Senesco Attempts to Exploit Cell Death: Firm's Senescence-Based Technology Has Applications in Plants as well as in Humans

摘要

Basic cell biology investigations into how lipase breaks down cell walls in plants laid the foundation for Senesco Technologies (www.senesco.com). At the University of Waterloo, Ontario, John Thompson, Ph.D., now Senesco's CSO, discovered that lipaseis regulated by two genes that work together to control senescence in plants. Because the finding held promise for extending the life of plants, Sascha Fedyszyn co-founded Senesco in 1998 to explore agricultural applications. A few years later, company researchers learned that the same senescence cascade in plants operates in humans, too. "That was the start of our life science work," says Fedyszyn, vp, corporate development.