March 31, 2011

Chr. Hansen enters genomics super league

Chr. Hansen announced that it has joined the Industrial Platform of the Netherland's Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation.

The ingredients produced by Chr. Hansen include starter cultures and enzymes for the dairy industry which are produced by industrial fermentations. The use of genomics information - the study of all gene sequences in living organisms - helps to further improve the enzyme and culture production and to gain new fundamental knowledge about the production strains. By entering the Industrial Platform of the Kluyver Centre the Danish company obtains early access to research results within the Kluyver Centre.

"Our involvement will allow us to gain important insight into the developments in genomics, which is a strategic focus area for us," says Eric Johansen, Associate Vice President, Innovation, Chr. Hansen.

"We are quite aware of the strengths and focus of the Kluyver Centre and believe these can be used to generate an important knowledge and technology base for our future research activities. The novel valorisation programme together with direct contacts with other members of the Kluyver Centre will strongly support a rapid conversion of research output into competitive added-value for our business."

"With the entrance of Chr. Hansen to our Industrial Platform, the Kluyver Centre further expands its international network of companies active in the fermentation industry" says Wim van der Wilden, Business Director of the Kluyver Centre. Earlier Tate & Lyle (USA), Nestlé (Switzerland), Danone Research (France) and the bioinformatics company Genedata (Switzerland) already became a member. At this moment, the Industrial Platform consists of 24 members and this number is expected to grow in 2011 according to Van der Wilden.

Chr. Hansen maintains a close relationship with academia on a global scale. The company engages in more than 200 scientific partnerships with universities, research institutions, and PhD students every year, and is represented in over 20 scientific associations, advisory boards etc.