AquaBounty Technologies
 | |
| Industry |
Biotechnology aquaculture |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991[1] |
| Headquarters | Maynard, Massachusetts [1] |
Key people | Ronald L. Stotish (President & CEO) |
| Website | aquabounty.com |
AquaBounty Technologies is a biotechnology company based in Maynard, Massachusetts, United States. The company is notable for its research and development of genetically modified fish.[2] It aims to create products that aim to increase the productivity of aquaculture.[3]
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).[4] 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.[5]
The company also produces antifreeze proteins; and conducts research and development programs related to the commercialization of cryo preservatives and the antifreeze gene constructs.[3]
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.[6] In March 2012, AquaBounty raised US$2 million in new capital, but this would only last until the end of the year.[6]
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.[5][7] Intrexon acquired majority ownership of Aquabounty in 2013.[8]
References
- 1 2 "Company & History". Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ↑ http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/20/headlines/canada_approves_sale_of_genetically_modified_salmon
- 1 2 "AquaBounty Technologies Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ↑ Staveley, Jane P. (25 August 2010). "Environmental Assessment for AquAdvantage Salmon" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-03.
- 1 2 Pollack, Andrew (December 21, 2012). "Engineered Fish Moves a Step Closer to Approval". The New York Times.
- 1 2 Pollack, Andrew (21 May 2012) An Entrepreneur Bankrolls a Genetically Engineered Salmon. The New York Times, Retrieved 3 October 2012
- ↑ "Delays put question mark over GM salmon as development company receives bid". Fishupdate.com. December 10, 2012.
- ↑ Jacob Bunge (15 December 2015) Firm Bets on Biotech That Changes How Food Is Produced. The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 30 January 2016