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Vic Knauf

Chief Scientific Officer

As chief technical officer Dr. Knauf brings more than 20 years of experience in agricultural product and technology development to Arcadia.

Prior to joining Arcadia, Dr. Knauf co-founded Anawah, Inc. (formerly Tilligen, Inc.) and served as the company's chief scientific officer.

Before founding Anawah, he provided leadership in research and business development at the Monsanto Company, and prior to that at Calgene, Inc., where he was responsible for developing, partnering and managing projects that required the integrated efforts of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and conventional plant breeding in affiliation with major consumer brand food companies. Dr. Knauf's research programs at Calgene encompassed a number of different projects that each involved the genetic engineering of the lipid biosynthesis pathway in developing embryos of rapeseed and other oilseed crops. He directly managed multimillion-dollar R&D projects funded by numerous corporate partners, including food, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies. These research projects each involved the coordinated efforts of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and conventional plant breeding.

In addition, as senior corporate scientific officer for Calgene, he has borne the primary technical responsibility in out-licensing and in-licensing discussions with numerous companies, both large and small. As vice president of research at Calgene, he had direct experience and responsibility for strategic research planning, in-licensing and out-licensing of technology, patenting strategies, regulatory planning, career development for scientists, and various aspects of managing research laboratories. During this time, Calgene released three of the first five genetically engineered plant products: the FlavrSavr tomato, the Laurical vegetable oil, and bromoxynil-resistant cottonseed. Dr. Knauf also directly participated in the FDA approval of the first genetically engineered food, and supervised Calgene's Regulatory department during that time. After Monsanto's acquisition of Calgene he led Monsanto's efforts in lipids quality traits in crop plants, which included a major role in the development of commercial strategies for Monsanto's nutrition business.

Dr. Knauf is the named inventor on 27 U.S. patents and the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters. Dr. Knauf earned a B.S. in biology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and an M.S. and Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Washington.

Reducing Nitrogen
Usage

Arcadia Biosciences has conducted field trials in five growing seasons. In each field trial, Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) canola demonstrated that it can achieve high yields using significantly less nitrogen fertilizer than conventional varieties. In the chart above, note that NUE canola yielded 2800 lb/ac using two-thirds less nitrogen fertilizer than the conventional variety needed to generate the same yield.