Key Takeaways
- Seed Funding Success: Cytotrait has closed a $4.03 million (£3M) investment round led by Northern Gritstone to develop novel agricultural traits.
- Proprietary MOSS Platform: The funding will advance the Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS), which engineers genes directly into chloroplasts and mitochondria.
- Targeting Major Crops: New research programmes will focus on enhancing yield, resilience, and carbon sequestration in wheat, maize, potato, and canola.
- Strategic Partnerships: The University of Manchester spinout is supported by UKI2S, Northern Universities Ventures Fund, and a previous $668,000 (£498k) grant from ARIA.
Cytotrait Accelerates Biotechnology Development
Cytotrait, a biotechnology spinout from The University of Manchester, has announced the successful closure of a $4.03 million (£3M) seed funding round. The investment was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and the Northern Universities Ventures Fund. This capital injection is designated to scale the company’s proprietary Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS) technology.
The investment follows a period of significant momentum for the company, including a $668,000 (£498k) award from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Cytotrait will use the new funds to initiate development programmes exploring enhanced traits in major crop species across European and North American markets.
Technical Advantages of the Cytotrait MOSS System
The MOSS technology distinguishes itself from traditional nuclear genome engineering by targeting the chloroplasts and mitochondria of a plant. This method achieves “homoplasmy” rapidly, ensuring that genetic edits are uniform across every organelle within a cell.
