About

about

Research and innovation across the full spectrum of biotech

UCSF's Martin Kampmann presenting in front of a gene heat map

Overview

QB3 is one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, a multicampus operation with departments on the UC campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. QB3’s domain is the “quantitative biosciences,” a multidisciplinary area encompassing the study of biology using techniques and technology derived from chemistry, physics, and computer science.

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QB3 supports early-stage commercialization in biotech and pharma, and conducts basic and applied research. Commercialization programs, including incorporation, mentorship, and the Bakar Bio Labs incubator, are largely run out of the QB3-Central office, currently at UC Berkeley. QB3 entrepreneurial programs welcome participants and founders from academia and industry, who need not have affiliations with UC. The institute was founded with the goal of laying the foundations of future industry in California.

QB3-Central also coordinates collaborative research bringing together scientists from all three campuses. The three campus divisions operate core facilities and administer research programs. See Research for details.

Conical flasks in a flow hood under purple UV light

Our Team

The people who make things happen

Our core team, who run our operations across the spectrum from basic research to startup support. We’re always open to new ideas and initiatives.

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David Schaffer, PhD

Director, QB3 & Bakar Labs

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Jeremy Alberga

COO, QB3 & Bakar Labs

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Lise Barbé, PhD

Grants Coordinator, QB3

Collin Blinder

Collin Blinder

Deputy Director of Communications, QB3 & Bakar Labs

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Katarina Klett, PhD

Innovation Discovery Program Manager, QB3

Kaspar Mossman

Kaspar Mossman, PhD

Managing Director, QB3; Communications, Bakar Labs

Noem Noiwangklang

Wanichaya (Noem) Noiwangklang

Co-Lead, Innovation Discovery & Director of Workforce Development

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Erica Yab

Events & Program Specialist, QB3

Programs

Program pipeline

Integrated with Bakar Labs, and brokering connections between scientists, advisors, service providers, investors, and industry, QB3 offers a spectrum of programs from basic research through full commercialization. Further support is provided by the affiliated Bakar Fellows program.

STUDENT TRAINING ACADEMIC RESEARCH STARTUP IDEATION STARTUP LAUNCH SEED COMPANY SERIES A COMPANY
Internships & Training

Break Into Biotech provides training in biology basics for undergrads with no prior lab experience, making them competitive for internships. QWEST internships place talented students with biotech startups for work experience that prepares them for careers in industry.

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Research Collaboration

QB3’s Collaborative Research program unites teams of scientists on the UC campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz, and beyond, to pursue ambitious large-scale research projects. We also partner with startups and industry.

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Grants & Fellowships

Bakar Labs Campus Programs offers support for faculty and students. Through the Bakar Fellows Program we fund entrepreneurial faculty whose research in STEM+ fields has commercial potential. The BioEnginuity Impact Grant empowers doctoral students in STEM to translate research into real world solutions to society’s challenges.

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Workshops & Symposia

QB3’s SBIR/STTR grantwriting workshops guide bio entrepreneurs through the complex process of submitting federal grant applications. The annual QB3 Symposia convene scientists, entrepreneurs, industry, and investors to explore scientific themes and generate concepts for collaborative research.

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Company Creation

QB3’s Innovation Discovery program reaches out to identify research with commercial potential. Our team works with scientists to build companies from scratch, ensuring that R&D is pointed in a direction that will lead to investment.

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Entrepreneurial Mentoring

QB3’s Early-Stage Mentoring program connects company founders with deeply experienced mentors who provide guidance on product-market fit, investable data, IP strategy, fundraising, and more. Companies are invited to pitch for $100K awards.

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Lab & Coworking Space

Our affiliate incubators offer fully-equipped BSL2 labs in increments as small as a single lab bench. Fridges, freezers, and centrifuges are provided as well as core facility space with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. Advance your R&D and business in our open and private offices and meeting rooms.

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Events & Networking

Connect with our vibrant community of tenants and our wider ecosystem of investors and industry affiliates at our events, from the small-room CEO Circle to banking and legal office hours to tenant lunch & learns and our hugely popular JP Morgan mixer. Tenants have access to events at Bakar Bio Labs and our energy and materials pilot program. Select events are open to the public.

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VC Funding

Meet investors through concierge connections made by our staff, or at our in-house showcase events. We’re affiliated with BEVC, a VC firm that invests in companies at Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford.

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Spinoff Ventures

QB3 has a 20-year track record of spinning off innovative endeavors such as the venture capital firms Mission Bay Capital and Medtech Venture Partners; several incubators, including QB3@953 (now part of MBC Biolabs); and a health technology initiative, the UCSF Rosenman Institute. QB3 founded and operates Bakar Labs, including its biotech and energy and materials divisions. Companies affiliated with QB3 brought in $942 million in funding in 2022.

Architect's rendering of future Bakar ClimatEnginuity Hub

Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials

Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials accelerates breakthrough technologies and resilient solutions, enabling the global transition to advanced energy systems.

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Bakar Bio Labs

Bakar Bio Labs, UC Berkeley’s flagship incubator for biotech startups, was founded in partnership with QB3. It opened its doors to tenants in November 2021.

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MBC Biolabs

Originally named QB3@953, the MBC Biolabs location in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood launched in 2013, its development spearheaded by QB3’s Doug Crawford.

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Mission Bay Capital

Mission Bay Capital was co-founded in 2009 by QB3’s Reg Kelly and Doug Crawford to make seed-stage investments in biotech companies spinning out of UC. MBC Fund I was the first VC fund in the UC system.

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Rosenman Institute

QB3’s Christine Winoto launched the Rosenman Institute in 2012. Its original focus was supporting medical device entrepreneurs, but soon broadened to include digital health and health tech.

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MedTech Venture Partners

Medtech VP was founded in 2017 by QB3’s Christine Winoto to fund medtech and health tech companies in the Rosenman Institute ecosystem.

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UC Berkeley/UCSF Master’s in Translational Medicine

QB3’s clinical director, Dr. Marc Shuman, created the “Anti-Medical School” course in 2007 to explore engineering solutions to challenges in medicine. A chance meeting with Intel founder Andy Grove resulted in the course’s transformation into the MTM program.

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Spotlight

Startup Alums

We’ve supported biotech startups since 2005 with incubator space, programming, and VC investment.

Three people in the 4D Molecular Therapeutics lab

4D Molecular Therapeutics

4D Molecular Therapeutics develops gene therapies for patients with eye, lung, and heart conditions. The company is currently running four clinical trials, for Fabry disease, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, and choroidemia, and recruiting for two: for cystic fibrosis and age-related macular degeneration. 4D was incorporated in 2013 through QB3 and incubated at QB3@953 (now an MBC Biolabs location). QB3 executive director David Schaffer is a co-founder.

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Scientist pipetting in a flow hood

Caribou Biosciences

Caribou Biosciences, a spinoff from the UC Berkeley lab of Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, develops off-the-shelf CRISPR genome-edited cell therapies for patients with devastating diseases. The company has two trials in progress of CAR-T cell therapies for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Caribou was co-founded by CEO Rachel Haurwitz (PhD, UC Berkeley), incorporated through QB3, incubated at two QB3 facilities, and was an early portfolio company of QB3-affiliated VC firm Mission Bay Capital.

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A corn farm with large silo

Pivot Bio

Pivot Bio manufactures living microbial-based nitrogen fertilizers, produced by fermentation. This replaces the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, thereby reducing greenhouse emissions. The technology also eliminates toxic fertilizer runoff. Pivot introduced the world’s first nitrogen-producing microbes to U.S. farmers in 2018. Since that time the company has introduced multiple microbial nitrogen products for wheat, sorghum and other small grains in addition to its flagship product for corn. Pivot was co-founded by CEO Karsten Temme (PhD, UC Berkeley) and CTO Alvin Tamsir (PhD, UCSF) and incubated at the QB3 Garage at UCSF.

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Bolt Threads

Bolt Threads develops high-performance materials through sustainable, green processes. Their initial product was MicrosilkTM, inspired by spider dragline silk and produced through synthetic biology. Founded by CEO Dan Widmaier (PhD, UCSF), CTO David Breslauer (PhD, UC Berkeley, and Ethan Mirsky (PhD, UCSF), Bolt incubated for several years at the QB3 Garage at UCSF and was one of the Fund I investments by QB3-affiliated VC firm Mission Bay Capital. Further products include MyloTM mushroom leather and B-SilkTM protein, an alternative to silicone elastomers.

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Past and Current

Companies

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  • Diadem Biotherapeutics
  • Nano Precision Medical
  • 11 Health
  • Pionyr Immunotherapeutics
  • Atreca
  • Pendulum Therapeutics
  • Umaro Foods
  • MyNurse
  • Noleus Technologies
  • Perlara
  • Samay
  • Multerra Bio
  • Satoris
  • DotLab
  • Unnatural Products
  • Safe H2O
  • Cell Design Labs
  • Alector
  • EvolveMol
  • CV Ingenuity
  • Luma Therapeutics
  • PuraCath Medical
  • Blumio
  • Lygos
  • Ontera
  • Tipping Point
  • Spora Health
  • Radar Therapeutics
  • Axent Biosciences
  • Meissa Vaccines
  • Alessa Therapeutics
  • Aura Health