NIST RENEWS AWARD TO MYCOGEN CORP. TO
DEVELOP TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE COMMERCIAL LIPIDS FROM YEAST

The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced that it will renew a multiyear research award under the Advanced Technology Program to Mycogen Corp. (San Diego, Calif.) to use modern genetic technologies to modify oleaginous yeast to stimulate the overproduction of isoprenoids, a commercially important class of lipids. An initial project target is the production of squalene, an important biodegradable lubricant currently extracted from shark liver oil.

The NIST award renewal is for $392,158. The three-year project, begun in 1995, is projected to receive a total of approximately $1,043,000 in ATP funding, matched by approximately $294,000 in industry funding.

Advanced Technology Program awards are designed to help industry pursue risky, challenging technologies that have the potential for a big pay-off for the nation’s economy. ATP projects focus on enabling technologies that will create opportunities for new, world-class products, services and industrial processes, benefiting not just the ATP participants but other companies and industries--and ultimately consumers and taxpayers. The ATP’s cost-shared funding enables industry to pursue promising technologies that otherwise would be ignored or developed too slowly to compete in rapidly changing world markets.

Detailed information on this project, Oleaginous Yeast Fermentation as a Production Method for Squalene and Other Isoprenoids, is provided in the fact sheet.

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