Bakar Bio Labs

Biotech @Berkeley put on a terrific symposium today on the Bay Area biotech ecosystem for startup founders. Seriously impressive panel here with Yue Clare Lou, Ph.D. Janice Chen Benjamin Oakes Rachel Li moderated by Chad Miller. LOTS of potential founders attending. Congrats to the co-chairs David McMullin & Katherine O'Grady and others in the organizing team!

New coffee machine for our tenants VERY popular -- makes everything from espresso shots to flavored lattes and even decaf for those breaks later in the day. Alexis Guzman on the spot to train you. (Well, she's usually at the front desk not far away if you can't figure out the touch screen) ☕

Yesterday, Cecilia Scorza Hibbs, MBA and Marc Visitacion from Agilent Technologies presented their Bravo Automated Liquid Handling Platform, a compact setup that can handle a variety of repetitive lab prep tasks – primarily pipetting. It was fascinating to hear how automation can support more efficient and scalable research! Bravo is available in our core facility. The system is designed to improve reproducibility, achieve consistent results (which any bioscientist can appreciate), and increase walk-away time—allowing scientists to focus more on data analysis and less on manual work (which any bioscientist can appreciate!). The platform also enables labs to scale up easily, reduce reagent costs, and streamline workflows. A special thank you to Cecilia and Marc for stopping by (and for bringing pizza—a very effective form of scientific outreach 🍕). P. Sandy Mavi Rocio Gomez

📣 Calling all UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral researchers interested in translating scientific discoveries into real-world impact: Join us tomorrow at the Berkeley Biotech Entrepreneurship Symposium hosted by Biotech @Berkeley! Leading alumni including Scribe co-founder and CEO Benjamin Oakes will share their expertise at the intersection of biotechnology, business, and investment. More details below: 📅 Friday, April 4, 2025  🪧 Meet the Founders panel (12-1pm) 📍 Bakar Bio Labs in Berkeley 🔗 Apply to attend at https://lnkd.in/e6e2eyvv University of California, Berkeley University of California, San Francisco Stanford University

Congratulations to Marco Lobba, Ph.D. and Sophia Lugo on being named to the San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40 for innovative contributions to biotech and precision medicine! 👍🎉 Both Marco and Sophia are CEOs and co-founders of their companies CatenaBio and Radar Therapeutics respectively. And pillars of our community here at Bakar Bio Labs. How is it that they've done so much at a young age? "Besides recognizing technical achievements, the 40 Under 40 club honors those who positively impact their community. 'In order to do good by doing science, it’s important to also engage outside of the lab as well,' Lobba, who serves as a mentor for a Berkeley campus entrepreneurship program, says. But beyond community service, both Lobba and Lugo emphasize the human impact aspect of the 40 Under 40 award through their efforts to make their therapies more accessible." https://lnkd.in/gsbyJwN2

Amazing! Would you believe Banksy has tagged our building? We're honored and appalled at his outrageous take on biocapitalism! 😲 Read the story: https://lnkd.in/gPztEMtb Jeremy Alberga Katarina Klett (she/her) Lise Barbé David Schaffer

Tuesday April 22 in our auditorium WIB-San Francisco Bay Area are hosting an event on attracting investors to your biotech startup. Learn from the speakers! Bonnie Anderson of PinkDx, Inc. Ameena El-Bibany Nikole Kimes of Siolta Therapeutics Helen Siaw, PhD of Aditum Bio Dana Watt, PhD of Breakout Ventures Alice Zheng of Foreground Capital "Join us at the intersection of biotech and business as we focus on funding strategies, investor expectations, and how to position a biotech venture for success. Industry experts, successful entrepreneurs, and investors will provide details on securing capital, crafting a compelling pitch, and understanding what makes a startup stand out in the competitive biotech space. Connect with investors, founders, and professionals shaping the future of biotech." https://lnkd.in/gwa-j2yG

Always cool to learn what our tenants are doing from the founders themselves. What was the common thread in today's talks by Zilong Wang and Buddhadev P. Chaudhuri? Big unmet needs! In climate AND biomedical. Recycled plastic actually costs more than "virgin" according to Zilong. He's CEO and founder of FutureBio -- first tenant in the Bakar Climate Labs pilot program -- and they're developing a way to digest and recycle plastics using enzymes. (The plastics they are working on would be recycling type 7 -- the kind that soda bottle caps are made of.) They're working initially with HP on in-house recycling of printer cartridges. Oh yes, did you know that Zilong is actually the THIRD alum of Jay Keasling's lab to lead a startup in our incubator? The first two are Amin Zargar of ResVita Bio and Chris Eiben, Ph.D. of Perlumi. Pretty cool pipeline. Buddha told us how his company Keylika is addressing iron deficiency anemia, an unpleasant and multisymptomatic condition that affects >10 million in the US and >1.3 billion worldwide, chiefly women of childbearing age. Keylika is developing a dissolvable patch that one would stick on the inside of one's cheek -- this delivers a special formulation of iron (a "mixed-ligand iron complex") direct to the bloodstream. The iron is more bioavailable this way than if one takes pills, and likely to cause fewer side effects. Thanks Zilong and Buddha for sharing what you're working on!

Attending Biocom California’s Converge Summit next week? Our CEO Ali Madani will join Ron Alfa, MD, PhD, Thore Buergel, Janine Sengstack, Raphael Townshend, and Pantea Khodami on a panel to discuss the integration of AI, machine learning, and synthetic biology to revolutionize therapeutic development. More information here: https://lnkd.in/dFkGidfW 

High throughput partnering & bizdev: Speed-dating session at yesterday's #CEOCircle event with our tenants and affiliates. Danjuma Q. from AbbVie, Shawn Gagnon, CPIM from Bayer, Lesley Stolz from Johnson & Johnson and Lane Weaver from Genentech came to talk biotech. A great opportunity to build relationships!