Rehovot, Israel – April 2, 2012 – Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) announced today completion of an expansion program of its R&D facilities, resulting in a greater than 50% increase in the company’s gene validation & plant growth capacity. The expansion was conducted in two stages: the first stage included reconstruction of new molecular and tissue culture laboratories; and the second stage included substantial expansion of Evogene’s greenhouse site. The total costs for this expansion program was approximately $4.5 million.
The first stage of the program included construction of over 1,100 m2 state-of-the-art molecular and tissue culture laboratories, upgrading and expanding the previous area amount by over 60%. The new laboratories were planned and equipped with Evogene’s custom tailored automated instruments for lab processes, with emphasis on cost optimization, international environmental safety standards and energy savings.
The second stage of the program included expansion of Evogene’s greenhouse site and was focused on doubling the area amount in the Gezer regional area, located nearby Rehovot. This enables Evogene to substantially increase its plant growth and validation capacity. Evogene’s plant validation system is today comprised of two key model plants- Arabidopsis for dicots and Brachypodium for monocots.
In addition, Evogene has initiated an additional building program to provide new office space to support its personnel increase, mainly trait researchers and computational genomics teams. During the past three years, the company more than doubled its employment level. The new office and related facilities are budgeted to cost approximately $1,000,000.
“We are very pleased with the availability of this additional and substantial expansion of our R&D facilities in support of our continuing growth in programs, both internal and under partnerships with seed companies, as well as personnel. In this regard, we see both a continuing increase in the potential for partnerships, and the opportunity to substantially increase the amount and type of research activities that we are capable undertaking with our computational genomic platforms – ATHLETE™, EvoBreed™ and Gene2Product™,” stated Assaf Kacen, EVP of Technology Platform at Evogene. “With this recent expansion, we are able to clone, transform to model plants and validate in our greenhouses over 1,000 genes per year, thus providing the capacity for continuing rapid growth and expansion.”
About Evogene
Evogene is a world leading developer of improved plant traits for a wide diversity of key crops through the use of plant genomics. The company focuses on utilizing its proprietary computational genomic technologies and plant science to provide a complete solution for improving key plant traits, including yield, abiotic stress tolerance, such as drought, and abiotic stress, such as disease resistance. Evogene is collaborating with world leading seed companies to introduce its products into key commercial crops under milestone and royalty bearing agreements. Evogene’s wholly owned subsidiary, Evofuel, is engaged in utilizing Evogene’s expertise to develop and commercialize seeds of non-food feedstock for biofuel. Evogene’s headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and its stock is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: EVGN). For additional information, please visit Evogene’s website at www.evogene.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as “may”, “expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which beyond Evogene’s control, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with the Israeli Securities Authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
Contact Information
Evogene:
Liat Cinamon
Director of IR&PR
E-mail: liat.cinamon@evogene.com
Tel: +972-8-931-1933