Laval Partnership

Multi-omics comes to Cannabis

Biortica Agrimed, Australia’s largest grower of B2B medicinal cannabis, is proud to announce  an international collaboration between its Canadian subsidiary, Apollo Green, and Université Laval in Quebec.

Backed by Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), this research project aims to address the practical challenges of cannabis cultivation and improve outcomes for growers and patients.

“This is a substantial international research collaboration,” said Biortica CEO, Tom Varga, “Scheduled to run through to 2029.”

“We’ll be exploring how multi-omics and AI can refine the genetic selection process.  This project has the potential to help cultivators grow stronger, more resilient plants, and patients to benefit from consistent quality and potency.”

Titled “Advancing Cannabis Cultivation Through an Intelligent Multi-omics Breeding Program,” this research program is Biortica’s first collaboration internationally and has been made possible by its’ wholly owned subsidiary Apollo Green owner of one of the world’s largest medicinal cannabis genetics libraries.

The collaboration will focus on 3 key areas of research: –

  1. Stronger and healthier plants
  2. Adaptable strains
  3. Medicinal precision.

Asked what some of the practical outcomes Biortica was seeking from this collaboration, North American project lead, Matt Turner, Director, said “We are looking forward to multiple positive outcomes: developing cultivars with improved resistance to pests, diseases, and environmental stress, thereby reducing the risks growers face. We’ll be looking for plants that perform well across diverse climates and cultivation systems, supporting sustainable farming practices in Australia and globally, and to using DNA-guided breeding to produce strains with specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles designed to meet the needs of medical cannabis patients – so more accurate and more targeted medicines.”

“This is just another big step forward for Biortica Agrimed as we seek to grow from being Australia’s largest B2B supplier of medicinal cannabis, to also become a globally significant player in the cannabis space,” said Varga.