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Investment Update: Bakar Labs Elevates UC Berkeley as Top Hub for Startups

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The ResVita Bio team (six scientists in the lab)

ResVita Bio Receives NIH Grant to Develop Breakthrough Treatment for Severe Atopic Dermatitis

"Within a year, we have been honored to receive two innovation grants from the NIH to develop therapies for both Netherton Syndrome, an orphan disease, and severe atopic dermatitis through our topical cell therapy approach," Dr. Zargar stated. "This is in addition to our Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for Netherton Syndrome from the FDA, setting the stage for the entry of our therapy into the clinic in 2025." Read post
Yana Aznavour and Max Sorokin

Empowering Women, One Test at a Time: The Endometrics Approach to Endometriosis

Roughly 190 million women suffer from endometriosis worldwide. In endometriosis, the tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. The chronic pain can last for almost a lifetime - but despite the severity of the pain, many women don’t even realize they have a disease. And it can be difficult for doctors to tell, too. As the CEO and founder of Bakar Labs tenant Endometrics, Dr. Aznavour is dedicated to bridging the gap between patients and easy, painless diagnosis. Read post
An illustration of scientists at work at adjacent laboratories

BioSpace Features Bakar Labs Executive Mentoring and Internships

“One of the best pieces of advice we can give them is that no one person can do it all,” says Mimi Hancock, who directs the executive mentorship program at Bakar Labs. “You need a great team.” Incubators can support biotech startups in hiring and staffing through networking, tapping into readily available talent pools and helping them fill executive roles and boards of directors. Read post
Schematic DNA strand

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Funds Nosis Bio to Design Gene Therapy Carriers

Gene therapy is usually delivered aboard a harmless virus that can be taken up by cells. However, the immune system may see the introduced gene or the viral carrier as foreign or unfamiliar and react to protect the body, causing an unwanted immune response. To make delivery safer, Nosis is using AI and deep learning — an AI technique that teaches computers to process data in a way similar to the human brain — to design new molecular carriers to get gene therapy directly into specific lung cells. Read post
A Bakar Labs laboratory seen from the outside

L’Oréal and Bakar Labs Join Forces To Advance Bio-Based Cosmetic Testing and Product Development

“L’Oréal has been a pioneer of 3D reconstructed skin for over 25 years, establishing alternative solutions for a world without animal testing. Today, we are pleased to power Bakar Labs at UC Berkeley with this L’Oréal proprietary skintech platform to support Bakar’s best-in-class startup ecosystem in their quest for new discoveries. With a fully integrated production of 3D reconstructed skin, we will provide Bakar startups with whatever is needed to achieve their goals,” said Barbara Lavernos, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Research, Innovation, and Technology at L'Oréal. Read post
Glyphic Biotechnologies, whose Co-founder Josh Yang is pictured, is moving forward with plans to expand into 31,000 square feet at Foundry31. Photo by Stan Olszewski

Glyphic Biotechnologies Launches Berkeley Expansion

The startup said in its business license application that the move to 3100 San Pablo would enhance Berkeley’s reputation as “a center for scientific innovation,” something the city has been working to cement over the last year or so. Berkeley City Councilmembers last fall signaled their unanimous interest in the Keep Innovation in Berkeley initiative, which outlined strategies to grow Berkeley’s biotech industry. Read post
Closeup of iris and pupil in eyeball

Ray Therapeutics Licenses Delivery Technology for Optogenetics Therapy

"Visual optogenetics is a disruptive technology which affords the opportunity to restore life-transforming levels of vision to blind and visually impaired patients with conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa,” said Paul Bresge, chief executive officer of Ray Therapeutics. “We have developed a next generation bioengineered optogenetic payload which we believe is optimized for human vision." Read post
BrightEdge's Farnaz Bakshi (center) presents Golden Ticket to Brad Niles, CEO of ARIZ (third from left) along with the BrightEdge and Bakar Labs teams

ARIZ and Catena Awarded Golden Tickets to Bakar Labs, Sponsored by ACS BrightEdge Fund

With the Golden Tickets, ARIZ and Catena each win one year of free office and lab space at Bakar Labs and access to BrightEdge’s robust network of resources to develop their cancer therapies. They will be able to access Berkeley campus resources, connect with Bakar Labs' business affiliates, and network with more than 30 fellow tenant companies. The combination of support from Bakar Labs and BrightEdge will, most importantly, allow ARIZ and Catena to bring their technology to patients sooner. Read post
Ben R. Taft

Via Nova’s Ben Taft on Challenges and Opportunities in Structure-Activity-Relationship Studies

Ben has been working as a medicinal chemist since 2011. After completing his postdoc, he joined Novartis, where he conducted discovery-phase research for oncology indications. While at Novartis, he transitioned to infectious disease drug discovery. He then joined Via Nova Therapeutics, a Novartis antiviral spinout founded by Don Ganem and Kelly Wong, when Novartis exited the infectious disease space. Read post
Sampling Human co-founders Daniel Georgiev, Martin Cienciala, and Hynek Kasl (L-R) at Ocean Beach shortly after their arrival in San Francisco from the Czech Republic.

Tenant Spotlight on Sampling Human: Using Biology to Analyze Biology

Anyone who’s had a blood draw as a patient – in short, everyone – knows that what the doctor gets to work with is a basic count of red and white blood cells. But there’s so much information that we’re missing, which could help inform and develop much more precise treatment. Daniel Georgiev and Sampling Human want to solve this problem. Their solution: using biology to analyze biology. Read post
A large pile of empty yellow barrels with radioactivity warning labels.

First Drug Trial in US for Pill To Guard Against Nuclear Accidents

HOPO 14-1 is an investigative drug that is hoped can protect and treat victims of nuclear fallout, by binding (or chelating) contaminated heavy metals and removing them from the body. It is thought to be effective against Uranium and other materials used in nuclear weapons, such as dirty bombs or ballistic missiles. Read post