SUMMERVILLE, S.C., July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- ArborGen, LLC, a leader in forest tree improvement technologies, today announced wood quality results from ongoing field trials that are utilizing technology in-licensed from Senesco Technologies, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: SNT). The two companies had previously announced that trees that incorporate Senesco technology have shown significantly enhanced growth rates in 3-year-old field trials.
Selected trees from the field trials were harvested and their wood chemistry and density was assessed. There were no differences in key economic characteristics of wood, such as lignin, cellulose, and specific gravity, between the trees with the enhanced growth attributes and untreated control trees. This is good news as fast tree growth is often associated with lower wood quality.
'With several years of positive field trials, Senesco's technology has certainly given us confidence in the consistency of performance of this technology,' said Barbara Wells, Ph.D., president and CEO of ArborGen. 'Our collaboration with Senesco continues to produce very promising results that we expect will ultimately add to our portfolio of forestry products.'
Bruce Galton, President and CEO of Senesco, said, 'We believe ArborGen's results represent another step toward the commercial validation of our technology in the hands of our licensing partners. Partnering with companies with ArborGen's expertise allows for development of our technology for agricultural applications, while our internal research and development remains focused on our near term goal of filing an Investigational New Drug application with the FDA for our ongoing oncology work in multiple myeloma. We believe these results further reaffirm the broad applicability of Senesco's technology.'
About ArborGen, LLC
ArborGen is a leader in tree improvement and the commercial production of trees. We are dedicated to helping the global forest industry meet the growing demand for wood, pulp & paper, and energy in a more productive and sustainable way. Enabling more wood to be grown on less land helps conserve the world's native forests in all their beauty, diversity and complexity. With one of the world's most extensive tree germplasm resources, ArborGen uses both traditional breeding and advanced genetic technologies, to discover and produce high yield seedlings for our customers, allowing our customers to significantly increase the productivity of their forests and manufacturing processes. Our mission is to deliver superior performing trees through innovative science and world class customer service -- every tree, every time.
