Bakar Labs News

Regents approve IGI-Bakar Labs Building to catalyze science innovation, entrepreneurship

3 min read
A rendering of the Innovative Genomics Institute–Bakar Labs building, which will be constructed at the corner of Oxford St. and University Ave. on the north edge of the Berkeley Innovation Zone. Image: DGA + Weiss/Manfredi
A rendering of the Innovative Genomics Institute–Bakar Labs building, which will be constructed at the corner of Oxford St. and University Ave. on the north edge of the Berkeley Innovation Zone. Image credit: Weiss/Manfredi. Lead design architect: Weiss/Manfredi Architects. Executive architect: DGA

From the story by Ashley Huang at the Daily Cal.

The UC Board of Regents approved a new building for Bakar Labs and the Innovative Genomics Institute, or IGI, at the northwest corner of UC Berkeley’s campus last week.

The seven-story,169,000 gross-square-foot facility will be part of UC Berkeley’s Innovation Zone at Oxford Street and University Avenue. After this building and the neighboring Bakar ClimatEnginuity Hub finish construction, Bakar Labs will be the largest hub of biotechnology, energy and materials incubators at any U.S. university, according to UC Berkeley News.

The construction is scheduled to break ground in 2026, according to the regents’ Finance and Capital Strategies Committee. It is expected to open during the 2028-29 school year.

The facility will feature wet and dry labs, administrative offices, meeting rooms, collaboration areas and a courtyard shared with the ClimatEnginuity Hub, as described by the committee.

“This partnership — both the entrepreneur side of an incubator startup and a very well-funded, highly academic lab — will be able to create an environment where there’s just the smartest people coming together with one goal in mind and intertwining those skills together to make a bigger impact in the world,” said Preetal Deshpande, an incoming junior. Deshpande is a student researcher at IGI and a research intern at Bakar Labs.

IGI, which was founded by CRISPR co-inventor and campus professor Jennifer Doudna, will use the additional lab space to advance CRISPR genome editing research in healthcare and agriculture.

Bakar Labs startups may also gain access to spaces within IGI-Bakar.Bakar Labs companies have collectively raised more than $630 million and created over 400 jobs since the incubator’s 2021 launch, according to UC Berkeley News.

“Part of (the IGI-Bakar Labs) is what we conceive of as expansion space for these little companies,” said Kaspar Mossman, director of communications at Bakar Labs. “It keeps the companies closer to campus for longer so that the innovative leadership stays nearby, where they can mentor new founders and sustain Berkeley’s entrepreneurial cycle.”

According to the regents’ Finance and Capital Strategies Committee, the building will be fully electric and will incorporate high-efficiency mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, rooftop solar panels and low-carbon concrete.

As part of the Innovation Zone, the IGI-Bakar Labs building is intended to foster collaboration between research teams and startups, according to the committee.Mossman added that the goal is to expand opportunities for students to gain work experience as well.

“This new IGI-Bakar Labs collaboration opens a whole new world of possibilities in terms of multidisciplinary collaboration,” said Priyam Baruah, an incoming junior and Bakar Labs intern.