Corteva works with Alveo to advance real-time Molecular Techniques into the field

Recently, Corteva announced a collaboration with Alveo Technologies to expand the application of real-time Molecular Techniques to the field of agricultural disease diagnosis.

Alveo's fast, handheld, portable medical grade platform combines advanced molecular assay technology and data analysis technology supporting cloud storage to perform real-time disease and pathogen analysis and diagnosis. According to Alveo, the platform can provide accurate results in less than an hour without sending samples to a lab. Corteva’s scientists will use this highly sensitive multi-molecular detection platform to design crop-specific tests that can quickly detect pathogens of crop diseases in the field.

Shaun Holt, CEO of Alveo, said: "Our collaboration with Corteva reflects the core of our development, which is to take Molecular Techniques out of the lab and directly to where it is needed to provide more timely insight and guidance. In the past, this technology has been used more in the healthcare field, and through the collaboration with Corteva, we will expand this technology to agricultural applications."

Gina Zastrow-Hayes, Director of Seeds, R&D and Biotechnology at Corteva, said: Corteva is committed to exploring the latest technologies to provide farmers with actionable insights and solutions. And farmers' demand for these insights and solutions can happen anywhere in the field at any time. We are excited to partner with Alveo to explore the feasibility of providing real-time analysis to farmers and are excited about the yield growth potential that a live molecular testing platform can bring to the agricultural industry."

Alveo's be.well™ platform is a point-of-care pathogen diagnostics platform that utilizes the company's proprietary, globally patented method for direct electronic sensing of nucleic acid amplification. This platform eliminates the need for professional lighting and expensive optical detectors for similar inspections in the past, while also optimizing some aspects of primer manufacturing, making it easier to carry around and use in the outdoor field.

Scientists at Corteva will explore developing agricultural inspection solutions using three components of the platform, including:

1:be.well™ Analyzer, a portable, palm-sized rechargeable device

2：be.well™ Cartridge contains reagents required for isothermal amplification reactions

3: be.well mobile app provides step-by-step guidance on managing tests, cloud connectivity for reporting and tracking results, and back-end analytics for greater insight into pathogen behavior.

This collaboration is another time that Corteva collaborates and collides with innovative practitioners across industries to work together for a more resilient food security system.