Renaissance BioScience Corp. partners with Mitacs to enhance the company’s precision yeast-based RNAi technologies for environmentally friendly agricultural biopesticides
Renaissance BioScience Corp. partners with Mitacs to enhance the company’s precision yeast-based
RNAi technologies for environmentally friendly
agricultural biopesticides
Vancouver, Canada — March 31, 2022 — Renaissance BioScience Corp. (Renaissance), a leading global microorganism bioengineering company, is pleased to announce an additional research project funding grant and partnership with Mitacs and the University of British Columbia. “Development of RNAi enhancers using a yeast-based bio-manufacturing and delivery system and applications as a biopesticide against economically important crop pests in Canada,” the aim of the project is to further advance Renaissance’s yeast-based RNA interference (RNAi) technology by discovering and developing RNAi enhancers that will increase RNAi effector potency and lethality against target crop pest species.
This project funds a Mitacs Elevate post-doctoral research fellowship and will be focused on increasing efficacy by either directly killing the insects or increasing potency through enhancing the biodelivery of the RNAi into the target cell(s). RNAi enhancer (RE) molecules are designed to increase efficacy by working in tandem with the RNAi effectors, and this could have many valuable applications in biopesticides and biotherapeutics.
Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada, will provide 75% of the funding for the project as a means to enhance the efficacy of Renaissance’s bioengineered yeast-based RNAi production and delivery platform. The aim is to develop specific RE molecules that can greatly leverage the power of RNAi biopesticides in the control of pests.
Renaissance CEO and CSO, Dr. John Husnik, commented on the new project: “We are pleased to have support from Mitacs in this exciting project to further enhance our yeast-based RNAi production and delivery platform, initially in biocontrol applications for insect pests. There are significant potential global markets for our environmentally friendly, RNAi-based yeast technologies, especially in the biologic crop protection and animal agricultural sectors.”
A recent independent test of Renaissance’s RNAi-based biopesticide technology, conducted on Colorado potato beetle (CPB) larvae, resulted in 98.3% mortality and greatly reduced the amount of plant damage caused by the beetle.
The test, conducted by a leading international agriculture consultancy with expertise in pesticide evaluation, applied Renaissance’s proprietary yeast-based RNAi technology that is designed to precisely target and turn off a specific CPB gene. This resulted in high CPB mortality and worked to protect the plant. A key innovation of the Renaissance RNAi oral delivery platform technology is that it’s possible to include multiple different gene targets in each cell of the delivery system, thereby greatly reducing or eliminating the potential for CPB or other pests to develop resistance.
About Renaissance BioScience Corp.
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Renaissance is an environmental impact company whose bioengineering platform technologies are used to develop innovative, market-ready, functional microorganisms that provide solutions to a broad range of health, environmental and industrial problems. Detailed information about the Renaissance group of companies is available at www.renaissancebioscience.com.
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Steve Campbell
Campbell & Company Strategies Inc.
Communications and Public Relations
Vancouver, BC CANADA
01 604 888-5267