Medical Therapeutics

Inapill

Brief Description

Inapill is developing novel therapeutics that tune immune cell metabolism (immunometabolism) to treat diseases caused by immune system overactivation and excessive inflammation.

The company was co-founded by Greg Timblin and Josh Farahzad. CEO Timblin earned his Ph.D. in Molecular & Cell Biology from UC Berkeley in 2014, in the labs of Professors Mark Schlissel and Robert Tjian. He also served as a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Kaoru Saijo’s lab at UC Berkeley, and then in Professor Val Weaver’s lab at UCSF.

Inventors

Kaoru Saijo, Greg Timblin...

Stylus Medicine

Brief Description

Stylus Medicine has created a new gene editing technology based on viral proteins called recombinases. These proteins naturally insert large swaths of DNA into bacterial genomes, but Stylus used machine learning to design recombinases that target specific regions of the human genome. The method is based on the pioneering work of Patrick Hsu, UC Berkeley assistant professor of bioengineering and co-founder and a core investigator of the Arc Institute. The company is on a mission to develop next-generation therapies for disease through genome engineering and chromatin...

EditPep, Inc.

Brief Description

CRISPR therapies enabled by a simple, potent delivery platform. The biotechnology company creates a class of peptides capable of delivering CRISPR enzymes into clinically-relevant and previously untransfectable cell types, enabling clients to get CRISPR therapies.

Inventors

Ross Wilson, Dana Foss, Alexander Marson, Srishti Sahu, David-Huy Nguyen, John Hunsinger, Daniel Carr

Company Founders

Dana Foss (UC Berkeley postdoc 2017-2022), UC Berkeley Assistant Adjunct Professor of Molecular Therapeutics Ross Wilson

Timeline 2021...

QSX Bio

Brief Description

Developing medical therapeutics and vaccines through biosynthesis of natural compounds in plants.

Inventors

Jay Keasling, Yuzhong Liu, Henrik Scheller, Xiaoyue Chen, Samantha Aiko Crowe, James Reed, Laetitia Martin, Graham Arthur Hudson, Fei Gan

Company Founders

Yuzhong Liu

Timeline 2025. Company founded

Vivere Oncotherapies

Brief Description

Gene and cell therapies for cancer.

Inventors

Adam Schieferecke, John Dueber, David Schaffer, Juan Eduardo Hurtado, Hyun-Cheol Lee

Company Founders

Wanichaya Noiwangklang, Adam Schieferecke (UC Berkeley, Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy, Mollecular and Cellular Biology), Juan Hurtado, Hyuncheol Lee, David Schaffer, John Dueber

Timeline 2024. Company founded.

Avista Therapeutics

Brief Description

Avista Therapeutics develops innovative gene therapies for retinal diseases, including rare ophthalmic conditions that have a profound impact on quality of life. The company leverage a computationally guided scAAVengr platform to generate and validate a toolkit of proprietary AAV vectors. A quantitative, in vivo-based approach and clinical ophthalmology expertise allows Avista Therapeutics to rapidly translate new gene therapies to the clinic.

Inventors

Stephen Graf Brohawn, Hillel Adesnik, Madeline McCloud

Company Founders

Leah Byrne (UC Berkeley PhD, 2007...

DNA Nanobots, LLC

Brief Description

DNA Nanobots is focused on developing the next generation of targeted nanomedicines and reshaping gene therapy by delivering genes previously considered undeliverable. Utilizing precise DNA self-assembly (DNA origami), the company engineers nanobots designed to carry and release therapeutic payloads directly to diseased cells with unprecedented specificity, minimizing systemic toxicity, and maximizing treatment efficacy.

Inventors

Jennifer Doudna, Enrique Lin Shiao, Rachael Lew

Company Founders

Patrick Halley, Christopher Lucas, Carlos Castro, Adel Mikhail...

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.

Inventors

Yuriy Kirichok, Polina Lishko, Nadja Mannowetz, Melissa Miller

Company Founders

Nadja Mannowetz, Akash Bakshi

Timeline 2018. Company founded

Vicinitas Therapeutics

Brief Description

Vicinitas Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on targeted protein stabilizers known as Deubiquituinase Targeting Chimeras (DUBTACs). The company’s mission is to use this proprietary technology to solve critical problems in human health by developing next-generation disease therapies against an entire class of previously inaccessible disease-causing proteins. The company spun out of technology that was developed through an academic-industry collaboration between UC Berkeley researchers and Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

Inventors

Dan Nomura...

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.

Inventors

Matthew Banghart, Michael Hayden Berry, Katherine Borges, Johannes Broichhagen, John Flannery, Doris Fortin, Benjamin Gaub, Scott Franklin Geller, Pablo Gorostiza, Karen Isabelle Guerin, Amy Holt, Ehud Isacoff, Richard Kramer, Joshua Levitz, Katharine Munckton, Autoosa Salari, Dirk Trauner, Meike Visel, Matthew Volgraf...