Berkeley Yeast

Berkeley Yeast

Brief Description

Berkeley Yeast is a startup founded by UC Berkeley scientists, with grant funding from NSF, NIH, and USDA, as well as from venture capital. Berkeley Yeast bioengineers yeast strains that improve fermentation for brewers, winemakers, and beyond. The company uses synthetic biology to develop yeast strains with a variety of benefits, ranging from unprecedented control over flavors, to protection against the increasing vulnerability of crops, to greater product shelf stability and increased production efficiency. CEO Charles Denby co-founded the company based on the technology developed during his training in metabolic engineering as a postdoc under UC Berkeley Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering Jay Keasling.

Formerly known as Berkeley Brewing Science, Inc.

Timeline

  • 2016. Company founded

Inventors

Jay Keasling, Charles Denby, James Kirby, Rachel Li