Biotech Updates

Wageningen University and Research Gives Away CRISPR Licences for Free in Fight Against Hunger

September 8, 2021

The Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has announced that it will provide potential partners with free licenses to work on its patented CRISPR technology to help eliminate hunger around the world. The license must be applied to gene editing plants for non-profit applications.

CRISPR-Cas enables genetic material to be changed relatively simply, very accurately, and efficiently. Worldwide there are over 3,000 CRISPR-Cas-related patents, of which WUR also holds several. For five of them (which are jointly owned with Dutch Research Council NWO), WUR decided to provide free licenses.

WUR President Prof. Dr. Ir. Louise O. Fresco said, "This is really quite unique for CRISPR, in the academic world and beyond. As far as we know, we're among the first to do so regarding CRISPR technology. We do it because we simply and firmly believe this is the right thing to do."

For more details, read the article on the WUR website.


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