Genetirate, a start-up from the University of Arizona, was honored with the Seafood Innovation Award at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) 2019. The company won the honor for its technology for genetic selection to improve sustainability and production.
Genetirate identifies fastest growing embryos through a high-throughput, low-cost test to improve sustainability and production. They use their proprietary diagnostic assay to test various aquatic eggs, embryos, hatchlings and tissues to select aquatic species with greater growth potential and feed efficiency. The company holds the exclusive license to the first patented pending technology that allows for quantitative high-throughput measurement of metabolic rate to select individual aquatic animals with improved feed efficiency and growth rate.
GenetiRate was founded on a technology invented by Benjamin Renquist, assistant professor of animal and comparative biomedical sciences at the UA College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. With the leadership from their CEO, Chaz Shelton, GenetiRate has grown from a technology into a company. “We are excited to receive a warm welcome from the aquaculture industry,” Renquist said, “and appreciate that they value a technology developed here in the desert.”
The annual NASF competition aims to stimulate and recognize knowledge-based innovation and entrepreneurship in the industry. GenetiRate is also hoping to increase its profile joining the next cohort of Hatch. “We want to become a billion dollar company and go international – by joining Hatch, in three months we can get exposure across the entire world. It’s the perfect platform,” says Shelton.
