Resurrect Bio and Corteva Join Forces to Unlock Nature’s Own Defenses in Corn
Resurrect Bio, a biotechnology company that equips crops with genetic defenses against disease, and Corteva, a global leader in agriculture technology, today announced a joint development agreement to tackle some of the most economically devastating diseases currently affecting corn production in the United States.
Following Corteva’s recent Series A investment through its Corteva Catalyst platform, the project will leverage Resurrect Bio’s in planta rapid screening platform to identify and “resurrect” innate disease resistance genes that have been defeated or suppressed by evolving pathogens.
Outsmarting pathogens, not just optimizing plants
While traditional breeding and modern gene editing typically focus on optimizing gene expression or introducing new genes from the wild, Resurrect Bio’s approach is fundamentally different. It targets the “cat-and-mouse” evolutionary game between plants and pathogens. Many modern crops possess the genetic machinery to defend themselves, but pathogens have evolved proteins that specifically break these internal locks.
Resurrect Bio uses its FloraFold® AI and unique in planta screening platform to model these complex protein-to-protein interactions at the molecular level. By identifying the exact point of failure where a pathogen overcomes a plant’s defence, Resurrect Bio can effectively upgrade the plant’s security system so the pathogen can no longer bypass it.
“This Joint Development Agreement marks a pivotal shift for Resurrect Bio as we move our technology closer to the field with a leader like Corteva,” said Dr. Cian Duggan, CEO & Co-Founder of Resurrect Bio.
“We aren’t just looking to make plants slightly better; we are looking to restore an ancestral resilience that pathogens have spent centuries trying to suppress. By fixing these broken immune receptors, we provide farmers with a durable, biological shield against corn’s most persistent threats.”
Targeting major corn threats
In 2025, disease reduced corn yield for American farmers by an estimated 1.287 billion bushels. By joining Resurrect Bio’s high-throughput trait development with Corteva’s world-class germplasm and trial networks, the partnership aims to deliver elite corn varieties that require fewer chemical inputs while maintaining peak performance under high disease pressure.
“By leveraging the contributions of Resurrect Bio’s FloraFold® AI platform with our industry-leading Genlytix™ ecosystem and our world class genetics resources, we’re excited about the new solutions this collaboration can deliver for U.S. corn farmers,” said Wendy Srnic, vice president of biotechnology for Corteva. “We are committed to discovering novel and natural pathways that can help farmers mitigate the threats posed by these devastating diseases, both now and into the future.”
Future-proofed farming
The agreement underscores Resurrect Bio’s commitment to sustainable intensification. As climate change and other pressures shift the geographic range of pathogens, the ability to rapidly update a crop’s immune system through gene editing will enable us to ensure food security and sustainable farming.
“Our FloraFold® AI allows us to see the battlefield of plant disease in 3D,” added Dr. Doko-Miles Thornburn, Lead Computational Biologist at Resurrect Bio. “Working with Corteva allows us to apply those insights at scale, ensuring that the next generation of corn is equipped with a defense system that is native, robust, and broad-spectrum.”
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