Advanced Materials

UC Berkeley intellectual property spinouts commercializing innovations in ADVANCED MATERIALS.

Flux Technology

Brief Description

Developer of high selectivity composite membranes intended for chemical separations. The company's technology improved polymer membrane stability and performance by incorporating metal-organic frameworks. The membranes offered improved carbon dioxide selectivity and permeance, as well as increased robustness under harsh feed conditions, enabling clients to maximize product recovery and reduce operational footprint.

The company was co-founded by UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Long and a PhD student in his research group, Jonathan Bachman....

Emerging Objects Corp.

Brief Description

Emerging Objects is an independent, creatively driven, 3D Printing MAKE-tank specializing in innovations in 3D printing architecture and building components. Emerging Objects' innovation lies in the unique approach to materials and sizes and the belief that 3D printing is the medium where good ideas become real.

UC Berkeley Professor of Architecture Ronald Rael co-founded Emerging Objects with San Jose State University Professor of Design Virginia San Fratello.

Inventors

Ronald Rael

Company Founders

Ronald Rael, Virginia Fratello

Timeline ...

ChemFinity Technologies

Brief Description

ChemFinity Technologies is tackling one of the most urgent challenges of the energy transition: the critical mineral shortage. The company leverages highly tunable porous polymer sorbents that selectively extract more than 20 different metals and other elements from liquids and gases. ChemFinity has developed two forms of materials: sorbent beads, which function like a Brita filter but target specific metals, and membranes that purify water while simultaneously capturing valuable metals. The technology has the potential to efficiently recover metal from various waste...

Calyx

Brief Description

Calyx is a materials science company that harnesses biology to provide low cost and highly accurate sensors for real-time detection and analysis of air chemicals in a variety of industries, including safety, healthcare, transportation, and food. The company offers commercial customers phage-based sensing and analysis of multiple gasses.

Company co-founders Ray Chiu and Benson Fan developed the company’s founding technology as a capstone project while they were students in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Masters in Bioengineering program. With the encouragement of UC Berkeley...

AsparaGlue

Brief Description

AsparaGlue has developed a superglue-like medical adhesive for external wound closure and internal tissue adhesion. The proprietary technology is the world’s only biocompatible and biodegradable medical superglue.

Inventors

Philip Messersmith, Subhajit Pal, Ji Soo Shin, Kelsey Gray DeFrates

Company Founders

UC Berkeley Professor Phillip Messersmith (Ph.D., Professor of Bioengineering and Materials Science & Engineering) and Subhajit Pal (Ph.D.)

Timeline 2023. Company founded; joins Berkeley Skydeck accelerator, cohort 16

ProMOF, Inc.

Brief Description

ProMOF is commercializing molecular weaving, a method of creating materials by interconnecting organic threads at the molecular level, much like weaving fabric. The technology, pioneered by UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry Omar Yaghi, makes polymer composites stronger and tougher without compromising function, with potential applications in energy storage, gas separation, and other fields.

Inventors

Omar Yaghi, Yuzhong Liu, Ting Xu, Cornelius Groop, S. Ephraim Neumann, Junpyo Kwon

Timeline 2024. Company...

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:...

Isoreticular Sciences

Brief Description

The design and synthesis of novel isoreticular materials.

Inventors

Nikita Hanikel, Steven James Lyle, Hao Lyu, Lac Ha Nguyen, Wentao Xu, Omar Yaghi, Bing Zhang

Timeline 2020. Company founded.

Ekso Bionics

Brief Description

Since 2005, Ekso Bionics has used exoskeleton technology to enhance natural abilities and improve quality of life. The exoskeleton industry leader, offering technologies that help those with paralysis to stand up and walk, enhancing worker capabilities globally, and providing research for the advancement of R&D projects intended to benefit U.S. defense capabilities.

Formerly known as Berkeley Bionics and Berkeley Exotech.

Timeline 2005. Company founded 2014. The company acquired PN Med Group Inc. through a reverse merger,...

Magan Materials

Brief Description

Magan Materials has formulated and patented a natural mineral mist that helps protect skin from the risks associated with LED nail gel lamps. While nail gel manicures are loved for their durability and shine, the LED lamps used to cure the polish emit high-energy blue light in the ultraviolet spectrum, which accelerates skin aging and increases the risk of skin cancer. Magan’s HandShield™ is sprayed onto the hands or feet...