Irish scientist’s Oxford University spinout is taking on a new generation of toxin-resistant weeds
by John Reynolds for the Irish Independent
5 August 2024
Professor Liam Dolan’s Moa Technology is aiming for a slice of the estimated $5bnmarket for bioherbicides
A start-up co-founded by a Dubliner and spun-out of Oxford University to tackle the problem of herbicide resistance has struck two deals since March that could potentially be worth hundreds of millions.
Moa Technology, which Liam Dolan – who grew up on the Navan Road in Cabra – founded in 2017 along with research fellow Clément Champion, is developing a new generation of both natural and synthetic herbicides. Weeds that reduce crop yields are becoming increasingly resistant to existing weedkillers.
A two-year agreement signed with Nufarm, a listed Australian agrichemical firm, secured an undisclosed upfront payment to Moa to co-develop a new compound. There is also the potential for future options, milestone payments and royalties.
The market for so-called bioherbicides – which use phytotoxins, pathogens or other microbes for weed control – is worth an estimated $5bn(€4.6bn), according to FTSE-listed Croda International. Separately, German biotech and pharma giant Bayer estimates that a new herbicide molecule discovered by its crop science division could be worth €750m in annual revenues.
In March, Moa signed a 10-year partnership deal with Croda. It has both manufacturing capabilities and an extensive library of natural compounds, including extensive research into the microbiome of marine flora, which hold the potential for new microbes. Moa brings its platform based on Prof Dolan’s research, which has been combined with machine learning that provides a new herbicide discovery engine.
Declining soil health and climate change may be contributory factors to increased resistance by weeds such as blackgrass, mare’s tail, waterhemp and pigweed. They can reduce yields of crops such as sugar beet and rapeseed by as much as 50pc. However, overuse of the existing generation of herbicides also hasn’t helped.
“In a way it’s similar to antibiotic resistance. We’ve been using the same herbicides for years, and there hasn’t been any innovation for a very long time in the market. We first used them in the post-war period and then the last new ones were developed around the 1970s,” Prof Dolan said.
“With Moa, we’ve patented a way of using technology to address this challenge. My research looked at the genetic tricks involved in how plants evolved after algae on land developed mechanisms that produced plants.
“When I sequenced the genomes of a number of plants with that in mind, I realised that we could apply what we discovered to the problem of weeds. That need was borne out when I invited some recently retired agritech experts to discuss my findings.”
A multi award-winning academic and former Queen’s Trustee at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, Prof Dolan studied botany at UCD then did a PhD in biology at the University of Pennsylvania.
He spent 25 years at Oxford, rising to become the head of its department of plant sciences. In April, he was elected a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and since2020, he leads research at the Gregor Mendel Institute of molecular plant biology in Vienna, where he is currently deputy director, while remaining a visiting professor at Oxford.
“One of the reasons I moved there is that I knew the ecosystem was there to develop something commercially, if the need arose,” he said. “However, Vienna had the lure of being able to spend all of my time on fundamental research, compared to Oxford where some time is taken up teaching.
“The funding is very good here too. I’ve recently applied for a patent here, and having set up one company, I’d love to do it again. But if it’s a success, I’ll be very happy.”
The Dubliner argued that the requirements of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) when applying for funding are too restrictive, similar to the UK.
I’ve recently applied for a patent here, and having set up one company, I’d love to do it again.
“Fundamental research is undervalued because it leads to key scientific discoveries and trains people to feed vital R&D-reliant industries,” he said.
“It’s short-sighted, because in a cynical way you’re cannibalising other people’s research if you’re not doing fundamental discovery work. I appreciate there are limited pots of money and there’s a need to see outputs, so when you’re applying for funding, they want to see how you’re going to do applied research.
“But ideally there would be matching funding for the fundamental discovery work. If you get it right, there are multiple wins. If the infrastructure is bad and housing is unaffordable though, then it needs to be looked at.”
Moa raised a series B round of £35m in 2022, with UK university spinout backers Parkwalk Advisors and Oxford Science Enterprises providing the majority of the funding. Prof Dolan retains an interest in the business, but declines to elaborate on how the equity is split.
Having spent 18 months as Moa’s executive chair, he found a replacement for himself and the growing team then recruited Virginia Corless to lead it as CEO.
A physicist who trained at Cambridge, she joined from a German start-up spanning the climate tech and agritech sectors. Rob Quinn, also a graduate of Prof Dolan’s alma mater UCD, joined Moa last year as its CFO.
Prof Dolan describes himself as a “nerdy academic” interested in evolutionary biology.
“I was always aware that being a scientist is an honour. We’re paid to do our hobby. We also have a responsibility with our discoveries to pursue an opportunity when we see it or to help others do that.
“I keep an eye on the academic and start-up side of things back home. I’d be tempted if the right opportunity arose.”
A keen field biologist and Irish speaker in his spare time, he also teaches an environmental science course in Donegal at Oideas Gaeilge in Glencolmcille.
“It’s basically the Gaeltacht for adults. My friends say if I wasn’t a scientist I might be living somewhere around there in the wilds doing field biology,” he laughs.