The Conard-Pyle Co owns Nova Flora, a small biotech venture whose mission it is to come up with new and different plant varieties. Originally established to grow and sell rose bushes, by the late nineteen nineties the principals of the firm then headquarters in the University City Science Center in West Philadelphia, made the decision to sift focus from biotech to genetic engineering to develop products that the gardening community wanted but that could not be created through traditional hybridization. Headed up by Englishman - thou art English, thy wilt garden - having a PhD in genetics and who had been to teach ing courses in the space tailored to the corporate community. One of his 'students' is now CEO of Cephalon Inc., the West Chester drugmaker - also previously having been SBIR involved - who suggested he start a small firm: Nova Flora. Funded initially by private investors and the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania, NovaFlora established its most important business relationships in 1994 and 1995.. the most significant partner being Conard-Pyle Co., the 100+-year-old West Chester company -- largest privately held growers of garden roses in the US. Initially working mostly on fragrance, NovaFlora's technology portfolio came also to include a family of genes for monoterpene and sesquiterpene biosynthesis. Terpenes are small, volatile chemicals known to have antimicrobial and insect-deterrent properties. Dobres is trying to develop plants that will not only emit novel fragrances, but repel bugs and fungus. The firm's SBIR involvement is a next step to that end.
