Genencor is a biotechnology company based in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

, CA and a subsidiary of

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicon ...

. Genencor is a producer of

Industrial enzymes Industrial enzymes are enzymes that are commercially used in a variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemical production, biofuels, food & beverage, and consumer products. Due to advancements in recent years, biocatalysis through isolat ...

and low-priced bulk protein. The name Genencor originates with Genencor, Inc., the original joint venture between

Genentech Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within R ...

and

Corning Incorporated Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The co ...

, which was founded in 1982. It is considered to have pioneered the field of

industrial biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

, as distinct from traditional applications of biotechnology to health care and agriculture. In 2005 Genencor was acquired by

Danisco Danisco A/S is a Danish bio-based company with activities in food production, enzymes and other bioproducts as well as a wide variety of pharmaceutical grade excipients. It was formed in 1989 from the largest Danish industrial merger ever of th ...

. In 2008 Genencor entered a joint venture with

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

, called DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, to develop and commercialize low cost technology for the production of

cellulosic ethanol Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) produced from cellulose (the stringy fiber of a plant) rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a ...

. In 2008, Genencor and Goodyear announced they were working to develop BioIsoprene. In 2011, Dupont acquired Danisco for $6.3 billion. In 2021, portions of Dupont including the Genencor division were acquired by

International Flavors & Fragrances International Flavors & Fragrances is an American corporation that produces flavors, fragrances, and cosmetic actives, which it markets globally. It is headquartered in New York City and has creative, sales, and manufacturing facilities in 44 di ...

Awards

Genencor achieved the following awards: *Named No. 2 Best Medium-Sized Company to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. (2004) *Named No. 1 Best Medium-Sized Company to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. (2005) *Named No. 1 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle (2005) *Named No. 11 Best Medium-Sized Company to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc. (2011)

References

Biotechnology companies of the United States Biotechnology companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in California Companies based in Rochester, New York {{biotech-stub

Awards

See also

References