BioE startup helps clean tech rise again

Steen & Dietrich

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.

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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.

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Herr named to National Academy of Inventors

Herr

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!

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Herr Lab invention named Top Innovation of 2016 by The Scientist

Milo Top 10

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.

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Conboy finds young blood does not reverse aging

A new study from Professor Irina Conboy’s lab found that tissue health and repair dramatically decline in young mice when half of their blood is replaced with blood from old mice. This adds further detail to the complex study of aging and suggest that young blood alone will not reverse the aging process.

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