Stories and information about our people and projects.
Dr. Wolfgang Friedt Receives Eminent Scientist Award
Dr. Wolfgang Friedt, a Scientific Advisor to Phytola, was awarded the Eminent Scientist Award at the 14th International Rapeseed Congress in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which took place July 5 to 9, 2015. Dr. Friedt has been with Phytola’s Scientific Advisory Committee Read More ...Read More »
Arcadia Biosciences and Phytola Collaborate to Increase Oil Content in Soybeans
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA), an agricultural biotechnology company, announced a collaboration with Phytola, a leader in oilseed crop research, to develop soybean varieties with increased oil content. The research and development project recently received funding from Genome Canada. Based Read More ...Read More »
Phytola hosts Sanofi Biogenius Challenge students
A research group based at the University of Alberta is hosting two students from Old Scona High School for a national competition in biotechnology. Darren Li and Dale Chen-Song, both 18 years old and in grade 12, are participating in Read More ...Read More »
Phytola develops Canadian oilseed source of Punicic Acid
In addition to the nutritional value they already contain, common Canadian crops like canola and flax may soon have cancer fighting benefits too. Elzbieta Mietkiewska, a Research Associate with Phytola, isolated three genes from pomegranates and incorporated them into high-value Read More ...Read More »New Appointments Strengthen Phytola’s Board
Phytola has significantly enhanced its industry-related experience and expertise with four recent additions to its Management Advisory Board. Joining the Board are Mr. Gregor Beck (flax producer and former Board Member, SaskFlax), Mr. Don Macyk (Chairman, Alberta Agricultural Products Marketing Council), Mr. Mark Matlock (Senior Vice Read More ...Read More »Funding Awarded for CamOil Project
In April Phytola received notification that its project aimed at improving camelina as a Canadian oilseed crop was approved for funding under the federal Mitacs Elevate Program. The CamOil project involves a consortium of Canadian and German scientists, each concentrating on different aspects of camelina Read More ...Read More »Leading Innovation
Phytola’s Scientific Director Dr. Randall Weselake was among 15 researchers honored at TEC Edmonton’s Innovation Makes Sense event last October. The event recognizes the essential role that the patenting process plays in moving breakthrough research from the bench to the market. The creation of new Read More ...Read More »TUFGEN Wraps Up
Final results from the Total Utilization Flax Genomics (TUFGEN) project were presented at the Annual Flax ResearchWorkshop in Winnipeg on February 25, 2014. Managed by Genome Prairie, the project was aimed at increasing the versatility and benefits of flax through the application of genome-based Read More ...Read More »Building better enzymes faster
One of Phytola’s goals is to increase seed oil content in canola using a variety of biotechnological approaches. However, a barrier is the length of time required to identify potential gene candidates that could be used to increase oil content Read More ...Read More »Phytola Scientific Director Recognized as a 2011 ASTech Honouree
On October 28, 2011, at the ASTech Awards Gala in Calgary, Phytola Scientific Director Dr. Randall Weselake was recognized as an ASTech Honouree. Dr. Weselake was nominated in the Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science category. Several members of his team were on hand to help celebrate the Read More ...Read More »