Venture Catalyst will be closed to the public December 21, 2020 through January 1, 2021. Please plan to reach out to us with any new requests by December 16, 2020 to allow appropriate time for engagement and action before the soft closure.

California’s stem cell agency (CIRM) awarded a $9 million grant to Diana Farmer, professor and chief of surgery at UC Davis Health, and Aijun Wang, associate professor of surgery and biomedical engineering, and co-director of UC Davis’ surgical bioengineering laboratory, to help launch the world’s first human clinical trial using stem cells to treat spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don't form properly and can lead to severe neurological damage. The treatment will involve generating mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from placental tissue, which will be seeded onto an FDA-approved graft and applied to the spinal cord of an infant, while still in the womb. The related technology around a method for treating spina bifida is covered by a patent, which is being managed by UC Davis InnovationAccess.... Read More

Seed Central, in partnership with Venture Catalyst, the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food & Health, and the Microbiome Special Research Program will host a virtual Innovators Showcase with pitch sessions, panel discussions, and online company visits scheduled for January 21-29, 2021. The showcase will feature startups and innovative companies in seed, ag, agbiotech, microbiome, and food & health and will also include a panel discussion on incubator and startup space in the Davis-Sacramento region, with particular focus on seed-to-fork.

UC Davis joined the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII), led by the University of Texas at San Antonio. Established through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, the $111 million public-private partnership is a consortium of 59 member institutions with a goal of driving American manufacturers and supply chains to further adopt secure, energy-efficient approaches, ultimately securing and sustaining the nation’s leadership in global manufacturing competitiveness.... Read More

The University of California Board of Regents approved the UC Davis Aggie Square project, which will be located in Sacramento, next to the UC Davis Medical Center. This final approval allows the $1.1 billion project to move forward with construction anticipated to begin in 2021.... Read More

The CITRIS Core Seed Funding program – focused on innovation in information technology – announced the awardees for the 2020 cycle. Out of the seven projects that each will receive the $60,000 award, five are associated with UC Davis, including:

A total of 68 competitive proposals were submitted from UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Merced, Davis, and Davis Health.... Read More

EXPLORER, the world's first total-body positron emission tomography (PET) scanner that can capture a 3D picture of the whole human body at once, is up and running at UC Davis Health. The system, which was developed by UC Davis professors Simon Cherry, distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Ramsey Badawi, chief of Nuclear Medicine at UC Davis Health and vice chair for research in the Department of Radiology, has so far scanned about 600 patients, of which 500 were clinical patients and the remaining 100 were research subjects participating in clinical trials. Currently, the EXPLORER is being used to conduct about a dozen clinical trials spanning a wide range of disease processes. In addition to being about 40 times more sensitive for the same radiation dose than traditional PET systems, the EXPLORER is also able to provide fast imaging capable of capturing images in as little as 100 milliseconds.... Read More

Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California will provide temporary tax relief for eligible businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. The temporary tax relief entails an automatic three-month income tax extension for taxpayers filing less than $1 million in sales tax, extends the availability of existing interest and penalty-free payment agreements to companies with up to $5 million in taxable sales, and provides expanded interest free payment options for larger businesses particularly affected by significant restrictions on operations based on COVID-19 transmissions.... Read More

Visit the website: https://covid19research.ucdavis.edu/

U.S. Venture Capital Investments Exceed 2019 Despite Pandemic Gloom (Reuters)

Venture capital investment through the beginning of December 2020 has already surpassed the total for all of 2019. At close to $140 billion of funding in this period, 2020 will be the third consecutive year where investment has topped $100 billion. Recent interest and activity have been focused on enabling enhanced digitalization of large sectors..... Read More

Agrifood Tech Investment Reports Record-Breaking Year for Industry (Foodbev Media)

Despite the challenges brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has been another record-breaking year for agrifood tech. According to a report published by Agrifood Venture and Finestere Ventures, in collaboration with PitchBook, startups in this sector have raised $11.6 billion in funding through the end of the third quarter.... Read More

UC Davis Venture Catalyst supports the development of new ventures fueled by university research and technology. Venture Catalyst offers several innovative programs that bridge the gap between early-stage research and commercialization and provide entrepreneurs the resources, support, and connections needed to successfully form and grow technology-based startups. With a focus on accelerating technology-led economic development in the Davis-Sacramento region, Venture Catalyst also works closely with partners in the regional innovation and economic development ecosystems. 

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