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Azalea Therapeutics Presents New Preclinical Data Demonstrating Robust In Vivo Generation of TRAC-CAR T Cells Using Enveloped Delivery Vehicles

Azalea’s dual-vector platform combines T cell-targeted EDVs delivering Cas9 RNP complexes with a human T cell-tropic AAV carrying a promoterless CAR template. This approach enables precise genomic insertion at the TRAC locus, bringing CAR expression under the control of the native T cell receptor promoter. In vivo TRAC insertion is designed to improve potency, persistence and safety by achieving regulated, physiologic CAR expression rather than continuous signaling from exogenous promoters. Read post
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Hermes Biosciences Raises Seed Funding to Make Extracellular Vesicles a Practical Tool for Precision Medicine

Hermes Biosciences, a life science tools company developing a benchtop, hands-off system for the isolation of extracellular vesicles (EVs), today announced it raised a Seed financing round to deliver its first commercial instrument in 2026, aimed at clinical researchers across academia, Pharma, and clinical customers who require standardized, scalable workflows. The round was led by Genoa Ventures, with participation from Paladin Capital Group and Vertical Venture Partners. Pre-Seed capital and company formation support were also provided by Genoa’s venture studio, General Inception. Read post
Profluent CEO Ali Madani photographed in the QB3 office.

East Bay AI biotech company raises $106 million from Jeff Bezos and others

Profluent Bio, a three-year-old Emeryville company, was the first to show that large language models can generate functional proteins. It went on to design the first CRISPR genome-editing system from scratch, creating an open-source gene editor known as OpenCRISPR-1. With its new-found cash from Altimeter and Bezos Expeditions, it now hopes to continue applying its genome editors into antibodies, enzymes and immune system-triggering antigens. It already has cut deals with a handful of partners, such as life sciences tools company Revvity Inc. (NYSE: RVTY) — the former PerkinsElmer Inc. — agricultural player Corteva Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) and the Rett Syndrome Research Trust, to make custom proteins. Read post

Profluent Raises $106M to Scale Frontier AI Models for Programmable Biology

Profluent, a leader in frontier AI for protein design, today announced a $106 million financing co-led by Altimeter Capital and Bezos Expeditions, with participation from existing investors including Spark Capital, Insight Partners, and Air Street Capital. This round brings Profluent’s total funding to $150 million and will accelerate its mission to make biology programmable – transforming how therapeutics, diagnostics, agriculture, and biomanufacturing solutions are developed. Read post
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New in vivo gene editing biotech blossoms from CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna’s lab with $82M

A new West Coast biotech has emerged into the busy in vivo cell therapy space, this time with the backing of Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D. Azalea Therapeutics has bloomed with $82 million in funding and a dual-vector approach that the company hopes can enable permanent genome editing with a single dose. The funding total includes a $65 million series A that was led by Third Rock Ventures, with RA Capital Management, Yosemite and Sozo Ventures joining the financing bouquet. Read post
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Jennifer Doudna spinoff aims to turn patients’ immune cells into CAR-T fighters with single shot

A spinout from the lab of Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna has raised $82 million to create drugs that, with a single infusion, can turn patients’ immune cells into cancer- and autoimmune disease-fighting drones. It’s the latest entrant in a high-stakes race to develop what’s known scientifically as in vivo CAR-T treatments. Today’s CAR-T therapies are highly effective at treating certain blood cancers, but patients’ cells have to be removed, reengineered in a facility, and then reinfused — a toxic, expensive, and cumbersome process. Investors and pharma companies are spending billions to create alternatives that transform patients’ cells in their body. Read post
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Jennifer Doudna startup launches with $82M to apply new CRISPR delivery technology to in vivo CAR-T

Azalea Therapeutics, co-founded by Nobel laureate and CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna, has raised $82 million to develop therapies based on its so-called Enveloped Delivery Vehicles, or EDVs, it said Tuesday. Its approach aims to merge the perks and overcome the limitations of the two most widely-studied delivery vessels: lipid nanoparticles and viral vectors. Read post
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Why Jennifer Doudna, Reed Jobs and others are backing this East Bay biotech’s in-body cell fix-it shop

Azalea's approach is what scientists call in vivo — or in the living body — reprogramming of immune cells. That is one of the hottest areas of cell therapy research because it could make today's chimeric antigen receptor-T cell, or CAR-T, therapies safer, more efficient and more effective. Additionally, having the body's own cellular machine shop serve as a production line for infection-fighting T cells could shave weeks off the process of manufacturing therapies outside the body. Read post
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‘We want to change the world:’ Company says it is creating a new kind of plastic

FutureBio is tackling the problem of plastic pollution head-on by creating what its co-founder describes as a new kind of plastic. Different from both the petroleum-based and the biodegradable ones now in use, it is not only durable but also bio-renewable and easier to recycle, said Zilong Wang. “It proposes a different and a novel plastic, which is different from all other kinds of plastic,” he said. Worldwide, only about 9% of today's plastic is actually recycled. Most of the rest, millions of tons, goes to landfills or ends up in the environment. Even the plastic that is recycled is sent to landfills or incinerators after one or two cycles because the quality of the material degrades. Read post
Marco Lobba

Marco Lobba Wins 2025 Biocom Catalyst Award: Precision Therapeutics at the Molecular Level

Marco Lobba co-founded CatenaBio to advance targeted therapeutics at the intersection of chemistry and molecular biology. He co-invented the CysTyr platform, enabling precise conjugation of multiple payloads to antibodies for oncology, gene therapy and cell-based therapies. “I truly believe that the biggest challenge in making new therapeutics is how to direct them in the body,” he says. Dr. Lobba earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, training with Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna, and holds numerous patents. Beyond CatenaBio, he mentors scientists, supports food equity programs and advocates for investment in basic research to drive future breakthroughs. Read post
Decorative image with Bakar Bio Labs logo and photo of skylight

AI Development at UC Berkeley’s Top Biotech Incubator, Bakar Bio Labs

AI has taken the world by storm. On the scientific front, the ability to mine huge datasets and make informed, actionable predictions has accelerated the pace of innovation. So it makes sense that startups at UC Berkeley’s Bakar Bio Labs, the university’s leading biotech incubator, would embed AI into their work to discover new medicines, redesign how they are delivered, and even create entirely new biological tools. Bakar Bio Labs’ tenant companies are redefining the world of biotech, and they’re doing it with out-of-the-box solutions. For three of the tenants — Insamo, Aikium, and Profluent — AI is core to their technology and strategy. Read post
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ResVita Bio Announces Positive FDA Pre-IND Meeting, Advancing RVB-003 Toward IND Filing for Netherton Syndrome in Early 2026

ResVita Bio, a biotechnology company pioneering continuous protein therapy for skin diseases, today announced the successful completion of a face-to-face Pre-Investigational New Drug (Pre-IND) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for RVB-003, its lead investigational therapy for Netherton Syndrome, a chronic and life-threatening genetic skin disorder. Read post
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Profluent’s AI-Designed Gene Editor Glimpses into Generalizable Platform

Ali Madani, PhD, CEO of Profluent, says there’s an urgent need to move away from the time-consuming slog of random therapeutic discovery and into artificial intelligence (AI)-based bespoke design. “There are real people with lives at stake and patients waiting,” he emphasized in an interview with GEN. Madani’s Bay Area-based company is currently building foundation models to steer functional protein design for generalizable applications across agriculture, biotechnology, and human health. The team has recently taken one step toward this goal for CRISPR-based therapeutics. Read post
Three people standing in front of a Cyclarity banner

New data supports Cyclarity’s approach to atherosclerosis reversal

The central role of 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is well documented: as a toxic oxidized derivative of cholesterol, 7KC accumulates in arterial walls and contributes to the transformation of macrophages into dysfunctional, lipid-laden foam cells. These cells drive inflammation, destabilise plaque and ultimately fuel cardiovascular disease – the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Many therapeutic strategies have focused on lipid lowering or anti-inflammatory approaches; few have attempted to directly remove 7KC from cells, and fewer still have demonstrated the ability to reverse foam cell formation. Now, Cyclarity Therapeutics has published preclinical data suggesting its cyclodextrin-based compound UDP-003 can do just that – and with a favorable safety and pharmacokinetic profile that supports IND-readiness for first-in-human trials. Read post
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Renasant Bio Launches With $54.5 Million Seed Funding To Develop Kidney Disease Treatments

Renasant Bio has officially launched with $54.5 million in seed funding to develop next-generation disease-modifying treatments for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). ADPKD is the leading genetic cause of end-stage renal failure. The funding round was co-led by founding investor 5AM Ventures, with significant participation from Atlas Venture, OrbiMed, and Qiming Ventures. This capital will advance Renasant’s lead corrector program and fuel discovery efforts for its first-in-class potentiator program. Read post
The Renasant team

Kidney health biotech emerges with $54M to follow in Vertex’s footsteps

A Berkeley, CA-based biotech that wants to replicate Vertex’s success with corrector and potentiator medicines has raised a $54.5 million seed round. The funding, disclosed Thursday morning, will help Renasant Bio get closer to the clinic with small molecule treatment candidates for a leading cause of end-stage renal failure. Renasant is focused on hitting the disease-causing biology of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, or ADPKD. The condition is marked by cysts that form in the kidneys and can lead patients to use dialysis or resort to a kidney transplant. Renasant said 12 million people worldwide have ADPKD. Read post
Emily Conley

East Bay startup led by former 23andMe exec snags $54.5 million to target deadly kidney disease

Patients with a life-threatening genetic kidney condition often feel knocked out with an organ that can balloon to 30 pounds. Now a Berkeley biotech startup led by a former 23andMe executive plans to deliver a one-two punch of its own against the disease. Renasant Bio said Thursday it raised a $54.5 million seed round to create oral drugs targeting ADPKD, or autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. The condition, which fills the kidneys with cysts, is the leading genetic cause of end-stage kidney failure. Read post
The Renasant team

Renasant Bio launches to develop kidney disease treatment

Renasant Bio has launched with $54.5 million in seed financing to develop treatments for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), which causes severe kidney damage. The financing was led by venture capital firm 5AM VentureManagement, with additional funding from Atlas Venture, OrbiMed, and Qiming Venture Partners USA. Read post