WOBURN, Mass., Sept. 27, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX), today announced that Heike Sederoff, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University ("NC State") has been named to the Yield10 Bioscience Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB").  Yield10 Bioscience, the crop science venture launched by Metabolix in 2015, is focused on developing proprietary, breakthrough technologies to create step-changes in yield for major food and feed crops to enhance global food security.

"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Sederoff to our Scientific Advisory Board," said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., chief scientific officer. "We have collaborated with Dr. Sederoff and her team at NC State on advanced metabolic engineering technologies for improving crop yield using camelina as a model system. We look forward to Heike's contributions in her role as an advisor to our team as we work in 2016 to translate our approach to boosting crop yield and drought resistance to agriculturally significant crops and move from greenhouse to field trials."

"We have collaborated with the Yield10 team on grants supporting advanced research to improve seed and biomass yield in oilseed crops," said Heike Sederoff, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University. "Our work focused on yield improvement using camelina has produced encouraging results and we look forward to continue working with the Yield10 team to engineer new plant yield traits applicable to important feed and food crops."

Heike Sederoff, Ph.D. is currently Professor in the Department of Plant and Molecular Biology and Systems and Synthetic Biology Chair at North Carolina State University. Dr. Sederoff's recent research has focused on the study of plant systems and synthetic biology. She has used metabolic engineering methods to increase carbon assimilation and allocation in an oilseed crop and in model plant species including marine algae. Dr. Sederoff received an M.S. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Plant Biochemistry at University of Göttingen, Germany.

Earlier in 2016, Yield10 Bioscience named Michael Lassner, Ph.D., former vice president of trait discovery at Dupont Pioneer and Danny Schnell, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University, to its SAB.  

About Metabolix 

Metabolix, Inc. is implementing a strategic plan under which the Company has wound down its legacy PHA biopolymer business and Yield10 Bioscience will become its core business with a focus on developing disruptive technologies for step-change improvements in crop yield. Yield10 is leveraging Metabolix's extensive track record of innovation based around optimizing the flow of carbon intermediates in living systems. Yield10 is working on new approaches to improve fundamental elements of plant metabolism through enhanced photosynthetic efficiency and directed carbon utilization. Yield10 is advancing several yield traits in development in crops such as camelina, canola, soybean and corn. The Company is based in Woburn, MA.   

For more information, visit www.metabolix.com. (MBLX-G)

For more information on Yield10 Bioscience, visit Yield10.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, expectations regarding the progress of Yield10, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the risks and uncertainties detailed in Metabolix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Metabolix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.