Monsanto Company has announced another step forward for the future of gene editing.  A global licensing agreement between themselves, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard will allow the company nonexclusive use of CRISPR-Cpf1 technology – a simpler, more precise tool for improving a cell’s DNA.  Not only does the new system offer greater flexibility in editing, it’s smaller in size also means more options for use in multiple crops.

“The CRISPR-Cpf1 system is a powerful new discovery within the field of genome editing, and we’re excited to license the system and add it to our growing portfolio of genome-editing tools,” said Tom Adams, Ph.D., biotechnology lead for Monsanto. “This system offers a technical step-change by presenting new ways to improve crops for farmers and society alike, offering researchers greater flexibility and new capabilities using this emerging technology to improve agriculture.”

This announcement was part of Monsanto’s R&D and earnings news released Thursday. Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Dr. Robb Fraley talked about the new technology with reporters: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/fraley-gene-editing.mp3″ text=”Robb Fraley, Monsanto on gene editing technology”]