Lygos, a synthetic biology company founded by BioE PhD alumni Jeffrey Dietrich and Eric Steen, was featured in a New York Times article on the resurgence of companies using biology to produce cheap, safe and natural materials for fuel, cosmetics and other goods.
Archives for December 2016
Liepmann lab student wins capstone award
Master of Engineering student Nicholas Engel won the Alumni Innovation Award at this year’s Fall Capstone Expo!
BioE startup Lygos raises $13 million
Lygos Biotech, founded by PhD alumni Jeffrey Dietrich and Eric Steen, has raised $13 million in Series A funding to continue their work producing high-value specialty chemicals through synthetic biology. Their process uses domestic sugars instead of petroleum for chemical production, and has already resulted in the world’s first bio-based production of malonic acid.
Herr named to National Academy of Inventors
Professor Amy Herr has been elected a 2016 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. She joins only eleven other Berkeley faculty ever elected. Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Congratulations!
Herr Lab invention named Top Innovation of 2016 by The Scientist
For the #1 spot in their annual Top 10 Innovations of the year, The Scientist magazine has chosen Milo, the commercial version of the single-cell Western blot technology invented in Professor Amy Herr’s lab. Originally developed for market by BioE PhD alumna Kelly Gardner for their startup Zephyrus Biosciences, acquired by BioTechne, Gardner now runs commercialization of the product for ProteinSimple.