IPIRA Startups

IPIRA Startups

Azalea Therapeutics, Inc.

Brief Description

Azalea Therapeutics is an early-stage biotech startup on a mission to revolutionize genomic medicines. By designing vehicles that enable cell-specific delivery inside the body, the company aims to unlock precision therapeutics for genetic diseases and unleash the promise of cellular-based therapies. The company's co-founders include Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and UC Berkeley Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, with Postdocs and a PhD student from her lab: CEO/CSO Jennifer Hamilton (PhD, 2018-2023); Founding Scientist Connor...

Cognitive Wearable Technologies

Brief Description

Cognitive Wearable Technologies developed a minimally obtrusive wearable system that can assess cognitive performance continuously throughout normal life activities by excitation of the peripheral nervous system and detection of the central nervous system response. The innovative cognitive assessment technology monitors the cognitive state of the wearer continuously throughout the day. The invention was developed in the lab of Boris Rubinsky, UC Berkeley Professor of the Graduate School at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering. The...

Atoco

Brief Description

Atoco was created to leverage decades of advancements in reticular chemistry and nanotechnology to fight climate change. The company is tackling the causes of global warming and the resulting water scarcity by developing sustainable and transformational solutions in the fields of Atmospheric Water Harvesting and CO2 Capture – all built upon Professor Omar Yaghi’s discoveries in molecularly engineered materials. When Yaghi pioneered reticular chemistry in the 1990s, he did not envision that this breakthrough could change the world. He was more focused on the task at hand:...

Frontier Medicines Corporation

Brief Description

Frontier Medicines was founded to develop medical treatments for currently "undruggable" diseases. The clinical stage precision medicine company pioneers medicines for genetically-defined patient populations in oncology and immunology, and plans to broaden its therapeutic focus over time. The company uses chemoproteomics - an innovative approach to chemically interrogate proteins in living systems – to discover and pharmacologically target new binding pockets (or "hotspots") on proteins, making them accessible to small-molecule drug discovery and development. The...

20n Labs, Inc.

Brief Description

The next decade is going to see a biotech revolution fueled by three technologies: ability to read DNA (sequencing), ability to write DNA (synthesis), and computational systems that predict what DNA to read and write. With sequencing and synthesis being mainstream now, 20n provides the computational systems that predict DNA design for novel industrial biotech and health applications. At 20n, we are taking a fresh look at turning biological data into information. We approach it as a big data learning problem, and bring to bear techniques from machine learning, distributed...

Xip Diagnostics

Brief Description

Xip Diagnostics develops analytical solutions that advance human and animal health at the point of need through in-house product development and industry-leading collaborations.

The company's disposable blood analyzers wirelessly upload lab-quality clinical measurements in minutes, providing blood testing with no hassles, no delays, and no instrument. These devices will be deployed in Emergency Departments (EDs), clinics, and eventually the home.

Xip Diagnostics Founder and CEO Dr. Octavian Florescu spun out the company to commercialize research discoveries...

Wireless Industrial Technologies, Inc.

Brief Description

The mission of Wireless Industrial Technologies, Inc. is to apply wireless technology to improve the productivity, energy efficiency, and environmental footprint of heavy industry. The company offers mesh networking, sensors, and model-based control software. Inventor and President of Wireless Industrial Technologies Dr. James Evans, was a UC Berkeley Faculty member for 35 years, serving as professor of metallurgy
and mineral engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Timeline 2005. Company founded. Inventors

James Evans,...

YourChoice Therapeutics

Brief Description

YourChoice Therapeutics is revolutionizing birth control options for women and men by developing hormone-free contraceptives and bringing them to market. Our technology is the result of a decade of research at the University of California, Berkeley and has been published in numerous high-impact journals.

Timeline 2018. Company founded Inventors

Yuriy Kirichok, Polina Lishko, Nadja Mannowetz, Melissa Miller

ZestBio

Brief Description A biotechnology company harnessing synthetic biology to convert the low value, abundant fruit and vegetable byproducts like citrus peels and sugar beet pulp into useful products such as household cleaning ingredients, bio-based plastics, vitamins, and other specialty chemicals, thereby enabling customers to receive renewable, eco-friendly products at a reasonable cost. Timeline 2017. Company founded. Inventors John Dueber, Ryan Joseph Protzko

Xenometrix, Inc.

Brief Description Xenometrix, Inc. developed proprietary gene response profiling and genotoxicity technologies to enable high throughput screening for genotoxicity, helping the pharmaceutical industry improve the effectiveness of drug discovery and development through lead compound optimization. The company's goal was to accelerate the selection of promising drug and chemical leads for pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotechnology industries. The company's bioinformatics team assembled a database of gene profiles for public domain pharmaceuticals. Timeline 1991. Company founded...