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Ray Therapeutics Awarded $8M CIRM Grant to Advance RTx-015 Gene Therapy for Retinitis Pigmentosa

“Retinitis pigmentosa remains a devastating condition with no approved treatments for the vast majority of patients,” said Paul Bresge, CEO & Co-Founder, Ray Therapeutics. “We are deeply grateful to CIRM for their belief in our science and their continued support of our programs. We are honored to partner with CIRM as we advance therapies that have the potential to transform the lives of patients.”

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The Catena team (L-R: Samantha Brady, Chanez Symister, Maxwell Nguyen, Marco Lobba) at the opening launch event for Bakar Labs and the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser.

Tenant Spotlight: Catena Biosciences and Next-Generation Protein Coupling

How can we direct therapeutics to where we want them to take effect? Often the solution lies in attaching, or conjugating, a therapy to another molecule that performs the targeting function. “We discovered a new protein conjugation process that allowed us to build things like CRISPR base editors,” says Catena CEO and co-founder Marco Lobba. “It’s not just applicable to Cas9, but also to antibodies, cell-based therapies, and several other types of new drugs." Read post
cartoon graphic of two people shaking hands

CF Foundation’s First ‘Golden Ticket’ Contest Announces Winners

“Our winners are great examples of the companies the Foundation wants to attract – bold, innovative, and unafraid of the challenges ahead. These are the types of early-stage technologies we need to nurture today to bring us closer to a cure for CF tomorrow,” Martin Mense, PhD, senior vice president of drug discovery and director of the CF Foundation Therapeutics Lab. Read post
A plate of Umaro's bacon made from seaweed

Vegan Bacon Brand from Shark Tank Hits Restaurants

Umaro dives into a new type of technology to create vegan alternatives. Co-founders Beth Zotter and Amanda Stiles picture the future of protein from seaweed farms, a sustainable solution in vegan meat production. The vegan company is the first to develop and use red seaweed protein as an umami-enhancing ingredient in their bacon. Read post
BridgeBio logo

BridgeBio Pharma Announces Founding Affiliation with Bakar Labs, Incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

“Partnering with UC Berkeley and QB3 to launch Bakar Labs is a natural extension of our mission to discover, create, test, and deliver transformative medicines to as many patients as possible. Through this collaboration, we aim to strengthen the Bay Area biotech ecosystem and potentially unlock new therapies for patients with unmet needs,” said BridgeBio founder and CEO Neil Kumar, Ph.D. Read post
Vicinitas logo on a wavy background

Vicinitas Therapeutics Launches With $65 Million in Series A Financing to Advance Precision Medicines to Stabilize Key Proteins to Treat Disease

“The concept of chemically induced proximity – using multispecific molecules to bring two targets physically together – has yielded notable successes in the field of protein degradation,” said Jorge Conde, General Partner at a16z. “Vicinitas is leveraging its proprietary DUBTAC platform to pioneer the emerging space of targeted protein stabilization. This approach has the potential to access highly valued yet currently undruggable proteins and create differentiated therapies that will impact patient lives.” Read post
Derek Sims, Cornell Mallari, and Terry Hermiston of Coagulant in the lab

Coagulant Therapeutics Announces Publication of In Vivo Data Demonstrating Safety and Efficacy of CT-001 for the Management of Acute Bleeding

Uncontrolled bleeding is the single largest cause of death among individuals ages 1 to 44 years. In fact, 40% of all trauma deaths are a result of blood loss. And yet, on the other side of the spectrum, blood clots can lead to another set of serious health problems. That’s why Coagulant is developing CT-001, a recombinant coagulation factor that circulates in the blood for only 3 minutes. Read post
Beth Zotter holding some kelp

Is Seaweed the Next Big Alternative to Meat?

Smithsonian Magazine covers the emerging sector of foodtech companies, including Bakar Labs tenant Umaro Foods, making delicious products from one of the world's great underused resources: kelp. Umaro CEO Beth Zotter says “[Bacon is] a product notorious for being hard to give up for vegetarians. It’s sort of like the gateway drug that makes people revert back to full-on carnivory." Read post
Little girl touching little boy's face

ResVita Bio receives Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for RVB-001 as a Treatment for Netherton Syndrome

"The physical and emotional challenges of chronic skin diseases are devastating to patients, particularly children" said Amin Zargar, Chief Executive Officer of ResVita Bio. "Newborns with Netherton Syndrome face a severe lifelong disease with few treatment options that offer limited efficacy. We are motivated by the prospect to deliver meaningful improvement in the lives of these patients, and this is a significant step towards the development RVB-001 as a treatment for Netherton Syndrome." Read post
External photo of BBH by Bruce Damonte

Brutalist Former Berkeley Art Museum Transformed Into Modern Life Science Lab

Seismic performance, water intrusion, and acoustic performance, were addressed while bringing the building up to code. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure was overhauled, including the replacement of existing gas service with all-electric systems. This allowed the project to achieve low EUI, operational carbon neutrality, and Net-Zero HVAC water-use, as well as to meet LEED Gold requirements. Read post
Josh Yang of Glyphic Bio in their lab at Bakar Labs

How Berkeley Is Leaning in to the Biotech Boom

"Nowadays, they meet in person at the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, the recently completed lab and office space that is emblematic of UC Berkeley’s efforts to support bioscience startups. It’s part of a web of startup activity on campus that’s so vast, the university created a website to help people navigate it." Read post
Large group of people mingling outside BBH

Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub Opens Its Doors

“We are going to be an incredible model for the country on how to translate technologies to benefit society. Our tenant companies are solving important challenges in medicine and the environment, at the same time as creating high-value jobs,” said BBH Director David Schaffer. “In addition, we at BBH and QB3 are launching undergraduate and graduate training programs with Bakar Labs companies to help train the future workforce of California.” Read post