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26 November 1998 |
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"The announcement today by Biodiscovery Limited that it has signed a $1.5 million agreement with the giant French life sciences company Rhone-Poulenc has the potential to generate significant benefits for Australian farmers," the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin said today.
The agreement is the first of its kind in Australia and is based on research by CSIRO.
"CSIRO's significant knowledge about Australian insects is helping Rhone-Poulenc Agro find new natural products which are active in crop protection,'' says the Minister.
"This is the first pay-off from a far-sighted joint venture between CSIRO Entomology and Biodiscovery Limited to systematically screen Australian insects for agrochemical and pharmaceutical leads."
The success of the joint venture is made possible because of CSIRO Entomology's seventy year research history into Australian insects. The Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), housed in CSIRO Entomology in Canberra, has generated a depth of knowledge about Australian insects unmatched anywhere in the world.
"The ANIC represents an incredibly valuable national resource and it is exciting to see its skills and knowledge being used in such an innovative way to obtain commercial benefit from the unique insect biodiversity in Australia," Senator Minchin says.
"We have extensive knowledge about Australian species, their geographic distribution and behaviour," says Dr Jim Cullen, Chief of CSIRO Entomology, "This knowledge, combined with our research skills in biotechnology and chemistry and our state-of-the-art analytical technology, allows us to produce extracts for companies like Rhone-Poulenc Agro to screen for novel agrochemical products."
More information:
Dr Jim Cullen 02 6246 4025
Dr John Curran 02 6246 4134
Dr Stephen Trowell 02 6246 4126
Mr Malcolm Robertson 02 6246 4040
(Australia's largest scientific research organisation)
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