COMPANY OVERVIEW

NemGenix is an agricultural biotechnology company based in Australia which is developing new varieties of wheat, barley and sugarcane that are resistant to plant parasitic nematodes. It is estimated that these pests, which affect all major crop species, cause global agriculture losses of US$130+ billion a year.

With current control measures based primarily on the use of highly toxic pesticides, and with few naturally occurring resistance genes, the company's approach is to genetically modify the targeted crops and engineer resistance using technology developed and patented by CSIRO.

Proof of principle experiments have been successfully completed by the company's academic partners confirming the utility of the technology being used, and the company is now following up that work with focused commercial R&D programmes.

NemGenix is located at the Western Australia State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre and is backed by venture capital and government funding.