Novo Synthetix expects protype castor oil plant for US in 2014

In North Carolina, Novo Synthetix is working on bringing a ricin-free castor plant back to the US fields, an endeavor which won them North Carolina’s Biotech Center’s Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase earlier this year. A prototype plant is expected to be ready within six months to one year. The project will work with Precision Bioscience to engineer the castor plant to produce designer oils that would make the oil far more suitable for biofuels. This development would enable the US to rejoin a $400 million worldwide market which it has been absent from since 1970.

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