology platform.

The company also announced two new academic collaborations related to BioFun-7, its ongoing R&D program in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and focused on developing biocontrols against leafspot disease for cowpeas and other legumes. The first collaboration is with the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) at the University of Lisbon (Portugal) to isolate and characterize new strains of Cercospora canescens, the target fungal disease of the BioFun-7 program. The work led by Dr. Filipa Monteiro at Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF) labs (e.g., Coffee Rust Research Centre (CIFC), Prof. Dora Batista) will enable Biotalys to test the effectiveness of its molecules in infection experiments. The collaboration was initiated in the second half of 2023 and is planned to run for two years.