Jeremy Alberga, Bakar Labs and QB3 COO, receives UC Berkeley’s Excellence in Management Award

May 5, 2026 3 min read

Five men stand on stage posing for a photo -- the one in the center holding a ceremonial certificate. A woman, assisting with the event, stands off the side to the left. — Jeremy Alberga receives the UC Berkeley Excellence in Management Award.

During a period of rapid growth, Alberga leads with both vision and warmth

Yesterday, Bakar Labs and QB3 COO, Jeremy Alberga, was honored as a recipient of UC Berkeley’s Excellence in Management Award. This year, the award’s theme is “Leading Through Uncertainty: Vision, Resilience, and Mission-Driven Leadership,” honoring managers who create workplaces grounded in steadiness and courage. Alberga truly embodies these qualities, guiding Bakar Labs through a period of steady growth while also poising the institution for rapid expansion in the coming years.

“I’m honored to have been recognized with this award,” Alberga said. “We’ve come a long way in two years, and the institution will look very different two years from now. We get to do remarkable work every day, and I am truly grateful to work with the entire Bakar Labs team.”

Alberga joined Bakar Labs in February 2024 after serving as the director of program development and strategy at the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences. With a background in international development, Alberga’s previous roles included running not-for-profit organizations dedicated to scientific discovery in two dozen countries, including setting up research and public health programs in Cameroon and Botswana, and direct involvement in the funding and execution of over $250 million in health, financing, and policy projects.

At Bakar Labs, Alberga has overseen a period of rapid expansion and growth. During his tenure, Bakar Labs tenant and alumni companies surpassed $1 billion in funding, powering a growing ecosystem of startups innovating solutions for human and planetary health. Alberga has also helped lay the groundwork for Bakar Labs to expand into three additional facilities: both the Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials and IGI-Bakar Labs buildings in Berkeley and Bakar Bio Labs at UCSF Mission Bay.

A group of 16 people poses together, smiling, in front of a large television screen that reads: "Annual Excellence in Management Award Ceremony." — Bakar Labs staff pose together while attending the award ceremony.

To colleagues, Alberga is known as a friendly, competent, and compassionate leader. His door is always open, and he seems never to be too busy to help solve problems both big and small. Whether in times of crisis or calm, Alberga guides Bakar Labs with a reassuring, steady hand.

In their nomination letter, Bakar Labs staff wrote that “looking forward to the next four years and our greatly expanded operations, we wouldn’t want anyone but Jeremy in the role of chief operating officer for our organization.”

The Biotech Founder’s Guide to Finding Affordable Lab Space That Supports Growth

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.”

Read post

You Asked, We Answered: Bakar Bio Labs Launches Experts-In-Residence Program

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.”

Read post

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

Event Recap: Bakar Bio Labs Showcase 2025

“We recently passed several milestones,” said our director David Schaffer. “We welcomed our 50th tenant company; our tenants have raised more than $750 million since we opened in November 2021, and they've created more than 450 jobs in the Bay Area. This showcase brings investors together with our startup companies to fuel their growth, which is so important not just to us, but to our regional and state economy.” The showcase included a lightning pitch session. “We're really excited about pushing the boundaries of in vivo cellular engineering,” said Jenny Hamilton, CEO and co-founder of Azalea Therapeutics. “We have an initial focus on in vivo car T generation, and what we have invented at Azalea is the ability to do both cell type specific delivery and site specific genomic modification. And so this makes in vivo cell car T therapies safer and more effective. I'd be happy to talk to anybody here. We're at Table 13.”

Read post

Jeremy Alberga, Bakar Labs and QB3 COO, receives UC Berkeley’s Excellence in Management Award

News Updates

Innovating on Innovation: a New Trick to Accelerate Startups

From front desk to lab bench: Julia Chac’s path through Bakar Bio Labs

The Biotech Founder’s Guide to Finding Affordable Lab Space That Supports Growth

You Asked, We Answered: Bakar Bio Labs Launches Experts-In-Residence Program

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

Event Recap: Bakar Bio Labs Showcase 2025