Winners Named in 3rd Annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards
UC Davis-Affiliated Innovations Win in Five of the Eight Categories
Finalists in the 2018 Sacramento Region Innovation Awards
UC Davis-affiliated startups and their innovations were recognized as the winners in five of eight categories for the third annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards organized by Stoel Rives LLP, Moss Adams LLP, and the Sacramento Business Journal. The UC Davis-affiliated winners were:

Advanced Manufacturing
  • Atocera, Inc. – Microfabricated Blades
Food & Agribusiness
  • Pheronym, Inc. – A New Kind of Pheromone for Agricultural Pest Control
Hardware & Electronics
  • TacSense – Flexible Iontronic Sensing Technology
Medical & Health – BioPharma
  • Cognivive –Virtual Reality Game Treatment for Brain Injury Recovery
Medical & Health – MedTech
  • MUSE Microscopy Inc. – MUSE (Microscopy with Ultraviolet Sectioning Excitation)
Dr. Tony Simon, Cognivive
Dr. Tingrui Pan, Tacsense
Dr. Fatma Kaplan, Pheronym
UC Davis Venture Catalyst Knowledge Exchange:
Building the Right Medical Device Product and Company
Featuring:
Rajan Patel, Chief Executive Officer, iO life science

If a picture is worth 1000 words, how much can be gained from holding something solid in your hand? In every medical device venture, the clearest, most actionable design input is received when a user holds the nearly completed product in their hand. Ironically, this is also the time when the design is least open to modification. In order to be successful, founders need to address all the stakeholder needs without compromising innovation, compliance or commercialization. Join us for a talk focused on a design and development framework to empower teams to generate solutions that effectively address unmet needs by integrating user-centric experiences from requirement definition to product commercialization. By strategically building smart, early and fast, innovators can increase the quality of early-stage data that feeds into the design process, making the design process more efficient, yielding a more predictably performing product and establishing a culture of experimentation and learning.

WHEN:
Tuesday, December 4, 2018, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Join us for Lunch @
UC Davis Office of Research
1850 Research Park Drive
Davis, CA 95618

For more information and to register, visit: https://buildtodiscover.eventbrite.com
UC Davis Venture Catalyst Welcomes Eva Garland Consulting as the Newest Partner in the VentureNet TM Program
Venture Catalyst will be collaborating with Eva Garland Consulting through its VentureNet TM program to offer participants in the Smart Toolkit for Accelerated Research Translation (START TM) program access to SBIR/STTR Grant accounting and compliance services. These services are designed to help startups receiving Phase I awards achieve full compliance with grant terms through establishing and managing internal protocols and grant accounting systems as well as providing ongoing bookkeeping and financial reporting. To learn more about the package of services available through VentureNet and the process for engaging with Eva Garland Consulting, please contact Venture Catalyst. To learn more about Eva Garland Consulting, click here.
Biotech Program’s ‘Dr. Judy’ Wins Meyer Award
Judith A. Kjelstrom, who devoted her career to UC Davis, the Biotechnology Program, Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology (DEB) graduate students and students of all ages, has been named the recipient of the James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award for 2018. The Meyer award is the UC Davis Academic Federation’s highest honor, given annually to one of its members for a distinguished career of achievement in his or her federation role as well as service to the campus and community.... Read More
UC Davis Selects Global Plant Genetics, Ltd. for Strawberry Licensing in Europe, Mediterranean and South America
The University of California has entered into a master agreement with Global Plant Genetics, Ltd., based in Norfolk, England, for the sub-licensing of new strawberry varieties in selected countries within Europe, the Mediterranean and South America. The agreement governs the commercialization of new varieties from the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program. GPG will work with UC Davis researchers, plant nurseries and fruit producers to test the commercial potential of new strawberry varieties in the specified territories.... Read More
UC Davis Health's Clinical Trials Directory Recognized Among Most Innovative at Global Clinical Research Summit
UC Davis Health’s Clinical Studies website, developed to deepen and enhance communication and interaction with the community about research, was recognized for its innovative strategies to foster patient recruitment by the Society for Clinical Research Sites at their annual Site Solutions Summit.... Read More
Credit Rating Agencies Respond Rationally to Risk From R&D Investment, Study Finds
New research from professor Paul Griffin of the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis examines US credit rating data and dispels the myth that credit rating agencies are lazy and biased when it comes to accounting for innovation. With a shift in the U.S. toward a knowledge-based economy, creditworthiness increasingly depends on the success of a firm’s research and development investments and other intangible assets.... Read More
Comprehensive Cancer Center Receives $6.3 Million to Address Disparities for Latinos, Asians and Blacks
The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, an Organized Research Unit overseen by the UC Davis Office of Research, received a $6.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities for a 5-year study to tease out why some ethnic and racial minority groups fare worse than whites when they get cancer and to find more precise treatments to improve their chances of survival.... Read More
Gene Network Lets Plant Roots Handle Nitrogen
By using robotics, computers and advanced genetics, researchers at UC Davis and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have established a core set of genes that help plants metabolize nitrogen, the key to plant growth and crop yield. By understanding the genes that control how plants take up and use nitrogen, scientists hope to give plant breeders tools to generate crop varieties that need less fertilizer or make better use of it.... Read More
Downy Mildew Research to Benefit Lettuce Growers and Consumers
Researchers at UC Davis will use the genomics of lettuce to combat a pathogen that causes losses in the $3 billion industry each year. The Foundation of Food and Agriculture Research, or FFAR, awarded Richard Michelmore, professor and director of the UC Davis Genome Center, the first research grant through the Crops of the Future Collaborative. UC Davis will receive $2.5 million from FFAR and matching funds from the Crops of the Future Leafy Greens Participants for a total of $5 million.... Read More
Startup News
Sage Therapeutics Announces FDA Advisory Committee Votes 17-1 in Support of Benefit-Risk Profile of ZULRESSO™ (brexanolone) Injection for Treatment of Postpartum Depression
Sage Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-altering central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee (DSaRM) jointly voted (17 yes, 1 no) that data support the favorable benefit-risk profile of ZULRESSO™ (brexanolone) injection for the treatment of postpartum depression (PPD) when administered by qualified staff in a facility that has been certified under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program.... Read More
Arcadia Biosciences and Ardent Mills Announce Collaboration to Develop and Commercialize Wheat Innovations
Arcadia Biosciences, an agricultural food ingredient company, and Ardent Mills, LLC, North America’s leading flour-milling and ingredient company, announced a collaboration to develop and commercialize innovative wheat varieties. The first project focuses on extending the shelf life and improving the flavor of whole wheat products.... Read More
Verdeca Receives Approval to Integrate HB4® Drought Tolerant Soybeans with Herbicide Tolerance in Argentina
Verdeca, a joint venture between Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. and Bioceres S.A., announced that it has received approval in Argentina for its HB4 drought tolerant trait stacked with herbicide tolerant traits in soybeans. The approval allows Verdeca to incorporate tolerance to both glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium into the trait.... Read More
Pheronym Awarded $500,000 Multi-Institutional Grant by the USDA
Pheronym, a bio-ag-tech pest control company, has been awarded a $500,000 USDA-AFRI multi-institutional research grant to expand its breakthrough insect control and nematode bio-remediation technology to other nematode species.... Read More
Forget Animal Testing. These Miniature, Lab-Grown Human Hearts are Making Drugs Safer (Wired)
Novoheart Ltd, a global stem cell biotechnology company
dedicated to engineering bioartificial human heart prototypes using state-of-the-art stem cell and bioengineering approaches, showcased a multi-organoid system in which the mini-hearts can be stacked in packs of four at the Safety Pharmacology Conference in Washington, DC. The technology is building on company's 'mini-hearts' platform and enables researchers to monitor the results of drug screening on several stacks simultaneously.... Read More
Novoheart to Generate USD $1.7m From Strategic Partnership to Build Good Manufacturing Practice Facility to Create Clinical-Grade Human Stem Cell Libraries
Novoheart, a global stem cell biotechnology company, announced that it has entered into a service agreement with Xellera Therapeutics Limited, representing Phase 1 of an intended long-term strategic partnership between the companies. The vision of the long-term partnership is to build clinical-grade human stem cell libraries for the development of cell-based therapies. Phase 1 will focus on the first steps towards Xellera Therapeutics building a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility for generating clinical-grade human stem cell lines, initially within the Southern Chinese population.... Read More
Symic Bio Selected for "The Best of The Liver Meeting 2018" at AASLD
Symic Bio, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel extracellular matrix targeting drugs, announced that they were selected for "The Best of The Liver Meeting 2018" at the AASLD international liver meeting and will be presenting on its liver fibrosis program at the upcoming conference in San Francisco.... Read More
Startup Career Opportunities
Career Opportunities at Evolve Biosystems
Evolve Biosystems is currently hiring for several sales positions across the US and Canada and an accounting manager position based out of Davis, CA.... Learn More
Career Opportunities at Chirp Microsystems
Chirp Microsystems is hiring for several positions at its Berkeley, CA location. Open positions include software applications engineer, assembly technician, product engineering, algorithms engineer, and test engineer.... Learn More
Career Opportunities at Arcadia Biosciences
Arcadia Biosciences is hiring for a Director of SEC Reporting & Technical Accounting..... Learn More
Career Opportunities at Novoheart
Novoheart is hiring for several scientist and business development roles including business development manager and senior scientist positions..... Learn More
Regional Innovation News
Folsom's StemExpress Lands International Distribution Deal (Sacramento Business Journal)
Folsom-based StemExpress entered into a partnership with international distributor Biological Industries USA, a subsidiary of Biological Industries Israel Beit Haemek Ltd. StemExpress' products could be an ideal fit with Biological Industries' line of culture mediums.... Read More
Priced Out, Local Manufacturers Land in San Francisco's New Affordable Maker Space (San Francisco Business Times)
The Manufacturing Foundry, a 56,000-square foot, four story building has opened in San Francisco to accommodate the city’s manufacturing businesses, which were previously struggling with San Francisco’s high rents. The foundry has already leased 9 out of 13 spaces to a variety of local makers.... Read More
Fantag Gets Nationwide High School Sports Broadcast Partner (Sacramento Business Journal)
Sacramento-based smartphone video streaming app company Fantag partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group to allow Fantag's users to make instant highlights of high school football games across the country.... Read More
MBI Wins Award For a Novel Biocontrol Solution (Davis Enterprise)
Marrone Bio Innovations, a bio-based pest management and plant health products manufacturer, announced that the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association awarded MBI the 2018 Bernard Blum Award for a novel biocontrol solution at its annual general assembly in Basel, Switzerland.... Read More
Marrone Cuts Deal to Market Products in Southeast Asia (Davis Enterprise)
Davis-based Marrone Bio Innovations announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Hop Tri Investment Corporation for three MBI products in Vietnam and Cambodia. The products are bioinsecticide Grandevo, biofungicide Regalia, and bionematicide Majestene.... Read More
Innovation Insight
California Will Force Companies to Hire Women Board Directors (San Francisco Business Times)
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that mandates public companies headquartered in California to have at least one woman on their boards of directors by the end of 2019.... Read More
U.S. Venture Capital Deals on Pace to Exceed $100B in 2018 (Xconomy)
The Q3 2018 investments in the US-based venture capital firms are at their highest in over a decade and are on pace to exceed $100 billion by the year's end. The number of deals in Q3 dropped below 2,000 (lowest since Q4 2012), but the number of mega-deals of $100 million or more, incrased 39% .... Read More
In 2018, VR Stopped “Having Potential” and Started Being Real (VentureBeat)
Gartner adds virtual reality (VR) to its top 5 Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies list in 2018. The reasons behind this are plenty, many of which circle around the fact that VR has seen an increase in return of investment as many of the top corporations around the globe have began integrating the use of the technology within their company's operations.... Read More
Survey of YC Female Founders on Sexual Coercion and Assault by Angel and VC Investors (Y Combinator)
Callisto and Y Combinator conducted a survey to measure episodes of sexual assault or harassment by an angel or VC investor to female founders. Out of the 88 female founders who completed the survey, 19 experienced inappropriate incidents.... Read More
New Study Reveals Entrepreneurs Need More Mentoring (Forbes)
According to an analysis conducted by non-profit organization Endeavor, founders who have been mentored by top-performing entrepreneurs are three time more likely to become top performers themselves. A survey conducted by Kabbage Inc. highlights that only 22 percent of small business owners had mentors.... Read More
Funding Opportunities
Procter & Gamble Ventures Innovation Challenge
Application Deadline: November 25, 2018.... Learn More
California Technology Council Meet the Investor
Date: December 5, 2018.... Learn More
Department of Energy Manufacturing Innovators Challenge
Application Deadline: December 7, 2018.... Learn More
Big Bang! Business Competition
Early Application Deadline: December 7, 2018.... Learn More
UC Entrepreneur Pitch Competition
Application Deadline: December 12, 2018.... Learn More
World Agri-Tech Pitch Day & The Radicle Challenge
Application Deadline: December 21, 2018.... Learn More
Rice Business Plan Competition
Application Deadline: February 10, 2019.... Learn More
UC Santa Cruz SVLink Accelerator
Application Deadline: Applications Accepted on the 15th of Each Month Until Full.... Learn More
Autodesk Entrepreneur Impact Program
Application Deadline: Ongoing... Learn More
Educational Opportunities
UC Davis Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Big Bang! Business Competition Workshops.... Learn More
QB3 Partnering, Business Models, & Consumer Insight at P&G
Date: November 27, 2018.... Learn More
Innovation Institute for Food & Health Innovator Fellowship
Application Deadline: November 30, 2018.... Learn More
Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy
Applications Accepted through Early-December 2018.... Learn More
NVCA: What VCs and Startups Should Know About Recent Changes in Foreign Investment Review
Date: December 4, 2018.... Learn More
Rosenman Institute, The First Dollar: Strategies and Ethics of Seed-Stage Fundraising
Date: December 11, 2018.... Learn More
Innovations in Regulatory Science Summit
Date: January 5, 2019.... Learn More
California Climate & Agriculture Summit
Date: March 4-5, 2018.... Learn More
Regional Events
Cleantech Meetup - Energy Efficiency
Date: November 27, 2018.... Learn More
Meeting of the Minds Annual Summit
Date: November 27-29, 2018.... Learn More
AgStart Founder Education Workshop Series
UC Davis Discount Code: GOAGGIES
Date: November 27 and December 5, 2018.... Learn More
NextTech: From Scientist to CEO - Building a Biotech Company from the Ground Up
Date: December 6, 2018.... Learn More
Greater Sacramento Economic Council Annual Dinner
Date: December 6, 2018.... Learn More
Hacker Lab Hands-On Education
Date: Ongoing.... Learn More
Small Business Development Center Workshops
Date: Ongoing.... Learn More
Silicon Valley USPTO Workshops
Date: Ongoing.... Learn More
1 Million Cups
Date: Weekly (Wednesdays).... Learn More
Industry Events
Farm Progress Tech Forum (Iowa CIty, IA)
Date: November 27-28, 2018.... Learn More
Association of Equipment Manufacturers Annual Conference (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)
November 28-30, 2018.... Learn More
World Vaccine & Immunotherapy Congress (San Diego, CA)
Date: November 28-30, 2018.... Learn More
Business of Personalized Medicine Summit (Millbrae, CA)
Date: December 5, 2018.... Learn More
BIOMEDevice (San Jose, CA)
Date: December 5-6, 2018.... Learn More
Device Talks (Costa Mesa, CA)
Date: December 11-12, 2018.... Learn More
Biotech Showcase (San Francisco, CA)
Date: January 7-9, 2019.... Learn More
Startup Grind Global Conference (Redwood CIty, CA)
Date: February 12-13, 2019.... Learn More
X4 - The Experience MGMT Summit (Salt Lake City, UT)
Date: March 5-8, 2019.... Learn More
PITTCON (Philadelphia, PA)
Date: March 17-19, 2019.... Learn More
World AgriTech Summit (San Francisco, CA)
Date: March 19-20, 2019.... Learn More
Seed Central
Date: Every Second Thursday.... Learn More
About Venture Catalyst 
 
UC Davis Venture Catalyst facilitates the translation of University research and technology by enabling the development of new ventures. Venture Catalyst engages with the Davis and Sacramento business, governmental and economic development community to highlight the development of technologies and ventures coming out of UC Davis that will drive tomorrow’s regional job creation. Working closely with these partners, Venture Catalyst is invigorating the technology-based entrepreneurial ecosystem of the entire region. 
The Venture Catalyst START™ Suite of programs and services provides the ABCs to equip UC Davis entrepreneurs with the tools they need to form and grow robust startups. The program gives founders the START they need to create a well-structured company and ensure the company is prepared for success. 
 
Contact Venture Catalyst 
For more information or for editorial comments, please email us .