Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) We will go to Charles Duncan with JMP Securities.
Edward Lanphier
Hello? Why don't we go to our next question please?
Operator
We will take our next question from Eric Barma [ph] with Leerink Swann.
Eric Barma – Leerink Swann
Hi, good evening, guys, can you hear me?
Edward Lanphier
Hi, Eric.
Eric Barma – Leerink Swann
So I have three questions, two of them are in the Nature biotechnology publication; congrats on that first of all. Now, looking over one of the quotes that Dow AgroSciences CEO had mentioned "and our collaborators", when they're speaking about their crop production industry, do you know who they might be referring to there?
Edward Lanphier
I think they were trying to both collaborators in academia as well as collaborators in the plant biotechnology industry.
Eric Barma – Leerink Swann
And anyone specifically for corn or for this trial that might make sense?
Edward Lanphier
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to name names beyond what Dow has said but I think there is contact information on the Dow AgroSciences press release, so I would refer you to that to Dow.
Eric Barma – Leerink Swann
Okay, perfect. And then is there also a theoretical limit for the number of genes that can be stacked in corn or any other plant?
Edward Lanphier
Let me ask Philip Gregory, who I think is on the call to answer that. Philip?
Philip Gregory
Sure. So I think in principle, one could imagine stacking a very large number of different traits into an address. I think we're probably at this stage more limited by knowledge of the types of genes that we would like to stack together rather than the technology that we will need to stack them.
Eric Barma – Leerink Swann
Okay, great. And then if you can target a specific spot in the gene, do you think potentially regulators would be less concerned and require less regulatory scrutiny; you know, there's not a chance for that plant to have undesired characteristics?
Edward Lanphier
Well, I think it is a very good point, Eric, and one that I think is talked about a great deal. And I don't again – and I apologize if I sound evasive here, it is just that exactly the area where Dow is not only expert, but also very, very active. I would however maybe refer you to something that is published – an article on the Nature website today, which is a quote from a scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and he says, one argument that is often used in part correctly is that when we create transgenic plants, we insert genes somewhere in the genome when we don't exactly know where it happens to insert. And he goes on to say, now when you can target the transgene to a specific location. And I think conjecture and I will just leave it at that, that this could have positive impacts from a development timeline perspective and potentially from a regulatory perspective are consistent with the outcomes. But again, I would encourage you to contact the folks at Dow with exactly those sorts of questions, because I think they are good ones and important.
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