UC Davis Venture Catalyst Newsletter

Young Basile is the Newest Partner in the Venture Catalyst VentureNet ^TM Program

Venture Catalyst will be collaborating with the law firm Young Basile through its VentureNet program to offer participants in the Smart Toolkit for Accelerated Research Translation (START ^TM ) program access to intellectual property portfolio assessment and strategy services. The package expands services available through the VentureNet program specifically designed to help startups identify suitable IP strategies that align with technology commercialization and business goals.

To learn more about Young Basile, click here

Finalists Named in 4th Annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards

Seven UC Davis-associated innovations and startups were named among the 18 finalists for the 2019 Sacramento Region Innovation Awards presented by Stoel Rives LLP, Moss Adams LLP, and the Sacramento Business Journal. Winners in the seven categories will be revealed during an awards showcase on Thursday, November 7, 2019. The UC Davis-associated finalists fell within six of the seven award categories and include:

Food & Agribusiness:

Vite Ramen by Vite Kitchens

Government & Civic:

Japa Smart Parking by Japa, Inc.

Biopharma:

Cell-in-Gel Technology for High-Content Cardiotoxicity by CardioProbe Inc.
Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Development by EicOsis

Medtech:

EXPLORER Total-Body PET Scanner by UC Davis

Software:

Price Image Optimization for Retail by Engage3

Sustainability:

Electric Vehicle Battery Storage by RePurpose Energy

To read more about the Sacramento Region Innovation Awards, click here

UC Davis Venture Catalyst Knowledge Exchange

Founder Traits and Culture: How to Set Your Startup’s Founding Team Up for Success

Founders play an important role in creating the foundation for a startup and can have a significant impact on the company’s progress on critical milestones. Recognizing the characteristics that impact entrepreneurial success and understanding how to facilitate a successful and productive culture among founders can help you set your company up for success. This talk will be structured as a fireside chat with Dr. Philippe Goldin, a UC Davis clinical neuroscientist, and Mariah Lichtenstern, Founding Partner of DiverseCity Ventures, who will provide their insights on founder traits, team diversity, and mindfulness-based emotional intelligence.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 19, 2019, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

EVENT COST: Free (Registration Required)

Learn More and Register

UC Davis Invests $4 Million to Launch New Research Centers

UC Davis is investing $4 million over three years to launch four new research centers that align campus strengths with unique opportunities for global impact. The UC Davis Office of Research initiative is designed to promote new, sustainable, inter- and multidisciplinary research activity that responds to society’s greatest challenges and needs. Four centers were selected from a pool of 64 applicants following a peer review process by a panel of experts consisting of faculty from UC Davis and other institutions, and they include the Data Science Center, Gene Therapy Center, Global Migration Center, and Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center.... Read More

$4M Grant to UC Davis and Drexel Tests Online Tool for Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia

UC Davis psychiatry department chair Helen Kales and Drexel University’s nursing school dean Laura Gitlin developed the WeCareAdvisor platform, a tool that educates caregivers, which are often family members, about dementia and provides daily tips for managing stress. It also offers a systematic approach for describing, investigating, creating and evaluating strategies, known as the DICE approach. The team received a $4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to see if WeCareAdvisor helps to reduce behavioral symptoms and caregiver distress. It also will assess caregiver confidence in managing behavioral symptoms and seek their input on improving the tool.... Read More

UC Davis Awarded New CRISPR Grant to Test Novel Approach to Cancer Treatment

UC Davis researchers have been awarded $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the first part of a project to develop a novel approach to deliver genome editing machinery to genes responsible for a rare form of familial cancer. Kit S. Lam, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine in the School of Medicine, and R. Holland Cheng, professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the College of Biological Sciences, aim to demonstrate that CRISPR, a technology that allows alteration of DNA sequences to modify gene function, can be successfully packaged and delivered to target cells in a living animal. The award is the second major CRISPR grant at UC Davis as part of the NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium (SCGE).... Read More

Designing a New Class of Drugs to Treat Chronic Pain: UC Davis Researchers Receive $1.5 Million Grant From NIH's HEAL Initiative

A UC Davis research team, led by Vladimir Yarov-Yarovoy (associate professor, Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology) and Heike Wulff (professor, Department of Pharmacology), will receive a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a novel class of peptides that are better at treating pain and don’t have the side effects of opioids. The grant is part of the NIH initiative Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL Initiative). Other team members involved in the project include: Bruce Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology and director of the NIEHS-UCD Superfund Research Program; Karen Wagner, a research scientist in the Department of Entomology; Jon Sack, an associate professor of physiology and membrane biology; and Daniel Tancredi is a biostatistician and associate professor of pediatrics at UC Davis School of Medicine.... Read More

Advanced Imaging Puts UC Davis at Forefront of Cancer Treatment for Animals

A new advanced imaging equipment known as the Mini Explorer II, will allow UC Davis veterinarians to diagnose and treat disease earlier, with greater precision. This imaging system is a part positron emission tomography (PET) and a part computed tomography (CT) scanner. Its predecessor, Mini Explorer I, which is currently installed at the Primate Center, was designed as a human model prototype by Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty member Simon Cherry with Ramsey Badawi, a physicist in the Department of Radiology at UC Davis Health. That human model, EXPLORER, the world’s first total-body PET scanner that can capture a 3D picture of the whole human body at once, is now up and running at UC Davis Health.... Read More

Crocker Nuclear Laboratory to Produce Rare Medical Isotope

The Crocker Nuclear Laboratory at UC Davis has received a $340,000 grant from the Department of Energy to manufacture a rare isotope, astatine-211, for medical use. The award is part of a federal program to produce critical isotopes for U.S. science, medicine and industry needs. The magnets at the heart of UC Davis’ 53-year old cyclotron were used to discover astatine almost 80 years ago. Astatine is the rarest element on Earth and astatine-211 shows promise as a tumor-killing treatment for some cancers. However, the isotope is not available in amounts large enough for clinical testing. The new project aims to test the feasibility of making astatine-211 at the Crocker Lab.... Read More

UC Students Gain New Resources, Opportunities Through Expanded Entrepreneurship Program

The University of California and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation announced the expansion of an exciting program that will equip students with more tools and resources to take their entrepreneurship and innovation to the next level. The $5 million expansion of the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars program will give more UC campuses critical access to resources, opportunities and mentorships for students and recent graduates across disciplines and experience levels. This program is being implemented at UC Davis by the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.... Read More

Startup News

EicOsis Announces FDA Acceptance of IND Application for EC5026, the First Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibitor to Treat Pain

EicOsis LLC announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate Phase 1 clinical trials for their drug candidate, EC5026, for the treatment of pain. EC5026 (BPN-19186) is a first-in-class, small molecule that potently inhibits soluble Epoxide Hydrolase (sEH), a key regulatory enzyme involved in the metabolism of membrane fatty acids. Inhibition of sEH treats pain by stabilizing natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory mediators..... Read More

Cognivive to Join Creative Destruction Lab West

Cognivive, a UC Davis spinoff creating evidence-based digital therapeutics for brain injury, delivered as commercial quality virtual reality games, will be joining the Creative Destruction Lab West health stream cohort in Vancouver in November. The Creative Destruction Lab is a seed-stage program for scalable, science, and technology-based companies..... Read More

Arcadia Biosciences Granted U.S. Patent for Reduced Gluten GoodWheat™

Arcadia Biosciences announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a patent for reduced gluten grains. This unique attribute was developed through Arcadia’s in-house breeding platform, which brings novel food innovations to consumers. The patent is the 17th in Arcadia’s GoodWheat™ portfolio of non-genetically modified (non-GM) wheat varieties, which includes high-fiber resistant starch, extended shelf life and now reduced gluten.... Read More

Arcadia Biosciences Advances Hemp Operations with Archipelago™ Ventures

Arcadia Biosciences issued an update on its recently formed joint venture with Legacy Ventures Hawaii, Archipelago™ Ventures. The joint venture has expanded its cultivation footprint on Hawaii from 10 to 30 acres, introduced a new autoflowering hemp varietal to Hawaii’s pilot program to support year-round growth cycles, and begun the build of large-scale mobile extraction and processing equipment to produce tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-free, sun-grown hemp isolate or distillate.... Read More

Intestinal Inflammation in Infants Dramatically Reduced with Bifidobacterium infantis

Findings from a new study published in Pediatric Research show that feeding activated Bifidobacterium infantis (B. infantis) EVC001 to breastfed infants reduced markers of chronic intestinal inflammation by up to 98 percent during the first two months of life, which is a critical period of immune system development. The study was led by researchers from UC Davis and was funded by Evolve BioSystems, a company developing the next generation of products to establish, restore, and maintain a healthy newborn gut microbiome..... Read More

Hyundai & Cummins to cooperate on FCEVs

Hyundai and Cummins intend to jointly develop and market electric drives for commercial vehicles. The aim is to combine Hyundai’s fuel cell systems with Cummins’ electric drive, battery and control technologies. In 2018, Cummins acquired a UC Davis spinout, Efficient Drivetrains, an electric drive specialist.... Read More

SmartSonic™ platform family of MEMS-based ultrasonic time-of-flight sensor solutions

TDK Corporation announced the immediate availability of the Chirp SmartSonic™ platform family of ultrasonic sensor time-of-flight (ToF) solutions. The SmartSonic platform is currently available with the Chirp CH-101, an ultra-low power ultrasonic ToF range sensor that provides millimeter-accurate range measurements up to 1.2m, independent of target color and transparency. The Chirp SmartSonic is a product of Chirp Microsystems, a UC Davis spinout, which was acquired by TDK in 2018.... Read More

Vite Kitchens Struggles to Keep Up With Demand For Its Packaged Noodles (Sacramento Business Journal)

Tim and Tom Zheng, UC Davis alumni, are co-founders of Vite Kitchen, a startup making nutritious ramen noodles with 27g protein, 25% DV all vitamins and minerals, and no deep frying or preservatives. Since launching the startup in August 2018, the company has sold out of its entire inventory twice.... Read More

Startup Career Opportunities

Career Opportunities at Evolve Biosystems

Evolve Biosystems is currently hiring for several medical sales management positions and a research associate position.... Learn More

Career Opportunities at Chirp Microsystems

Chirp Microsystems is hiring for a test engineer position.... Learn More

Career Opportunities at Sage Therapeutics

Sage Therapeutics is hiring for a wide range of positions from quality control internships to senior-director level positions.... Learn more

Career Opportunities at Novoheart

Novoheart is hiring for several scientist roles including two senior-level scientists and two associate scientists.... Learn More

Regional Innovation News

West Sacramento Cell Culture Company Expands Into New Lab Space (Sacramento Business Journal)

Gemini Bio-Products LLC, a manufacturer of cell culture media, is construcing a new cell culture factory in West Sacramneto, nearly doubling in size. The new factory will feature clean rooms and production areas compliant with the US FDA and European Union standards.... Read More

BioConsortia Seeks Regulatory Approvals for Its First Biologics Products (Sacramento Business Journal)

BioConsortia, a Davis-based agricultural technology company, has submitted several of its biopesticide, biostimulant, and fertilizer efficiency products to the US EPA for registration. Once approved, the company will begin generating its first revenue from the product sales.... Read More

Local Startup Watches Fleet Drivers Via Smartphones to Set Insurance Rates (Sacramento Business Journal)

Fairmatic, a Sacramento-based insurance technology startup, widened its service of driving-behavior-based car insurance coverage to fleets nationwide. The company uses driver’s smartphone to monitor driving and set insurance rates accordingly.... Read More

After Long Search, Better Meat Co. Finds Home in West Sacramento (Sacramento Business Journal)

The Sacramento-based The Better Meat Co. is relocating its headquarters from its 3,600-square-foot facility in Sacramento to a 13,000-square-foot warehouse space in West Sacramento. The company sells meat blends incorporating plant-based ingredients.... Read More

Sacramento is Perfect for Young Professionals, Report Says (Sacramento Bee)

A report published by the commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE indicates that Sacramento is highly desired by young millennials. According to the report, Sacramento gained about 6,680 millennial residents in 2018, ranked sixth among small tech markets out of 50 major markets in North America, and leads the nation in terms of women-founded businesses.... Read More

Innovation Insight

Findings From 2019 Digital Health Trends Report (California Life Sciences Association)

The California Life Sciences Association, in partnership with Accenture, published the innagural 2019 Digital Health Trends report to better understand the California digital health landscape and opportunities. The study is based on a survey of executives from 184 biopharma, med device, and technology companies and 25 interviews with C-level life science executives. Some of the key kindings of the report included; 74% of respondents said they expect the future disruptive impact of digital health to be high or very high, 60% of respondents indicated that the primary goals for their digital health investments are to improve the patient experience and patient engagement, and 62% of respondents indicated that the acquisition and retention of digital health talent is the primary obstacle they face..... Read More

A Slowdown in US Business Formation Poses a Risk to Economy (Associated Press)

The American economy has been growing for over a decade but also has experienced decline in the number of new businesses being formed. Between 2007 and the first half of 2019, new business applications have fallen 16%. Small businesses typically account for roughly 85% of all hiring. With less small businesses, there could be less competition for workers resulting in slower growth in wages.... Read More

More Supergiant Seed Rounds Are Sprouting Up (Crunchbase)

Supergiant seed rounds, which total to $5 million or more (as defined by Crunchbase), have been on an upward trend. In 2014, only 45 such rounds were recorded compared to 180 in 2018. Over 140 of the rounds in 2018 were raised by startups that are 3 years old or less. Even though large seed rounds have been on an upward trend, the typical seed rounds have been on a decline, meaning larger investments into fewer companies..... Read More

Funding Opportunities

IIFH Innovator Fellowship

Application Deadline: October 23, 2019.... Read More

Small Farm Tech Challenge

Application Deadline: October 31, 2019.... Learn More

Science2Startup

Application Deadline: November 1, 2019.... Learn More

PharmaDirection Jumpstart Grant

Application Deadline: November 8, 2019.... Learn More

Equalize 2020 Women Innovators Pitch Competition

Date: November 15, 2019.... Learn More

Moore Inventor Fellows

Application Deadline: November 15, 2019.... Learn More

Big Ideas Contest

Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 20, 2019.... Learn More

UC Davis Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship 20th Annual Big Bang! Business Competition

Early Application Deadline: December 11, 2019.... Learn More

Activate Fellows