News Release Contact: Megan
E. Michael Maryland and Missouri Universities Partner to Launch Start-Up Company, Better Growth LLC, Based on Eco-Friendly Plant TechnologiesCOLLEGE PARK, MD. . .The University of Maryland's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) recently exclusively optioned a set of patented plant technologies developed at Salisbury University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the University of Missouri. The option agreement gives start-up company Better Growth LLC, of Deal Island, Md., worldwide rights to use the technologies--which include a novel method for treating plants to increase yield and growth--on ornamental plants as well as turf grass. Researchers Mark Holland, from Salisbury University, and Joseph Polacco, from the University of Missouri, first developed the environmentally-safe method to expand crop and plant yields by improving the germination rate of seeds by coating or impregnating them with pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph (PPFM), a bacteria that contributes to plant metabolism. PPFMs can also be cultured to produce the cytokinin zeatin, which promotes cell division in plants. Holland then partnered with Jagmohan Joshi, from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and they further developed the method to increase the productivity of healthy plants and plants under stress, even in drought conditions. Better Growth optioned the plant technologies "because they offer an extremely important, environmentally-sensitive alternative to using chemicals to improve plant yield and growth," says Daniel DeLima, co-founder of Better Growth. Not only does this new method reduce the negative environmental impact of chemical usage (such as nutrient run off), but it also reduces water consumption, which is another serious environmental concern. According to DeLima, Better Growth plans to target several markets for the novel plant technologies, including general landscape management, turf management at golf courses and to increase and improve greenhouse supplies. OTC facilitates the transfer and commercialization of information, life and physical science inventions developed at the University of Maryland and other University System of Maryland campuses, including Salisbury University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Since its inception in 1986, OTC has received more than 1040 invention disclosures, secured more than 150 patents and licensed more than 520 technologies, generating more than $19 million in technology transfer income. In addition, 22 high-tech start-up companies have been formed based on technologies developed at the University of Maryland.
For more
information, contact Megan
E. Michael
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| Updated 7/2001 |
Office
of Technology Commercialization
University of Maryland
6200 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 300
Riverdale, Maryland 20737-1054
301-403-2711 tel
d301-403-2717 fax
otc@umd.edu
