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A new test could transform endometrial cancer diagnosis

GOOD MORNING AMERICA – A new test may offer an effective, accessible, and non-invasive way to diagnose endometrial cancer, sparing many women from a painful biopsy, the current gold standard. Read post

Startups from UC Berkeley incubator cross $1 billion funding mark

SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES – The early results are in — companies birthed or cradled at UC Berkeley's four-year-old Bakar Labs have hit a cumulative funding mark of $1 billion, operators of the incubator say. The total includes money raised by 55 companies currently housed in the incubator or that have graduated to space of their own. Read post
Nine people posing for a group photo

Patient-Centered Endpoints for Biotech Startups: Choosing Outcomes That Matter in the Real World

CURE. – By making endpoints patient-centered from the outset, founders ensure the focus remains on how patients feel, function, and survive, said Amin Zargar, PhD, CEO of ResVita Bio, a company using synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop therapies for skin diseases such as Netherton Syndrome. These endpoints reflect the aspects of treatment and disease management that matter most to patients themselves. When defining them, Zargar said, founders should prioritize factors like symptom burden, quality of life, functional status, and treatment tolerability. Read post
Six people, dressed in business attire, standing side-by-side in front of a colorful, abstract mural.

Jill Fuss, champion for science and tech entrepreneurship, awarded the 2026 QB3-Bakar Labs Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

We are delighted to announce that Jill Fuss, managing director of Activate Berkeley, was awarded the QB3-Bakar Labs Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The award celebrates innovation and enterprise across the life science sector by spotlighting thinkers and leaders who have not only excelled in their own careers but also work to strengthen the broader community of bio-entrepreneurs. Read post
Man standing in field next to small almond tree

Unique Almond Variety Generates Exciting Times for Plant Genetics

With 3,000 miles between them — and not much precedent behind the wheel — Stephen Dellaporta, in New Haven, CT, and Tom Burchell, in Oakdale, CA, began a gene-editing partnership in 2019. Their destination: creation of the first Nonpareil almond that is self-compatible and pollen cross compatible with any other almond variety. “When Tom and I got started on this project, even though there had been enormous activity and investment by a number of people, nobody had regenerated Nonpareil in tissue culture. It hadn’t been done,” Dellaporta, the founder of agricultural genomics company Verinomics, says. “We had our hands full, Tom and I.” Which says a lot about the task at hand. Verinomics, since 2016, has been integrating genomics, computational biology, and gene editing into breeding programs to accelerate crop innovation. Read post
Six members of the Vivere team pose at Bakar Bio Labs

Vivere Oncotherapies Announces >$10M Funding to Develop Targeted Therapies for Solid Tumors

Vivere Oncotherapies, a UC Berkeley spin-out developing cancer therapies that activate the immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells in immunologically cold tumors, today announced over $10M in funding from YK Bioventures, Pillar, Berkeley Frontier Fund, Freeflow Ventures and The National Cancer Institute. Leveraging technology that enables engineering of targeted immunotherapies, Vivere will develop transformative treatments for difficult-to-treat cancers that otherwise evade immune system detection and for which there are few effective treatments. Read post
The Renasant team

Renasant Bio Named to BioSpace’s NextGen: Class of 2026

Renasant's post on LinkedIn: "We’re honored to be recognized by BioSpace’s NextGen: Class of 2026 — a list celebrating the most promising early-stage life sciences companies driving innovation and growth in a challenging market. Being included among this outstanding group reflects the hard work and dedication of our entire team as we advance next-generation disease-modifying therapies for patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Thank you to BioSpace for this honor — and to our investors, partners, and supporters who share our mission to make a meaningful impact in lives of patients living with ADPKD." Read post
Ron Park

UC Berkeley spinout raises $100 million for gene-therapy approach that ‘unlocks a world of possibility’

A spinout from the labs of University of California, Berkeley, professor Kathleen Collins and the campus' Bakar Bio Labs incubator, Addition is working on a different way to package and deliver long-lasting, life-changing "genomic medicines." Addition's team, now numbering 50, "spent four years with our heads down on the science, and we're feeling good," Park said. "It's a good base to talk to people externally, unstuffing." The technology is one thing, but there's another thing that's got Park excited about Addition: the big picture. Addition's approach opens the possibility of delivering one-shot-and-done therapies or redosing therapies for less. Read post
Ron Park

Addition Tx does the math and emerges from stealth with $100M, biotech vets on exec team

It’s early days for the startup, but its core tech is centered on its all-RNA, nonviral, lipid nanoparticle-based PRINT (Precise RNA Mediated Insertion of Transgenes) platform. The idea is to create “safer, durable, one-time therapies, overcoming limitations of current genetic medicine modalities,” the biotech said in a Dec. 17 statement. Details on disease targets are thin on the ground, but Addition says it is seeking to “redefine how chronic and rare diseases are treated.” Initial preclinical work is slated to begin next year. One area of work Addition has already spotlighted is HIV. Using a Gates Foundation grant, Addition will use one of its so-called PRINTed programs that aim, with a single dose, to allow endogenous production of antibodies to “provide lifetime protection against HIV.” Read post
The Renasant team

Small Molecules to Correct a Rare Kidney Disease: Emily Conley on the Long Run

The big idea at Renasant is to develop oral small molecule drugs to treat patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, known as ADPKD. Patients with this disease develop cysts on their kidneys that sometimes cause the kidney to balloon in size and grow into 30-pound dysfunctional, painful and swollen organs. Scientists think there’s a way to stop it. Renasant is developing small molecule correctors and potentiators that target the polycystin protein abnormalities that drive the disease. If the drugs work as conceived, they would enable people to avoid the grim fate of kidney dialysis or transplant. An estimated 300,000 patients in the US and Europe have the disease, which technically makes it rare, but not that rare. Read post
A laboratory with yellow walls and one worker in a white lab coat

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