Newbury Park agricultural biotech Ceres Inc. announced Tuesday that it has entered into a licensing agreement with KWS SAAT SE, a worldwide seed developer based in Germany. According to the agreement, KWS will assess Ceres’ Persephone bioinformatics technology, a system that streamlines DNA-related information, helping to speed up biological research. “We plan to evaluate how Persephone can help disseminate data for the widest audience within KWS for discussion or discovery,” Dr. Andreas Menze, head of bioinformatics at KWS, said in a statement. “We believe that broad accessibility to data will be a key driver of long-term novel discovery.” KWS has over 1,000 employees involved in research. Investors reacted positively to news of the agreement, driving up Ceres stock. Shares closed up 28 cents, or more than 27 percent, to $1.28 on the Nasdaq.
