ROSEVILLE, Minn., Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Calyxt,
Inc. (Nasdaq: CLXT), a plant-based synthetic
biotechnology company, today announced the appointment of
Seth Dobrin, Ph.D., to the Company's
Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Dobrin is the Global Chief
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer at IBM and brings extensive
leadership experience and a track record of transforming companies
through data and AI.
"We warmly welcome Seth to our Scientific Advisory Board. Seth
is a visionary whose deep experience bringing AI-based business
solutions to major global corporations will be invaluable as we
continue to develop and augment the AI and machine learning (AIML)
capabilities of our PlantSpringTM platform and
BioFactoryTM production system to advance plant-based
synthetic biology solutions for important target customers and end
markets," said Michael A. Carr,
President & CEO of Calyxt.
Mr. Carr added: "We estimate that, aided by machine learning and
artificial intelligence, Calyxt will be able to take a customer's
molecule need through our design, engineering, verification, and
pilot-level production process within a 36-month period, with
commercial scale production to commence thereafter. Seth's unique
expertise will provide key guidance to us as we develop and further
refine our strategy to build our AIML data initiatives and advance
our team's skill sets and our capabilities to improve the
efficiency and scalability of our offerings. Ultimately, our focus
is to help our customers produce more sustainable products and meet
corporate sustainability targets."
In his role at IBM, Dr. Dobrin leads the corporate AI strategy.
He is responsible for connecting AI development with a systemic
creation of business value via a design-driven strategy that
enables a transformation of IBM's core operations. Dr. Dobrin leads
the effort to fundamentally change every area of IBM, from business
operations to product development, by adopting a human-centered
approach to AI through a new methodology that he created that
ensures continuous and responsible delivery of AI-based business
outcomes across the company. Before being appointed as IBM's Global
Chief AI Officer, Dr. Dobrin led the digital transformation of
IBM's Cloud and Cognitive Software (C&CS) business as Chief
Data Officer. Prior to IBM, Dr. Dobrin held roles of increasing
responsibility at the Monsanto Company; at the Marshfield Clinic,
as the Director for the Center of Medical Genetics; and as a
Scientist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Dr.
Dobrin received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and a
B.S. in Microbiology from Arizona State
University. He is the Chair of the IBM Data Science
Procession Board and the co-founder of the women's diversity
network, GROW. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Science
Center of Iowa and is an adjunct
faculty member in the Department of Genetics at Iowa State University.
"I am thrilled to join the Calyxt Scientific Advisory Board at
this important time for the Company as it launches its new
strategic direction to bring plant-based synthetic biology
solutions to global businesses in major industries," said
Seth Dobrin, Ph.D. "More precisely,
I am impressed by the capabilities that Calyxt has created to
deliver unique and innovative plant-based molecules not available
through other production methods. By using a data driven approach
and by implementing AI and machine learning, Calyxt is well
positioned to accelerate its entire process from idea to commercial
production. I look forward to advising the Company through its
evolution in this exciting new opportunity."
On October 5, 2021, Calyxt
announced the launch of a strategic initiative to focus the Company
on engineering synthetic biology solutions for a diversified base
of customers across an expanded group of end markets, including the
nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical, advanced materials,
and chemicals industries. Central to the strategy is the
integration of the Company's proprietary technology platform,
PlantSpring, with its newly commissioned pilot bioreactor, the
BioFactory, which together will enable Calyxt to rapidly prototype
and produce complex plant-derived compounds without the need for
outdoor cropping systems. Notably, the PlantSpring
technology platform leverages an expanding set of AIML capabilities
as well as Calyxt's experience, proprietary systems and tools and
technologies from more than a decade of engineering plant
metabolism.
"We are pleased that Seth has joined our Scientific Advisory
Board, where he will bring highly-specialized expertise relevant to
the current and future potential of Calyxt. This is a particularly
opportune time for Seth to be joining Calyxt as we drive our new
strategic initiative, which leverages AIML in important new ways
for our customers. We look forward to working with him," said
Dan Voytas, Ph.D., Professor in the
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the
University of Minnesota and Chair of
the Calyxt SAB.
Calyxt formalized its SAB in March
2021 to provide guidance for Calyxt to leverage and grow the
business in new directions and help realize the significant
potential value of the Company. The SAB also includes the following
members:
- Anne Osbourn, Ph.D., Group
Leader at the John Innes Center
- Elizabeth Sattely, Ph.D., HHMI
Investigator and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering,
Stanford University
- Paul Bernasconi, Ph.D., Former
Global Function Head for Molecular Biology at BASF Biosciences
About the PlantSpringTM Technology Platform and
BioFactoryTM Production System
Calyxt's technology platform, PlantSpring, is built on the
Company's experience of more than a decade engineering plant
metabolism, its proprietary systems, its tools and technologies,
and an expanding set of AIML capabilities. This licensable platform
delivers innovation through an efficient process from laboratory to
pilot. The process includes identification of breakthrough
molecules based on customer needs and design strategies to
reprogram host cells; engineering of plant cell metabolism to
optimally produce targeted molecules; and production of target
molecules at pilot scale. Calyxt has developed early-stage AIML
capabilities in PlantSpring, which enable learning and adaptation
from knowledge gained from past activity and can be combined with
predictive analytics to rapidly prototype and provide feedback,
accelerating the time from design to pilot and de-risking the
commercial scale-up phase. As a result, Calyxt believes it can
develop engineered biomolecules in plants for customers at faster
speeds than its competitors in the synthetic biology industry. The
output from the PlantSpring platform integrates seamlessly with the
Company's newly commissioned BioFactory.
The BioFactory is the culmination of the work of Calyxt's
researchers and will enable the Company to expand its production
methods from solely outdoor agriculture systems to also include
controlled environment, bioreactor-based production systems. The
BioFactory harnesses the potential of plant cells in a matrixed
structure, combined with nutrients and media for its production,
and leverages multiple cell types, without the use of fermentation.
The matrix structures enable processing of molecules of increased
complexity over traditional fermentation systems and even single
cell plant culture methods. In addition, the speed of the matrix
growth over time is expected to accelerate the production of the
molecule at scale. As a result, Calyxt's process is capable of
unlocking the power of plants to produce complex compounds that are
finite, difficult to source sustainably, and that likely cannot be
produced using other production methods. Initial growth rates using
this system have presented a strong productivity curve, with
initial results suggesting that Calyxt's plant cells grow more than
five times faster compared to other plant-based systems when
evaluated in grams per day over a 30-day period. Calyxt's
BioFactory is expected to be a sustainable production system with
lower levels of off-gasses, waste, and water usage than other
synthetic biology production systems.
About Calyxt
Calyxt (Nasdaq: CLXT) is a plant-based synthetic biotechnology
company. The Company leverages its proprietary PlantSpring™
technology platform to engineer innovative materials and products
for its customers to help them meet their sustainability goals.
Calyxt's diversified offerings are delivered through its
proprietary BioFactory™ manufacturing process. For more
information, visit www.calyxt.com.
PlantSpring, BioFactory and the Calyxt logo are trademarks of
Calyxt, Inc. Any other trademarks belong to their respective
owners.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can
identify these statements by forward-looking words such as
"anticipates," "believes," "continue," "estimates," "expects,"
"intends," "may," "might," "plans," "predicts," "projects,"
"should," "targets," "will," or the negative of these terms and
other similar terminology. Forward-looking statements in this press
release include statements about our product pipeline and
development; our business model and strategies for the development,
commercialization and sales of commercial products; commercial
demand for our synthetic biology solutions; the development and
deployment of our PlantSpring technology platform; our ability to
deploy and leverage our AIML capabilities; the ability to scale
production capability for our BioFactory; potential collaborations,
partnerships, customer relationships, and licensing arrangements
and their contribution to our business and results; and anticipated
trends in our business. These and other forward-looking statements
are predictions and projections about future events and trends
based on our current expectations, objectives and intentions and
premised on current assumptions. Our actual results, level of
activity, performance, or achievements could be materially
different than those expressed, implied, or anticipated by
forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including,
but not limited to: the severity and duration of the evolving
COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting impact on macro-economic
conditions; the impact of increased competition, including
competition from a broader array of synthetic biology companies;
disruptions at our key facilities, including disruptions impacting
our BioFactory; flaws in AIML algorithms, insufficiency of data
inputs required by such algorithms, and human error in interacting
with AIML; changes in customer preferences and market acceptance of
our products; changes in market consensus as to what attributes are
required for a product to be considered "sustainable;" competition
for collaboration partners and licensees and the successful
execution of collaborations and licensing agreements; the impact of
adverse events during development, including unsuccessful pilot
production of molecules or field trials; the impact of improper
handling of our product candidates during development; failures by
third-party contractors; inaccurate demand forecasting; the
effectiveness of commercialization efforts by commercial partners
or licensees; disruptions to supply chains, including raw material
inputs for our BioFactory; the impact of changes or increases in
oversight and regulation; disputes or challenges regarding
intellectual property; proliferation and continuous evolution of
new technologies; management changes; dislocations in the capital
markets; and other important factors discussed under the caption
entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and
subsequent filings on Form 10-Q or 8-K with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. We do not assume any obligation to publicly
provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future developments or
otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise
required by law.
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Calyxt Media
Contact:
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Calyxt Investor
Relations Contact:
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David Rosen/Sarah
Sutton/John Garabo
Argot
Partners
(212)
600-1902
media@calyxt.com
|
Sherri
Spear
Argot
Partners
(212)
600-1902
investors@calyxt.com
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Calyxt Business
Development Contact:
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Sarah
Reiter
Calyxt,
Inc.
(612)
427-7881
contact@calyxt.com
|
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SOURCE Calyxt, Inc.