AquaBounty Technologies

This is an article about the AquaBounty company based in Maynard, Massachusetts

AquaBounty Technologies Inc.
Industry Biotechnology
aquaculture
Founded 1991[1]
Headquarters Waltham, Massachusetts [1]
Key people
Ronald L. Stotish (President & CEO)
Website aquabounty.com

AquaBounty Technologies is a biotechnology company, engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of products that aim to increase the productivity of aquaculture.[2]

Products

The company has developed hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than traditional fish.

Their hybrid Atlantic salmon incorporates a gene from a Chinook salmon, which bears a single copy of the stably integrated α-form of the opAFP-GHc2 gene construct at the α-locus in the EO-1α line (Ocean Pout AKA Eel).[3] AquaBounty has patented and trademarked this fish as the AquAdvantage salmon, a sterile Atlantic salmon female that can grow to market size in half the time of conventional salmon.[4]

The company also produces antifreeze proteins; and conducts research and development programs related to the commercialization of cryo preservatives and the antifreeze gene constructs.[2]

Finances

In 2012, a New York Times article reported the finances of AquaBounty were not in good shape and the company had to reduce staff from 27 to 12.[5] In March 2012, AquaBounty raised US$2 million in new capital, but this would only last until the end of the year.[5]

Georgian investor Kakha Bendukidze owned 47.6% of the company's stock before selling to American synthetic biology firm Intrexon in October 2012. Intrexon put up $500,000 in bridge financing and offered to buy the rest of the company.[4][6] Intreson acquired majority ownership of Aquabounty in 2013.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Company & History". Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  2. 1 2 "AquaBounty Technologies Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  3. Staveley, Jane P. (25 August 2010). "Environmental Assessment for AquAdvantage Salmon" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-03.
  4. 1 2 Pollack, Andrew (December 21, 2012). "Engineered Fish Moves a Step Closer to Approval". The New York Times.
  5. 1 2 Pollack, Andrew (21 May 2012) An Entrepreneur Bankrolls a Genetically Engineered Salmon. The New York Times, Retrieved 3 October 2012
  6. "Delays put question mark over GM salmon as development company receives bid". Fishupdate.com. December 10, 2012.
  7. Jacob Bunge (15 December 2015) Firm Bets on Biotech That Changes How Food Is Produced. The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 30 January 2016

External links


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