Plant Based Protein for Human Health, Industrial Applications and Sustainable Agriculture

Bayer Crop Science is interested in identifying novel and/or engineered protein candidates that can be produced in plant cell cultures or transformed plant systems. These proteins should have a meaningful market with applications in food, agriculture, sustainability, consumer health, or pharmaceuticals or other industries. 

Proteins of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Novel proteins that are not natively expressed in plants
• Previously identified proteins that could benefit from the scalability and low‑cost production in a plant‑based system
• Proteins with improved properties, for example improved nutritional profiles (digestibility, allergenicity, flavour), efficacy, material properties, etc.
• Proteins that may be utilised in agriculture, such as those with insecticidal or fungicidal properties
• Proteins that support plant-based diets
• Proteins previously generated via fermentation that may benefit from better properties (e.g. post‑transcriptional modifications) when expressed in a plant‑based system

Out of Scope

• Proteins that are not feasibly expressed in plant‑based systems
• Products with a small potential market

Stage of Development

Bayer Crop Science is seeking research at any stage of development including the early, basic science stage. Proposals that include tested expression systems are of the highest interest; however, they do not require reduction to practice and can be conceptual ideas from experts within the field. 

Opportunity for Collaboration

Bayer Crop Science is open to a range of collaboration opportunities, with the most appropriate outcome being decided on a case-by-case basis. Example outcomes include project/PhD funding, sponsored research and research collaboration agreements.

Submission Information

Submission of one page, 200-300 word briefs are encouraged. In submitting to this campaign, you confirm that your submission contains only non-confidential information.