First North announcement # 7, 2008
Copenhagen, March 31, 2008
The RedDetect® technology is successfully transferred into tobacco
The RedDetect® technology has successfully been transferred into tobacco, which
is considered more robust than the original host plant, Thale cress
(Arabidopsis thaliana).
Hence the company has been able to produce several lines of transgenic tobacco
plants, which will be sown at the test site in Novi Sad, Serbia during the
summer, according to the plans. The objective is to confirm the color change of
RedDetect® in tobacco after growth in soil contaminated with explosives under
realistic conditions in terms of climate and soil.
”We are very satisfied that we have been able to transfer this complex
technology in relatively short time”, Carsten Meier, CSO at Aresa, says. ”It
has taken us nine months to come to this point with the tobacco plant, and it
is a very important milestone we have reached”.
“The successful transfer of the technology into tobacco is a result of the
strategy focusing the research and development resources entirely to the
landmine plant”, Steen Thaarup, CEO, says. “Other resources are focused at the
operational activities in relation to landmine clearing in the Balkan region”.
For more information, please contact
Steen Thaarup
CEO
Phone: +45 7022 7747
Mobile: +45 4077 8695
E-mail: st@aresa.dk
The company's financial advisor is Dahl-Sørensen & Partners A/S, Allan Reimann,
tel.: +45 3364 9205.
About Aresa
Aresa is a plant biotech company established in 2001 by the company's current
CSO, Carsten Meier. It originates from the Institute of Molecular Biology at
Copenhagen University.
Aresa focuses on the plant-based technology platform: BioSensor for the
detection of substances in soil, including leakage of explosives from
landmines.
Aresa shares are traded at the Nasdaq/OMX-First North market place since the
introduction in 2006. Aresa is based at Symbion Science Park in Copenhagen and
has greenhouse facilities on the outskirts of Copenhagen and test sites in
Denmark, Croatia, and Serbia. Aresa has 11 employees, 7 in research &
development and 2 in landmine operations.
