Monsanto, Stokes Bio Sign License Agreement for Innovative Gene Analysis Technology

Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Limerick-based biotechnology firm, Stokes Bio Limited, announced that they have entered into a licensing agreement and R&D collaboration, which is expected to help accelerate the pace of new advancements in plant breeding.

Under the agreement, Monsanto has exclusive rights to Stokes Bios patented technology for use in agriculture.

In plant breeding, genotyping or gene analysis is used to identify the seeds or plants with the most desirable characteristics, such as better yield or disease resistance. Currently, gene analysis is limited by the number of samples that can be processed at one time and the turnaround time per sample.

Stokes Bios system utilizes microfluidic technology that can provide the same evaluations using much smaller sample sizes - as little as 1/1000th of what is currently required - which continually flow through the system in nanoliter-size droplets. The instrument can evaluate up to 100,000 data points per hour, making it more efficient than any currently-used methods of gene analysis. It is capable of generating more data in less time, using less sample and reagent, and at a lower cost than existing technologies.

Stokes Bio will deliver a number of these next-generation genotyping instruments to Monsanto next year.

About Monsanto Company
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our worlds natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our business and our commitments, please visit: www.monsanto.com . Follow our business on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MonsantoCo on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MonsantoCo, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

About Stokes Bio
Stokes Bio is dedicated to the development and application of microfluidic technology to radically improve and enhance life science research and molecular diagnostics. The company was founded in 2005 as a commercial spin-off from the Stokes Institute, at University of Limerick. Stokes Bio develops microfluidic based systems for genetic analysis, particularly for the measurement of gene expression and gene target detection. The systems can be used in basic life science research and in the molecular diagnosis of cancers, pathogen detection and pharma-genomics. Products under development range from point-of-care diagnostics to high throughput arrays. Further information is available at www.stokesbio.ie.