Bayer, SentiSearch and US Universities Enter Research Agreement

Posted by Matt Hopkins|9 November 2010

Bayer CropScience and SentiSearch Inc. have decided to collaborate in order to identify new molecules targeting odor receptors in insects, according to a press release. The two-year agreement involves US universities including Columbia University and Rockefeller University.

The collaboration aims to develop solutions to control endemic diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. SentiSearch will receive an upfront licensing fee, according to the release.

“Through this agreement, we have brought together united leading researchers around a mission: to control the spread of malaria and other insect-borne diseases around the world,” said Joseph K. Pagano, CEO of SentiSearch. “It is our further belief that this initiative may yield additional significant opportunities in health and agriculture.”

A grant provided by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative will allow Dr. Richard Axel of Columbia University and Dr. Leslie Vosshall of Rockefeller University to discover new methods to improve control of insects that could affect human health and eventually eradicate malaria, dengue fever and other insect-borne diseases, according to the press release.