SBIR/STTR Recipient

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...

O.N. Diagnostics, LLC

Brief Description

O.N. Diagnostics was founded by UC Berkeley Professor of Mechanical Engineering Tony M. Keaveny based on biomedical engineering research conducted at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. The company's mission is to improve patient outcomes by developing non-invasive and clinically effective diagnostic applications that quantitatively exploit the richness of information in CT scans. The company achieves scientific and technological excellence through rigorous research and validation, combined with the highest industry standards in execution and quality control....

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...

suitX

Brief Description

suitX brought advanced accessible exoskeletons to industrial and medical markets with funding from venture capital, industry, and government.

Formerly known as U.S. Bionics.

Acquired by Ottobock in 2021.

Timeline 2011. Company founded. 2021. Acquired by Ottobock. Inventors

Homayoon Kazerooni, Adam Zoss, Andre Nguyen Van Qui, Bradley Perry, Christina Yee, Daniel Merala, David Cuban, Dong-Jin Hyun, Dylan Fairbanks, Erich Hacker, Han Woong Bae, James Alden Hatch, Jason Reid, JiaLong James Ren, Jing Song Huang, JJ Kuwata...

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...

Solidus Biosciences, Inc.

Brief Description

Solidus' mission for the pharmaceutical industry is to improve the process of new drug development by providing proprietary decision-enabling technology to enhance drug safety, efficiency, cost, and, thereby, productivity from investment in new drug research and development.

Formerly known as Solidus Networks. Inc.

Timeline 2005. Company founded. Inventors

Douglas Clark, Jonathan Dordick

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...

SMART Pad LLC

Brief Description

SMART Pad is commercializing a completely redesigned Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) pad for the semiconductor industry. CMP processes have not changed much since their introduction by IBM in 1983, consisting of polyurethane polishing pads, polishing slurries with abrasive particles and pad conditioners for pad resurfacing.

SMART Pad co-founder Sunghoon Lee developed the company's foundational technology while earning his PhD in the lab of UC Berkeley Professor of Mechanical Engineering David Dornfeld.

Timeline 2018...

Caribou Biosciences Inc.

Brief Description

Caribou Biosciences is a clinical-stage CRISPR genome-editing biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing transformative therapies for patients with devastating diseases. The company’s genome-editing platform, including its Cas12a chRDNA technology, enables superior precision to develop cell therapies that are armored to potentially improve activity against diseases. Caribou is advancing a pipeline of off-the-shelf cell therapies from its CAR-T cell platform as readily available treatments for patients with hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

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