Inari Broadens Research Footprint With Expansion to Belgian Life Sciences Hub

- Strategic expansion to Belgium complements Inari's Cambridge and Purdue locations, provides enhanced resources for plant breeding and fuels research and development process.

- Partnerships with Belgian life sciences and agriculture institutes, VIB and ILVO, allow access to cutting-edge plant biology and genomics research.

- In Ghent, Inari is initially focused on increasing water and nitrogen-use efficiencies in crops, characteristics critical to addressing climate change and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inari, a company revolutionizing plant breeding by tapping into natural genetic diversity, today expands its research footprint to Europe, with the opening of a laboratory in Ghent, Belgium. The launch represents the company's first expansion outside of the United States and provides Inari access to advanced resources and talent in one of the world's premier hubs for plant research.

In Belgium, Inari is initially focused on increasing water and nitrogen-use efficiency. Crops that possess these attributes help address critical issues related to climate change and over-reliance on chemical fertilizers, which impact global food supplies and the environment.

Inari has partnered with VIB, the renowned life sciences research institute, and ILVO, the institute for agriculture, fisheries and food in Flanders. Through these partnerships, Inari has access to high-caliber expertise in plant biology and genomics as well as state-of-the art phenotyping and greenhouse facilities. "We are excited that Inari selected Ghent as the ideal place to expand its research efforts," said VIB Managing Director Johan Cardoen Ph.D. "With our similar goals to advance agricultural innovation, VIB and Inari will change crop development for the better as we lighten agriculture's environmental impact and address critical global challenges related to nutrition."

Inari's 550-square-meter laboratory and office facility is located at BioScape, a leading life sciences incubator adjacent to VIB.

"Ghent is a center of excellence in plant science, and we are excited to tap into the rich research community here as we accelerate our efforts and challenge an industry that is unquestionably overdue for innovation," said Inari CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet. "By working collaboratively with VIB and ILVO, we will continue to make steady progress toward our goal of advancing agriculture."

About Inari

Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2016, Inari seeks a winning food system, with its industry-disrupting Seed Foundry™, a process which taps the natural genetic diversity of plants in the context of climate change and respect for our environment. Inari works with seed companies to co-develop high performance seeds, with innovations directly benefiting farmers. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with development sites in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Ghent, Belgium, Inari has a growing team of over 85 employees. To learn more, visit Inari.com or follow us on Twitter @inari_ag.

About VIB

VIB is a life sciences research institute in Flanders, Belgium. With more than 1,470 scientists from over 60 countries, VIB performs basic research into the molecular foundations of life and focuses on translating basic scientific results into agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial applications. VIB is funded by the Flemish government and works in close partnership with five universities: UGent, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt University.

About ILVO

ILVO stands for multidisciplinary, independent research and specialized service provision in all fields related to agriculture, fisheries and food in Flanders. ILVO, an internationally recognized scientific institute, is part of the Government of Flanders.