ICRISAT Receives Humanitarian License for Use of CRISPR-Cas9

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has been granted a humanitarian licensing agreement with Corteva and the Broad Institute to use the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system for research. This breakthrough is expected to contribute to the development of enhanced crop varieties with tolerance to drought, heat, pests, and diseases, while boosting productivity, nutritional quality, and other traits vital for farmers and consumers.

"Broad's and Corteva's leadership in gene editing, combined with ICRISAT's world-leading breeding programs and our other long-standing partnerships with national agricultural research systems, this new capability will accelerate the delivery of practical crop innovations that strengthen food security, improve livelihoods and build more resilient agricultural systems across Asia and Africa,” said ICRISAT Director General Dr. Himanshu Pathak.

With the license, ICRISAT researchers are provided with a vital tool spanning from research and product development to the development of novel gene-edited solutions across ICRISAT's mandate crops, such as sorghum, pearl millet and other millets, chickpea, pigeon pea and peanut.

Read the press release from ICRISAT.