CRISPR researchers and startup entrepreneurs will share new building in UC Berkeley’s Innovation Zone

Jul 17, 2025 2 min read

The IGI-Bakar Labs building. Architect's rendering as seen from campus — The IGI-Bakar Labs building. Architect’s rendering as seen from campus. Image credit: Weiss/Manfredi. Lead design architect: Weiss/Manfredi Architects. Executive architect: DGA

By Robert Sanders at UC Berkeley News.

UC Berkeley’s planned Innovation Zone on the west side of campus gained significant momentum as a result of the approval today (July 17) of a new laboratory building devoted to health and agricultural applications of CRISPR gene editing and growth space for entrepreneurial startups.

The UC Regents approved the Innovative Genomics Institute-Bakar Labs building during a regularly scheduled board meeting in Los Angeles. The seven-story building, supported by private philanthropy, is expected to open during the 2028-29 academic year. It will allow the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), founded 10 years ago by CRISPR co-inventor and UC Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna, to expand in response to ever-growing applications of the revolutionary gene-editing tool. The IGI’s labs are currently located in a building on Berkeley Way, a block from the Innovation Zone.

“The IGI has doubled in size over the past five years, and this new facility represents a critical step in advancing our research capabilities,” said Doudna. “With dedicated space for new research projects and interdisciplinary collaboration, we can tackle increasingly complex questions in genome editing and accelerate the development of CRISPR applications that address real-world challenges.”

The IGI-Bakar Labs building will also provide much-needed space for Bakar Labs startup companies that have successfully outgrown their incubator facilities and are ready to move to larger office and laboratory space, yet want to remain within the Berkeley ecosystem. The IGI-Bakar Labs building will be slightly larger than another Bakar Labs building, approved for the Innovation Zone site last year and scheduled for completion in late 2028, that will be an innovation hub focused on energy and new materials. When the new startup spaces are operating, the Bakar Labs sites will make up the largest incubator hub at any university in the nation. The incubators are open to all startups, not just those founded on UC Berkeley intellectual property.

Read the full story on the UC Berkeley website.

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Bakar Bio Labs at the University of California Berkeley and Venture Catalyst at the University of California Davis are two examples that offer these types of opportunities. For instance, UC Berkeley is one of the leading public universities in the country, particularly in STEM fields, explained Gino Segrè, PhD, managing director of Bakar Bio Labs, a life science–focused incubator for startups. “So you’re getting all of that when you lease space at Bakar Labs—access to the campus, shared resources, advanced equipment, paid-for student interns, and perhaps faculty advisors—all set in the backdrop of a very vibrant urban environment.”

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Bakar Bio Labs is proud to introduce our new Experts-in-Residence (XIRs) program, bringing in four inaugural XIRs focused on finance, CMC operations, business development and regulatory affairs to support tenants in biotechnology product development. Although Bakar Bio Labs is an early-stage startup incubator, these experts have a particular focus on later-stage resources to help these companies, especially if they started in academia, succeed beyond their time here. Eda Altiok, who just joined us as director of partnerships, says that meetings with the XIRs are available at both set times, and on-demand. “What I kept hearing [from tenants] was that they needed access to industry, access to personnel, and people who’ve encountered similar challenges to what they’re going through, and how to overcome those challenges,” Eda says. “We want them to feel like we’re setting them up for success at Bakar Labs, so we’re excited to unveil this program.”

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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.

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CRISPR researchers and startup entrepreneurs will share new building in UC Berkeley’s Innovation Zone

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