​Israeli Tiran Group and Green Advances, a Vietnamese company signed an agreement to advance aquaculture in Vietnam using innovative biotechnology developed by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) to change the sex of prawns and yield fast growing all-male populations.

The process was developed in Prof Sagi's laboratory at BGU and was patented and licensed through BGN Technologies, BGU's technology transfer company, to the Tiran Group, an Israeli shipping company with aquaculture farms in China.

"This is the first time that the aquaculture industry will be able to use advanced gene silencing to increase yields," says Prof Sagi. "The technology is sustainable since it doesn't use any chemicals or hormones and does not create genetically modified organisms (GMO).  This is made possible through the unique monosex culture of prawns, which we can obtain by using our original discovery of an insulin-like androgenic hormone that influences the sex of these prawns. Since the males are faster growers, this discovery could help local farmers increase their income."

Incumbent of the Lily and Sidney Oelbaum Chair in Applied Biochemistry, Prof Sagi is a former Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, a member of the Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, and serves as President of the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development.