SBIR/STTR Recipient

Chiron Corporation

Brief Description

Chiron Corporation was an American biotechnology company engaged in biopharmaceuticals, vaccines and blood testing. Chiron was co-founded in 1981 by UC Berkeley biochemistry professor Edward Penhoet.

Timeline 1981. Company founded 1990. Company Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol of CHIR. 2006. Acquired by Novartis Inventors

Henry Chang, Felix Karim, Gerald Rubin, Marc Therrien, David Wassarman

Tularik Inc.

Brief Description

Tularik, Inc. engages in the discovery and development of orally available medicines that act through the regulation of gene expression. The company’s drugs include T67, T607, T131, T71, and T487. The T67 is an anti-cancer drug. The T607 would be used for treating gastric cancer and esophageal cancer. The T131 would be used for treating diabetes. The T71 would be used for treating obesity.

Tularik was co-founded in 1991 by UC Berkeley Professor Robert Tjian. Amgen acquired Tularik for $1.3 billion in 2004.

Timeline 1991. Company founded...

Resvita Biosciences

Brief Description

Resvita Biosciences seeks to restore and maintain the vitality of the skin by properly considering the skin microbiome as part of the human body. A harmless skin probiotic will continuously deliver the therapy that a body would to maintain skin health.

Through synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, the company's goal is to develop a safe and versatile skin microbial platform that can address the causes of skin aging and disease. Resvita Biosciences has a unique patented approach, a rich product pipeline, clear regulatory advantages, and an experienced...

Nurix

Brief Description

Nurix is pioneering rational drug design in the emerging field of protein regulation by targeting E2 conjugating enzymes and E3 ligases that control the Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS).

Regulation of protein stability by the UPS is modulated by the activity of these E2 and E3 enzymes, which control the tagging of proteins with ubiquitin for degradation by the proteasome. The human genome encodes approximately 1,000 different E3 ligases and 60 E2 enzymes. A number of these ligases recently have been shown to play key roles in human diseases, particularly in cancer...

Spotlight Therapeutics

Brief Description

Developer of next-generation gene editing therapeutics in a preclinical pipeline. The company creates programmable nucleases that selectively target and edit specific cell populations directly in the body. These engineered nucleases will enable direct intervention in vivo like a true administered biologic. Spotlight Therapeutics co-founders include Dr. Patrick Hsu, a UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and co-founder of the Arc Institute.

Timeline 2017. Company founded. Inventors

Colleen McGourty, Lorena de Onate, Ross...

Imprint Energy, Inc.

Brief Description

Imprint Energy aims to reshape the battery landscape. Currently available battery technologies limit the pace of improvement in design and functionality of portable electronic devices. Imprint Energy will address these shortcomings with its breakthrough zinc-based rechargeable battery technology, ZincPolyª. ZincPolyª battery technology removes longstanding limitations on the rechargeability of zinc-based batteries and enables the production of ultrathin, flexible, high energy density rechargeable batteries for significantly lower cost and without the design limitations or...

Ansa Biotechnologies

Brief Description

With synthetic DNA fueling innovation in biological research, therapeutics, diagnostics, and biomanufacturing, there is an urgent need for faster and more accurate DNA synthesis. Currently, DNA is manufactured via a chemical method that has remained essentially unchanged for 35 years and has approached a plateau. Ansa Biotechnologies is developing a faster, more accurate, and cleaner enzyme-based DNA synthesis technology. The technique promises to dramatically accelerate innovation in biological research and engineering.

The approach is based on polymerase-...

Sonera Magnetics

Brief Description

Magnetometers are nearly ubiquitous in today’s world, fueling applications as diverse as medical diagnostics and self-driving cars. The most sensitive magnetometers, however, can only operate at extreme temperatures and in a shielded environment that isolates the sensor from ambient magnetic fields. Sonera Magnetics is developing a magnetometer that can operate at room temperature and in portable form factors with sensitivity comparable to the best magnetic sensors available today, dramatically increasing potential applications.

Co-founders Dominic Labanowski and...

Pow.Bio

Brief Description

Pow.Bio provides intelligent fermentation services for industrial and synthetic biology. The company has built an AI platform that rapidly identified better-performing process conditions, increasing output 2–3x from existing infrastructure within just 100 days. The company's services combine continuous fermentation with advanced control methodology to quickly optimize the fermentation process and deliver high yields at low cost. The scale runs from 1-100 liter capacity for bacteria, yeast, and filamentous fungi. The first-of-its-kind fermentation technology solves the...

SirenOpt

Brief Description

SirenOpt provides manufacturing intelligence solutions that accelerate research and development and enable cost-effective manufacturing of high-performance micro- and nano-materials, including lithium-ion batteries, membranes, semiconductors, flexible electronics, packaging materials, and many others. The company's real-time manufacturing intelligence platform, designed for cost-effective manufacturing of thin films, utilizes cold atmospheric plasma and physics-informed machine learning to collect critical manufacturing data and improve manufacturing quality and output....