NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – – Agriculture biotechnology company Syngenta said today that its Asia Pacific business has opened a new research and development facility that will identify and develop biomarkers that can be used to engineer sustainable crops.
The new Kendall Laboratory in Singapore will focus on identifying molecular markers that are associated with desirable traits and for use in molecular-associated plant breeding, which compresses the development cycle by half compared to traditional breeding methods, the company said.
Specifically, the lab will support development of new tools for use in agriculture around the Asia-Pacific region.
"The Asia Pacific region is expected to have an additional billion mouths to feed by 2030 and with limited natural resources, new technology in agriculture is necessary to help farmers grow more with less," Peter Pickering, the regional head of Syngenta's Asia Pacific Seeds business, said in a statement.
Syngenta is based in Basel, Switzerland and has R&D facilities there as well as in the US, UK, China, and India.
“Syngenta’s Kendall R&D laboratories will support our research network around the region and allow us to bring better technology to Asian farmers as they work to provide greater food security across the region," Pickering said.
Pickering added that incorporating the molecular biology approach into its established platforms enables the company to "leverage both biology and chemistry of plant science… to develop effective solutions to meet the challenges of growing food and feed today and into the future."