Bakar Fellows show off their discoveries to tech entrepreneurship world
Sixteen UC Berkeley faculty who are conducting commercially promising research supported by the Bakar Fellows Program traveled to San Francisco to deepen their connections with prominent venture capital firms, industry partners and entrepreneurs.
Sixteen UC Berkeley faculty who are conducting commercially promising research supported by the Bakar Fellows Program made a recent trip to San Francisco to deepen their connections with prominent venture capital firms, industry partners and entrepreneurs.
Introduced to their rapt audience by Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming, the fellows put on a series of “lightning talks,” presenting their research to alumni, friends and others who may have resources and connections to bring some of these Berkeley discoveries to market.
Also speaking to the group was Corey Goodman, a scientist, entrepreneur, educator, CEO and corporate executive who has been key to the development of biotherapeutics and other new technologies at Pfizer and the companies that he co-founded, including Exelixis, Renovis, Second Genome, Ossianix and his current venture, venBio. He is an adjunct professor at Berkeley and co-founder of the campus’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. The event was held Wednesday, March 18, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The Bakar Fellows Program supports innovative research by early career faculty at UC Berkeley with a special focus on projects that hold commercial promise. The NewsCenter’s Kevin Ho Nguyen attended the event, and his photos follow.
Networking continues over lunch on the terrace.
Fellow John Dueber describes his green chemistry options for blue jeans to a participant.
Fellow Ana Claudia Arias shares a light moment with an attendee.
Fellow Andreas Martin describes his strategy to develop new cancer treatments.
Two attendees exchange notes after the talks.
Fellow Tanja Cuk discusses her new battery technology with an attendee.
Fellow Felix Fischer (chemistry) gets advice from an attendee.
Attendees find a quiet moment to make a deeper connection.
Fellow Feng Wang describes his graphene technology to two attendees.
Fellow Mary Wildermuth, a professor of plant and microbial biology, discusses her research on protecting crops from plant pathogens with an attendee during a round of "speed networking."
Fellow Neil Tsutui (environmental science, policy and management) describes environmentally safe ways to control populations of Argentine ants – the number 1 pest problem in homes and businesses, and a serious threat to California’s agriculture industry.
Fellow Andreas Martin (molecular and cell biology) describes his development of novel systems and strategies to screen for compounds that selectively inhibit protein turnover in cells and may lead to new drugs against cancer.
Fellow Lydia Sohn (mechanical engineering) looks for ways to screen for metastatic cancer cells that have been shed from breast tumors and threaten to establish satellite tumors.
Fellow Jose Carmena, an EECS professor, explains a new technology - the brain-machine interface, or BMI, which enables people with spinal cord injuries, strok, or other motor disabilities to control prostheses simply by thought.
Fellow Amy E. Herr, a professor of bioengineering, introduces screening strategies that isolate, characterize and measure dozens of proteins in thousands of cells with single-cell resolution.
Fellow Feng Wang, a professor of physics, focuses on graphene, which has remarkable electrical, optical, and nano fabrication properties.
Corey Goodman, managing director and co-founder of venBio LLC, describes his own entrepreneurial experiences and how new activities like the Bakar Fellows Program are changing attitudes about faculty commercializing research and starting their own companies.
Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming delivers a welcome.
Program founder Barbara Bakar and UC Berkeley Fund Trustee Arnold Silverman discuss the new technology designed by Fellow Ana Claudia Arias that could enable MRI's for infants.
Bakar Fellows gathered with entrepreneurs, VC leaders, alumni and friends at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.
