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The Minutia team, all business. Bottom row from left: Molly Klimak, Sean Meyer, Victor Mann, Katy Digovich, Janna Register, Sapna Puri, Debapriya Saha. Top from left: Helen Clark, Bill Hyun, Christian Schuetz, Johnny Ma, Jessica Chavez.

Hope on the Horizon: How Minutia Plans to Cure Diabetes with Cell Therapy

“I grew up in Silicon Valley, around this energy that a company is a great vehicle to build something of value,” said Katy. “I want to build things that need to exist in the world, and at Minutia, we’re doing this in two ways: cell therapy and the cell based sensors that can help ensure safety and improve efficacy of cell therapies.” Minutia’s cell therapy is a functional cure for type 1 diabetes that involves transplanting insulin producing cells just underneath the skin. Not only is this safer and less invasive compared to some existing cell therapies, which require surgically implanting cells into the liver, but Minutia’s cells are paired with nanosensors that bring the medical marvels of science fiction to real life. Read post
Umaro bacon

Umaro Is on C&E News’ Radar

There’s nothing quite like a crispy piece of bacon. But the pork industry releases more greenhouse gases than the entire country of Germany each year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. While some companies make plant-based bacon, the start-up Umaro Foods says existing products lack the key characteristic that makes bacon delicious: crispiness. Read post
Coastline and ocean on the Gulf of Maine.

Umaro, HOPO Win Joint ARPA-E Funding to Extract Rare Earth Elements from Seaweed

Umaro Foods will leverage advancements in HOPO Therapeutics' chelator technology to efficiently extract rare earth elements and platinum group metals from seaweeds. They will be applying advanced metal chelator molecules to selectively extract metals in a non-destructive manner from process streams producing valuable food-grade seaweed proteins and commodities such as agar, alginate, and carrageenan. Read post
Jenny Hamilton, Jennifer Doudna, and Navneet Matharu.

Navneet Matharu & Jenny Hamilton Win $2 Million in Seed Funding

Matharu, an Assistant Professor at UC San Francisco, is studying genetic disorders that have high unmet needs, and developing non-editing forms of CRISPR-based therapeutics. Matharu cofounded Regel Therapeutics, a Bakar Labs tenant, in 2021. “This is an extremely meaningful award from the HS Chau Foundation,” says Matharu.” This funding will enable us to utilize our foundational technology to diversify and expand the therapeutic development pipelines at Regel.” Read post
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