Syngenta, which is headquartered in Basel, has used its Shoots by Syngenta platform to announce six challenges for which its Seeds and Protecting crops divisions are seeking research partners. According to a press release, the research projects range from identifying new chemical building blocks derived from biomass waste streams to developing diagnostic tools for detecting non-visible indicators of poor crop growth.

Syngenta has improved productivity in chemical synthesis

Syngenta also announced the first two innovative collaborations that have materialized since the launch of the Shoots by Syngenta platform in 2023. IBM Research – Zurich and the biotech company Maxygen from the U.S. state of New Jersey “brought their respective pioneering approaches in data-based predictions modeling, and in the directed evolution of proteins more commonly leveraged in the pharmaceutical industry”. Syngenta contributed its “world-leading agricultural research and proprietary data sets”.

The collaboration with Maxygen has resulted in “protein variants with highly improved attributes and the subject of novel intellectual property”. Together with IBM Research, Syngenta has improved productivity in chemical synthesis using the IBM-RXN software. Reactivity predictions are now a key component in the design of synthetic procedures for new molecules and materials.

“Helping growers sustainably feed a rapidly growing human population requires a strong collaboration focus,” says Gusai Wu, Global Head of Seeds Research at Syngenta. Syngenta researchers are “continually seeking out different technologies, solutions, and partners” that enable them to meet the needs of farmers.