Founder Of Moderna Launches Company To Spray Crops With RNA To Change Gene Expression And Fight Climate Change

Founder Of Moderna Launches Company To Spray Crops With RNA To Change Gene Expression And Fight Climate Change

THE WINEPRESS

Flagship Pioneering, biotech company headed by the co-founder of Moderna (manufacturer of the mRNA Covid vaccines), along with other prominent figures with backgrounds in big-pharmaceutical and big-agricultural sectors, have launched a new biotech firm called Terrana Biosciences, with the goal of spraying crops with the same RNA technology used in Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines. The technology can alter the gene expression of the crops that are sprayed and becomes hereditary in the plants themselves. The company believes this latest innovation will help deal with climate change.

“Think of it like software,” CEO Ryan Rapp explained. “You can stick a floppy disk or USB drive into the computer and give it a set of instructions. This is the first time we’ve had a platform where we can actually do this in plants.”

This language echoes similar language used when Moderna launched their mRNA vaccines in 2020, describing the technology as an “operating system,” a “program” or “app,” and the “software of life.” 

This groundbreaking ambition was quietly revealed earlier this month by Agfunder News in a report, but gained little attention. 

UNSHADOWED

, formerly known as “Ice Age Farmer,” recently exposed this latest venture in a video report on Substack. 

Per a press release on July 1st, Flagship provided an initial $50 million in funding.

“At Flagship Pioneering, we build groundbreaking platforms that address the world’s most pressing challenges. With Terrana, we are bringing an entirely new dimension of innovation to agriculture through similar RNA technology that we pioneered in human health,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-Founder of Terrana, Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “This approach will empower farmers with precise, adaptive solutions to combat threats to crops in fields and orchards and enhance resiliency, sustainability, and productivity in the global food system.”

Terrana Biosciences was launched by Flagship Pioneering. The company - which is a partner with the World Economic Forum (WEF) - is managed by Noubar Afreyan, a WEF Agenda Contributor and is a co-founder and the chairman of the board of Moderna.

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