To Protect Weed from Monsanto Patenting, Company Begins Mapping Cannabis Genome – The Free Thought Project
To Protect Weed from Monsanto Patenting, Company Begins Mapping Cannabis Genome
Jay Syrmopoulos
Portland, OR – A pioneering biotechnology startup has launched an
online interactive guide that maps the genetic evolution of the cannabis
genome, allowing for specific strains of marijuana that are already in
the public domain a form of protection from patenting by large biotech
firms such as Monsanto.
After two years of collecting samples,
sequencing the plant’s DNA and developing the software to allow for a
3-D visualization of the collected data, the company was ready to unveil
their long-awaited project.
“Sample collection was a huge part of this process,” Carolyn White, Sales and Marketing Manager at Phylos Bioscience told the Willamette Weekly.
“One side was a collaboration with growers, dispensaries and labs to
collect modern samples, and the other a process of hunting down ancient
landrace strains from all over the world.”
The Portland company, fittingly on 4/20, went online with its interactive guide, which the company calls Galaxy.
