IPIRA Startups

IPIRA Startups

Vedere Bio II

Brief Description

Vedere Bio II is pioneering beyond traditional gene therapy to not just slow vision loss from inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs) or dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD) with geographic atrophy (GA), but actually restore it.

Timeline 2021. Vedere Bio II launches as the successor to the first Vedere Bio, which was acquired by Novartis in September 2020 Inventors

Matthew Banghart, Michael Hayden Berry, Katherine Borges, Johannes Broichhagen, John Flannery, Doris Fortin, Benjamin Gaub, Scott Franklin Geller, Pablo Gorostiza, Karen...

Vedere

Brief Description

Vedere Bio, Inc. was developing gene therapy products to restore functional vision to patients who have suffered vision loss from inherited retinal degenerations, as well as other causes of both genetic and non-genetic vision loss. Vedere aimed to restore lost vision regardless of a patient's underlying genetics or their stage of disease.

Vedere was acquired by Novartis in 2020.

Timeline 2019. Company founded 2020. Vedere acquired by Novartis Inventors

Ehud Isaacoff, John Flannery, Amy Holt, Autoosa Salari, Benjamin Gaub,...

Valitor Inc.

Brief Description

Valitor, Inc. has developed novel methods of modifying therapeutic proteins to achieve substantial control over their pharmacokinetics, target specificity, and bioactivity. The company's technology platform can be broadly applied to improve the pharmacological properties of many protein drugs that are currently approved or under development. The lead product will be used to improve the treatment of diseases in ophthalmology. The company also has development pipelines for oncology and orthopedics products.

The company was incubated at Berkeley Skydeck, UC Berkeley's...

Two Blades Foundation

Brief Description

2Blades was established as a 501(c)3 charitable organization to implement practical uses of important innovations in plant science that address the rising incidence of crop disease. Working together with world leading scientists in plant-pathogen interactions, 2Blades has scouted and supported the most significant advances in the understanding of plant disease and immunity, as well as enabling technologies to develop disease resistant crops.

Remarkable advances have been realized in plant science over the past twenty years, including genome sequencing,...

TTech Systems, Inc.

Brief Description

TTech Systems, Inc. developed a proprietary, software-based road traffic monitoring system.

As principal programmer analyst for UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, founder/inventor Randall Cayford developed TTech's foundational patent-protected software and technologies that turn mobile phone signals and GPS locations into real-time traffic speed information. Cayford was CEO of TTech, until it merged with IntelliOne Technologies in 2004. At IntelliOne, which was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Cayford served as Chief Technology Officer.

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Tilden Bio

Brief Description

Development of photosynthetic bioproducts including natural plant essential oils, cannabinoids, and biopharmaceutical proteins. The technology has been applied to enhance yields of high-value photosynthetic bioproducts in the UC Berkeley Melis Laboratory.

Formerly known as Tabletop Energy.

Timeline 2019. Company incorporated Inventors

Nico Betterle, Fiona Davies, Cinzia Formighieri, Diego Hidalgo Martinez, Henning Kirst, Andrew Saphire, Hsu Ching Wintz, Andreas Zurbriggen, Anastasios Melis

Thuris Corporation

Brief Description

Thuris Corporation was a biopharmaceutical company focused on medical device solutions to aid in drug development and diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) disorders including mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Thuris was also developing pharmaceuticals for select CNS orphan and niche indications ranging from ischemia-related conditions, brain inflammation and Huntington's disease. Thuris received 510k FDA clearance for a non-invasive medical device, the NeuroGraph, for diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders over a broad range of brain-...

Texas Fluorescence Labs

Brief Description

Texas Fluorescence Labs was a reagent and assay technologies company, spun out of modern fluorescent calcium indicator discoveries at UC Berkeley. The company specialized in pioneering new approaches to ion channel and ion transporter-focused basic and translational research and provided reagents, assays, and assay development services to scientists, universities, and laboratories worldwide for research in biochemistry, biomolecular screening, microbiology, and neuroscience.

In 2018, UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Roger Tsien shared the Nobel...

Synvivia, Inc.

Brief Description

Synvivia is a synthetic biology company that optimizes cell behavior for gene therapy manufacturing, providing a practical solution for genetically encoded biocontainment. The company is building genetically encoded biocontainment technologies that will enable the widespread use of synthetic biology outside of the laboratory.

The company's technology was developed at UC Berkeley with grants from the NSF and DARPA. The work was published in ACS Synthetic Biology and featured as an Editor’s Choice in Science Magazine. Synvivia has exclusive license to the...

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Brief Description

Sunesis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and future commercialization of new oncology therapeutics for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumor cancers. Sunesis has built an experienced cancer drug development organization committed to improving the lives of people with cancer. The company is focused on advancing its novel kinase-inhibitor pipeline, with an emphasis on establishing proof of concept that it's oral non-covalent BTK inhibitor, vecabrutinib (SNS-062), is effective in the treatment of ibrutinib-resistant chronic lymphocytic...