QB3 & Bakar Labs Webinar: Joe DeRisi, UCSF & CZ Biohub. "Antibody Profiling for Investigation of Autoimmune and Infectious Disease"

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 12:00 to 1:00 PM PT

Register Now

About the Speaker

Dr. Joseph DeRisi is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. He employs an interdisciplinary approach combining genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, and bioengineering to study parasitic and viral infectious diseases in a wide range of organisms, for the purpose of discovering and studying novel or unrecognized biothreats. Early work in his lab contributed to the identification of the SARS coronavirus in 2003. In a parallel effort, Dr. DeRisi studies P. falciparum, the causative agent of the most deadly form of human malaria, in order to develop faster, better therapeutic options. Dr. DeRisi was one of the early pioneers of DNA microarray technology and whole genome expression profiling and is nationally recognized for his efforts to make this technology accessible and freely available.

He received a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1992) from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1999) from Stanford University prior to joining the UCSF faculty as a Sandler Fellow in 1999. Dr. DeRisi was a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator from 2006- 2016, which he left to take on the role of Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research organization affiliated with UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. Dr. DeRisi is a member of the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. DeRisi is continuing to pursue efforts toward data-driven diagnostics for infectious disease, and recently, autoimmune disorders as well.

More recently, through his role as Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, he has redirected his efforts to providing large-scale, rapid turnaround clinical COVID19 testing through a UCSF/Biohub collaboration called the “CLIAHUB.” As of November, the CLIAHUB has returned over 155,000 clinical results to Californians, in addition to thousands of full length SARS-CoV-2 genomes for genomic epidemiological studies, including studies of underserved and vulnerable populations. Starting in 2022, he has accepted the position as sole President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.

QB3 Webinar: Lucas de Breed, American Cancer Society BrightEdge Fund. "Trends in Oncology Investing"

Oncology remains a major sector for early-stage investment, on the basis of increasingly deeper insight into disease complexity as well as growing disparities in outcomes. The American Cancer Society's BrightEdge Fund brings a patient-centric lens to breakthrough innovation, ensuring that new solutions match their deep understanding of patient unmet need. (BrightEdge is the sponsor of our current Golden Ticket to Bakar Labs.)

For BrightEdge the top areas of interest are:

• Novel therapies for cancer types that have been disproportionally underserved (pediatric, pancreatic, brain, etc.).

• Approaches that improve response to existing therapies.

• Technologies that support prevention and early detection or that can help reduce patient burden.

But given their double bottom line (patient-level impact and financial return), several factors are important, including strong proof of concept data, clear directionality for clinical development, and at least line of sight on reimbursement. Lucas de Breed is Director of Investments at BrightEdge. Join us on March 20 to learn what his investing priorities are and why.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Monday, March 20, 2023, 4:00 to 5:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Lucas de Breed is Director, Investments at BrightEdge — the ACS’s mission-driven venture capital fund.

Dr. de Breed has over 15 years of experience in Oncology, as a scientist, strategy consultant, VC and entrepreneur.

Previously, as a Manager at Deallus, a global strategy consulting firm for large biopharma clients, he led the Oncology business unit and founded the firm’s East Coast office. As an Investment Director at INKEF Capital, a leading European VC firm, Lucas led the allocation of $120 million in US and European therapeutics start-ups, served on the respective Boards, and realized a number of exits. At INKEF, he was instrumental in setting the investment strategy, building out the investment team and in expanding assets under management to $600 million. He is also the Founder of August Care, developing outcomes-based financial solutions for high-cost precision medicine.

Dr. de Breed holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology from University College London and an MBA from Stanford University. He has also co-authored several scientific papers. He is a Director at Quantum Leap Healthcare, a 501c(3)charitable organization integrating high-impact clinical research with patient care to improve and save lives; a member of the Scientific Advisory Board or Promontory Therapeutics, a clinical stage oncology company; and a member of the Advisory Board of FIRST, an early stage investment fund for cardiovascular and regenerative medicine.

QB3 Webinar: Manfred Lee, Mirvie. "Technology-Market Fit in Life Science"

Manfred Lee is a mentor in our early-stage support program for life science entrepreneurs. He will discuss a framework for finding and refining product-market fit for novel life science technologies that draws from his experiences in the genomics (Ion Torrent), medical imaging (Butterfly), and molecular diagnostics (Mirvie) industries.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, March 9, 2023, 4:00 to 5:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Manfred is an accomplished producteer with a 15-year history of successfully developing and launching innovative life science research, molecular diagnostic, and medical device technologies and matching those innovations with large, underserved markets. Following his graduate studies at UC Berkeley in Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Manfred served as a management consultant for 6 years at L.E.K. Consulting where he advised clients in the areas of genomics, proteomics, and molecular diagnostics. After consulting, Manfred held several product management roles at Ion Torrent/ThermoFisher (next generation DNA sequencing), Butterfly (point of care ultrasound), Cirina (early cancer detection), and Mirvie (pregnancy health). Manfred is currently COO of Mirvie where he is responsible for product management, program management, clinical operations, and business development.

QB3/Bakar Labs Webinar: Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley. "The Next Decade of CRISPR"

Professor and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna needs no introduction. We're beyond excited to host her in our Distinguished Speaker lunchtime series at Bakar Labs. Join us online to learn from a true pioneer what lies ahead in the next decade for CRISPR and its applications. Catch it live; this will not be recorded.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar, livestreamed from Bakar Labs at UC Berkeley
Wednesday, February 22, 2023, 12:00 to 1:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair and a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her groundbreaking development of CRISPR-Cas9 as a genome-engineering technology, with collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, earned the two the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and forever changed the course of human and agricultural genomics research.

This powerful technology enables scientists to change DNA — the code of life — with a precision only dreamed of just a few years ago. Labs worldwide have re-directed the course of their research programs to incorporate this new tool, creating a CRISPR revolution with huge implications across biology and medicine.

In addition to her scientific achievements, Doudna is a leader in public discussion of the ethical implications of genome editing for human biology and societies, and advocates for thoughtful approaches to the development of policies around the safe use of CRISPR technology.

Doudna is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes, and the President of the Innovative Genomics Institute. She co-founded and serves on the advisory panel of several companies that use CRISPR technology in unique ways.

She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Doudna is also a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and has received numerous other honors including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2015), the Japan Prize (2016), Kavli Prize (2018), the LUI Che Woo Welfare Betterment Prize (2019), and the Wolf Prize in Medicine (2020). Doudna’s work led TIME to recognize her as one of the “100 Most Influential People” in 2015 and a runner-up for “Person of the Year” in 2016. She is the co-author of “A Crack in Creation,” a personal account of her research and the societal and ethical implications of gene editing.

Innovation Showcase at the Defeating Dementia Symposium, April 13, 2023

Innovation Showcase at the Defeating Dementia Symposium

Recent progress in developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and other dementias has created new momentum toward therapies for treatment and prevention. We are convening the academic and private sector expertise of the Bay Area in an invitation-only symposium at Berkeley’s new life-science incubator, Bakar Labs, on Thursday, April 13.

We invite applications from companies to present for 15 minutes (10-minute pitch and 5-minute Q&A with the audience) on the topic of aging and dementia. This is an opportunity to showcase your technology to an audience from top-tier academia, industry, and investment firms.

Eight companies will be selected to present their technologies in the symposium’s Dementia Innovation Startup Showcase. Companies at any stage are invited to apply. Early spinouts are encouraged, especially those with need for lab space.

Investors are welcome to join. Interested? Apply here for a seat at the pitch session.

All applications will be reviewed by the program committee and results will be communicated by email on or around March 17.

Presentations will be evaluated onsite by a panel of judges, who will select a winner to be announced during the networking reception concluding the symposium.

The QB3 Defeating Dementia Innovation Award

One winner will be selected to receive the QB3 Defeating Dementia Innovation Award:

• Acceptance to Bakar Labs.

• Access to the Bakar Labs Enrichment Programming.

• Complimentary access to QB3 programs including the Early-Stage Support, Startup in a Box and Executive Mentorship programs.

• $25,000 in legal credit with Wilson Sonsini, a Bakar Labs Founding Affiliate.

Recipients & Eligibility

One winner will be selected following the Innovation Showcase pitches. To be eligible for this award, your company must be interested in lab space at Bakar Labs.

QB3 Webinar: Alex Marson, UCSF/Gladstone. "Decoding and Reprogramming Immune Cell Circuits with CRISPR"

The goal of the Marson lab is to understand genetic circuits that control human immune cell function in health and disease. We have begun to identify autoimmunity risk variants that disrupt immune cell circuits, and how pathogenic circuits may be targeted with novel therapeutics. Our lab has developed new tools for CRISPR genome engineering in primary human T cells. We are now pursuing a comprehensive strategy to test how coding and non-coding genetic variation controls functional programs in the immune system. Genome engineered human T cells hold great potential for the next generation of cell-based therapies for cancer, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, January 19, 2023, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Alex Marson is Director of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology and Professor in the UCSF Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the scientific director for Human Health at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) and is a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator. Work in Dr. Marson’s lab aims to understand the genetic programs controlling human immune cell function in health and disease, with an emphasis on developing and applying CRISPR genome engineering tools to primary immune cells, especially T cells. Combining genomics and gene editing approaches, the lab works to assess the consequences of coding and noncoding genetic variation on immune cell function and autoimmune disease risk and to genetically engineer human immune cells to target cancer, autoimmunity, and infectious diseases.

QB3 Webinar: Ira Mellman, VP Cancer Immunology, Genentech.

Ira Mellman, PhD, is Vice President of Cancer Immunology at Genentech, a world leader in this vital, complex, and exciting field. Join us on Tuesday, January 17 to learn how an understanding of the basic science can inform the quest to discover and develop novel, effective therapies for cancer. Dr. Mellman will speak on where cancer immunotherapy is, where it is going, and what the opportunities are.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar (streamed live from Bakar Labs)
Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Noon to 1:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Ira Mellman came to Genentech in the Spring of 2007 as Vice President of Research Oncology, after more than 20 years as a faculty member at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he was chair of his department (Cell Biology), a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, scientific director of the Yale Cancer Center, and Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and Immunobiology. Dr. Mellman has a BA from Oberlin College & Conservatory and a PhD in Genetics from Yale. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rockefeller University with Ralph Steinman, who received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of dendritic cells. His laboratory is known not only for advances in fundamental cell biology particularly in the area of membrane traffic (including the discovery of “endosomes”) but also for applying these insights to understanding the cellular basis of the immune response, especially dendritic cell function. He was also the founder of CGI Pharma, which was recently purchased by Gilead. Ira ran all of oncology research at Genentech until the end of 2013 when he decided to concentrate his efforts on the rapidly developing area of cancer immunotherapy and became Vice President of Cancer Immunology. Ira is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Cell Biology. He has also served on the editorial boards of Cell, the Journal of Experimental Medicine, EMBO Journal, among others. He also serves on the boards of the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Cancer Research Institute. He remains a frustrated composer and songwriter, and has recorded two CDs in the little-known genre of “bio-rock”.

QB3 Webinar: Ben Cravatt, Scripps Research. "Activity-Based Proteomics: Target and Ligand Discovery on a Global Scale"

Advances in DNA sequencing have radically accelerated our understanding of the genetic basis of human disease. However, many of human genes encode proteins that remain uncharacterized and lack selective small-molecule probes. The functional annotation of these proteins should enrich our knowledge of the biochemical pathways that support human physiology and disease, as well as lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets. To address these problems, we have introduced chemical proteomic technologies that globally profile the functional state of proteins in native biological systems. Prominent among these methods is activity-based protein profiling (ABPP), which utilizes chemical probes to map the activity state of large numbers of proteins in parallel. In this lecture, I will describe the application of ABPP to discover and functionally annotate proteins that contribute to human diseases, such as cancer and autoimmunity. I will also discuss the generation and implementation of advanced ABPP platforms for proteome-wide ligand discovery and how the integration of these global ‘ligandability’ maps with emergent human genetic information and phenotypic screening can expand the druggable fraction of the human proteome for basic and translational research objectives.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Monday, December 12, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT
(Rescheduled from earlier date)

About the Speaker

Dr. Cravatt is Professor and Norton B. Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His research group is interested in developing chemical proteomic technologies that enable protein and drug discovery on a global scale and applying these methods to characterize biochemical pathways that play important roles in human physiology and disease. Dr. Cravatt obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then received a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996. Professor Cravatt joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997. Dr. Cravatt’s honors include a Searle Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, a Cope Scholar Award, the ASBMB Merck Award, the RSC Jeremy Knowles Award, the AACR Award for Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and memberships in the National Academies of Medicine and Sciences.

QB3 Webinar: Chris Mason, Weill Cornell: "Functional Genomics, Space Travel, and the Survival of the Human Species"

The Mason laboratory is working on a ten-phase, 500-year plan for the survival of the human species on Earth, in space, and on other planets. To that end, we develop and deploy new biochemical and computational methods in functional genomics to elucidate the genetic basis of human disease and human physiology. We focus on novel techniques in next-generation sequencing and algorithms for tumor evolution, genome evolution, DNA and RNA modifications, and genome/epigenome engineering. We work closely with NIST/FDA to build international standards for these methods and ensure clinical-quality genome measurements and editing. We also collaborate with NASA to build integrated molecular portraits of genomes, epigenomes, transcriptomes, and metagenomes for astronauts, which help establish molecular foundations and genetic defenses for long-term human space travel.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Dr. Christopher Mason completed his dual B.S. in Genetics and Biochemistry (2001) from University of Wisconsin-Madison, his Ph.D. in Genetics (2006) from Yale University, and then completed post-doctoral training in clinical genetics (2009) at Yale Medical School while jointly a post-doctoral Fellow of Genomics, Ethics, and Law at Yale Law School (2009). He is currently an Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, with appointments at the Tri-Institutional Program in Computational Biology and Medicine between Cornell, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University, the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, and the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute.

QB3 SBIR/STTR Workshop Spring 2023 (on Zoom)

Get Non-Dilutive Funding for Your Startup

This workshop (held on Zoom) will take you through all the steps necessary to successfully file a well-written SBIR/STTR grant application for the April 2023 NIH deadline and Spring 2023 NSF window. Taking the workshop, you will learn how to craft an appropriate research plan, obtain persuasive letters of support, develop an efficient budget, and anticipate reviewers’ comments. We will help you speed through the application instructions, saving you hours of time. Results from past attendees indicate that taking this course triples your chances of success. The workshop culminates in a submission clinic that will ensure your application is correctly filed.

One or more team members (up to three) from the company should be prepared to participate in every session. These will be working sessions. The course comprises eight working sessions including a pre-submission review of your Specific Aims page by our course instructors.

Registration

Registration is closed. We will be scheduling a workshop for the fall, starting in September. Dates TBD.

Schedule

Wednesdays, 1:00-2:30 PM Pacific time: 1 hour presentation, 30 min Q&A

Feb 8 Eligibility & the registration process (NIH & NSF)

Feb 15 Specific Aims page (NIH) & the NSF elevator pitch

Feb 22 Budget & justification NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Mar 1 Research plan for NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Mar 8 NIH Specific Aims/NSF pitch interactive peer review with Kaspar

Mar 15 Letters, bios, & other sections NIH & NSF. Also, intro to IP confidentiality

Mar 22 Preparing forms for NIH & NSF

Mar 29 Preparing forms & submitting your proposal to the NIH & the NSF

Topics

• Understanding the eligibility requirements of an SBIR grant

• Preparing to apply for an SBIR (company formation, registration at all required websites, identifying the best PI)

• Assembling all the necessary parts of the application (letters of support, sub-contract quotes and letters, facilities description, research plan, etc.)

• Strategies for designing your specific aims

• Budget strategies and restrictions

• Complete and convincing budget justifications

• Documentation required to use human samples, human subjects and vertebrate animals

• What makes a competitive proposal

• Common mistakes that applicants make

• Filling in forms and submission process

• Re-submission if your grant is not funded

• Phase II SBIR applications

• Searching for program announcements and finding non-dilutive funding opportunities

Instructors

Shauna Farr-Jones, PhD, UCSF/QB3 grant writer

Kaspar Mossman, PhD, Managing Director, QB3

WORKSHOP FEE

General Admission: $600

About the Instructor

Shauna Farr-Jones, Ph.D., has a record of writing successful government grant and contract proposals on diverse life science topics, providing strategic input on both research and business plans. She has helped companies secure over $200 million in grant and contract funding from numerous government and philanthropic organizations, including NIH, DOD, NSF, DTRA, DARPA, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For 20 years, she has consulted for life science companies and universities, identifying funding opportunities, preparing research plans, commercialization plans, technical reports, INDs, and NDAs. She is currently an Academic Coordinator at UCSF. Previously, she was Senior Writer at BioCentury Publications, where she analyzed and wrote about the biotechnology industry. She was a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts University.

QB3 & Berkeley Law Panel: "What Your IP Attorney Wishes You'd Known Before Starting Your Company"

You've identified an unmet need in the life sciences or healthcare space, and developed a clever solution. You're ready to move forward in commercializing your solution into a product, but you will need funding and partnerships to succeed. How can you set yourself up for success--in particular, what do you need to know about your IP landscape and protection strategy, before meeting with potential partners and funders? Join our November 17 webinar featuring WSGR attorney Ali Alemozafar in spirited conversation with serial entrepreneurs Uri Lopatin and Greg Went and investors Neena Kadaba and Maria Fardis. Bring your own questions! Hosted in conjunction with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology's Life Sciences Project.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, November 17, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speakers

Ali R. Alemozafar, PhD is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focuses on strategic intellectual property counseling in a wide range of technical fields, including diagnostics, tools, genomics, digital health, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, materials and various engineering fields. His expertise includes patent strategy, patent prosecution, and patent diligence—including freedom-to-operate analyses—for financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. Ali has prepared and prosecuted patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions, including Europe, China, and Japan. He provides legal counseling to companies at various stages of growth, from pre-financing start-ups to public companies.

Prior to joining the firm, Ali worked on data warehousing, business intelligence, and enterprise data integration. He frequently lectures at the UC Berkeley School of Law and UC Hastings College of the Law on various intellectual property topics, including patent strategy and IP due diligence.

Maria Fardis, PhD joined the Frazier Life Sciences team as a Venture Partner in 2021. She has over 20 years of scientific and management experience in numerous public and private companies. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of 4PinesCo, Inc., a Frazier-founded search company focused on identifying, in-licensing, and developing high-quality therapeutic candidates.

Maria previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Iovance Biotherapeutics. She transformed Iovance from an early-stage development company to a company with multiple late-stage programs involving lifileucel and LN-145 for the treatment of multiple solid tumors. She raised over a billion dollars in multiple rounds of financing for the company. Prior to Iovance, Maria served as the Chief Operating Officer of Acerta Pharma B.V., where she worked on the development of Calquence® until the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca. Prior to that, she worked at Pharmacyclics, Inc., where she was a key contributor in the creation of a broad clinical program leading to global approvals for Imbruvica® in multiple hematologic malignancies, and where she served as Chief of Oncology Operations and Alliances. Prior to joining Pharmacyclics, Maria held increasingly senior positions in Medicinal Chemistry and the project and portfolio management department at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she was involved with multiple therapeutic areas including antivirals, oncology, and cardiovascular therapeutics and worked on the development and life cycle management of Letairis®.

Maria received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.S. summa cum laude, in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She also holds an M.B.A., received with highest honors, from Golden Gate University.

Neena Kadaba, PhD, an entrepreneur in residence at ATP, is a science-driven investor with 15 years of experience building novel collaborations and partnerships to drive innovation. Most recently, Neena was a Director at Quark Venture, where she served on the board of Eyevensys, IOME BIO, Calcimedica, and EyeYon on behalf of the Global Health Sciences Fund and led diligence for a number of additional investments. Previously, she was the Director of Strategic Partnerships at QB3, an institute at the University of California, where she created new programs to accelerate startups and worked with QB3's venture fund, Mission Bay Capital. Prior to QB3, Neena was a Kauffman Fellow while she was an Associate in Venture Investment at Itochu Technology, Inc, the California office of Itochu, the Japanese trading company, and she began her career in venture at California Technology Ventures.

Neena received her PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where she solved the structure of a novel membrane protein using x-ray crystallography and protein structure modeling. She received her undergraduate and masters’ degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in chemistry and bioengineering, respectively.

Uri Lopatin, MD is a biotech entrepreneur and has worked in various executive clinical and translational science positions for esteemed organizations, including Schering Plough, Roche, Gilead Sciences, and Y Combinator where he served as a visiting partner. He also co-founded Assembly Pharmaceuticals, functioning as both Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Research, and successfully raising over $300 million to move two first-generations of novel therapeutics for hepatitis B into global Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies. Uri has published and patented broadly in virology and immunology.

Uri received a BA in Biology from Cornell University and MD degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School. He completed his residency at New York University Medical Center, internship at the University of Washington, and fellowship training in Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health.

Greg Went, PhD is CEO of Reflexion Pharmaceuticals. Greg is an experienced entrepreneur with multiple successful startups in the life sciences, including genomics, genetics, diagnostics and therapeutics companies. These companies have taken multiple products from idea through approval and commercialization, benefiting the lives of patients and care partners.

Greg founded Adamas Pharmaceuticals and guided the company’s growth as CEO and Chairman from inception to September 2019, when he became a strategic advisor to the company. He developed the original technology platform, based upon the understanding and modelling of time-dependent biological phenomena. He steered Adamas through the licensing of assets related to Namenda XR and Namzaric to Forest Laboratories (now Allergan), the company’s IPO, and commercial preparation for the potential launch of a new medicine for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Prior to Adamas, Greg co-founded CuraGen Corporation in 1992, one of the first genomics companies, where he served as Executive Vice President and Director. Greg has served on the board of directors of Angelica, Parallele Biosciences and Tethys Biosciences.

Greg has published in the fields of catalysis, spectroscopy, DNA sequencing, gene expression profiling, neuroscience, influenza and neurology. He is an inventor on over 70 issued and pending patents. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and did additional post-doctoral work at Cornell University.

Expert Consult: David Fournier, Perkins Coie. IP Strategy

Apply to speak to attorney Dave Fournier about issues that early stage life-science companies face, from basics like identifying potentially patentable subject matter to filing strategies and conducting diligence.

Scroll down to apply for a 45-minute Zoom timeslot with David Fournier, David Fournier, firmwide Patent Prosecution & Portfolio Counseling practice chair, at Perkins Coie, on the morning of Thursday, November 3.

David Fournier, firmwide Patent Prosecution & Portfolio Counseling practice chair, is an intellectual property partner with 20 years of life sciences experience. Prior to becoming an attorney, Dave spent several years working in clinical research and as a patent agent with Pfizer and its legacy companies, where he was responsible for monitoring drug trials and the development and implementation of product lifecycle management strategies for a variety of key products. Through that industry experience, Dave gained valuable insight into drug development and product lifecycle management strategies.

Dave’s practice concentrates on pharmaceutical, biologic, medical device and consumer product patent matters, with particular emphasis on product exclusivity planning, strategic development of global patent portfolios and client counseling under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration (Hatch-Waxman) Act, relating to pharmaceutical products, and the Public Health Service Act and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, relating to biologic therapies.

Our Expert Consults are hosted by leading experts who have generously offered their services pro bono to our entrepreneurs.

If selected for an appointment, please be punctual; arrivals late by more than 15 minutes will be considered no-shows.

Apply Below

QB3 Meeting, Sara Fröjdö, FIND. "How FIND Can Help Identify Diagnostic Gaps and Support Your Market Access in Low- and Middle-Income Countries"

This is now a meeting (not a webinar). If you register, we will send you the link.

COVID has highlighted the essential role of diagnostics as an enabler of access to health and the linchpin of early warning and response systems for health emergencies. The number of, and investment in, new technological approaches has dramatically accelerated. However, the pandemic has also exposed significant diagnostic gaps, notably in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), in areas such as diagnostics literacy, funding, regulatory pathways, stakeholder engagement and evidence generation. FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics, seeks to fill these gaps and ensure equitable access to reliable diagnosis. Join our Nov 17 webinar with Sara Fröjdö, Senior Technology Officer at FIND, to learn how her organization connects countries and communities, funders, decision-makers, healthcare providers and developers to spur diagnostic innovation and make testing an integral part of sustainable, resilient health systems.

Where & When

Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Sara Fröjdö joined FIND in 2022 as Senior Technology Officer, Business Intelligence, with the key role of supporting the organization in identification and assessment of new opportunities, selection of partners and initiation of collaborations.

Prior to joining FIND, Sara spent 10 years in innovation and new market development consulting working with start-ups, biotechnology companies and leading healthcare industrials followed by partnership and business development in the field of diagnostics for a technology research institute.

She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Lyon and her MSc in Biology from the University of Helsinki.

QB3/UC Hastings Freedom-to-Operate Analysis (Fall 2022)

Patenting your invention is just one step in being able to commercialize a technology. You need to make sure that you are not infringing on existing patents that could limit your ability to apply your technology. Ensuring that you have "Freedom to Operate" (FTO) can take many hours of a patent attorney's time.

To provide FTO analysis to selected startups at no charge, QB3 has partnered with the UC Hastings Startup Legal Garage. For companies accepted to the program, a team of law students with technical backgrounds will perform an FTO analysis under the supervision of an experienced attorney. The company has to interact with the students weekly to ensure progress of the project. The program itself will take approximately two months to complete and will require a time commitment of 4-8 hours from the startup.

This is a selective program. Approximately four applications will be chosen based on a match with the law students' technical background and interests. Strong preference will be given to incorporated companies with issued patents. Applicants will learn by mid-January whether they have been selected for the program. Qualified applicants that we are unable to match with a student team may be offered a similar service by one of our partner law firms.

Download the Startup Legal Garage one-pager here.

QB3 Webinar: Carolyn Bertozzi, Stanford. "Therapeutic Opportunities in Glycoscience"

Congratulations to Prof. Bertozzi on winning the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry!

Cell surface glycans constitute a rich biomolecular dataset that drives both normal and pathological processes. Their “readers” are glycan-binding receptors that can engage in cell-cell interactions and cell signaling. Our research focuses on mechanistic studies of glycan/receptor biology and applications of this knowledge to new therapeutic strategies. Our recent efforts center on pathogenic glycans in the tumor microenvironment and new therapeutic modalities based on the concept of targeted degradation.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Carolyn Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Stanford ChEM-H and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Humanities and Sciences in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. She is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, most recently in the area of immuno-oncology. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize, among many others.

QB3 Webinar: Howard Chang, Stanford. "Personal Regulome Navigation of Cancer"

Cancer is a disease of genes. Yet the elucidation of cancer genomes does not mean we have conquered cancer; the central challenge is in their interpretation. In every human cell, two meters of DNA is packed into a ~10 micron nucleus. The genome is extensively compacted, except for the active regulatory DNA elements that remain accessible. I will describe new technologies based on DNA transposition that reveal the epigenomic profiles of single cells or from clinical biopsies of disease states. The landscape of active DNA regulatory elements are further linked to 3D genome architecture, mutational profiles, and RNA output to reveal the targets of disease associated DNA elements, such as inherited genetic variants or those modified by environmental stimuli. Our analysis of 23 human cancer types reveal nearly half a million active DNA elements across human cancers, disclose oncogenic extrachromosomal DNA, and identify gene-regulatory interactions underlying cancer immune evasion. These results suggest a systematic approach to understanding the noncoding genome in cancer to advance diagnosis and therapy. 

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, September 22, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Howard Y. Chang M.D., Ph.D. is Director of the Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes and the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at Stanford University. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; he is also Professor of Dermatology and of Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Chang earned a Ph.D. in Biology from MIT, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed Dermatology residency and postdoctoral training at Stanford University. His research addresses how large sets of genes are turned on or off together, which is important in normal development, cancer, and aging. Chang discovered a new class of genes, termed long noncoding RNAs, can control gene activity throughout the genome, illuminating a new layer of biological regulation. He invented ATAC-seq and other new methods for defining DNA regulatory elements genome-wide and in single cells. The long term goal of his research is to decipher the regulatory information in the genome to benefit human health.

Dr. Chang is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy for the Arts and Sciences. Dr. Chang’s honors include the NAS Award for Molecular Biology, Outstanding Investigator Award of the National Cancer Institute, Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, Judson Daland Prize of the American Philosophical Society, and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise. His work was honored by the journal Cell as a Landmark paper over the last 40 years and by Science as “Insight of the decade”.

QB3 SBIR/STTR Workshop Fall 2022 (on Zoom)

Get Non-Dilutive Funding for Your Startup

This workshop (held on Zoom) will take you through all the steps necessary to successfully file a well-written SBIR/STTR grant application for the January 2023 NIH deadline and Spring 2023 NSF window. Taking the workshop, you will learn how to craft an appropriate research plan, obtain persuasive letters of support, develop an efficient budget, and anticipate reviewers’ comments. We will help you speed through the application instructions, saving you hours of time. Results from past attendees indicate that taking this course triples your chances of success. The workshop culminates in a submission clinic that will ensure your application is correctly filed.

One or more team members (up to three) from the company should be prepared to participate in every session. These will be working sessions. The course comprises eight working sessions including a pre-submission review of your Specific Aims page by our course instructors.

Registration

The workshop fee is $600. Refund available if requested by September 25.

Be prepared to commit to 40 hours of work on your submission. Companies must be incorporated by the date of the first, or at the very latest, the second session.

Schedule (Wednesdays, 12:30-2:00 PM Pacific time: 1 hour presentation, 30 min Q&A)

Sept 21 Eligibility & the registration process (NIH & NSF)

Sept 28 Specific Aims page (NIH) & the NSF elevator pitch. Also, intro to IP confidentiality

Oct 5 Budget & justification NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Oct 12 Research plan for NIH & NSF (including Phase 2)

Oct 26 NIH Specific Aims/NSF pitch interactive peer review with Kaspar

Nov 9 Letters, bios, & other sections NIH & NSF

Nov 16 Preparing forms for NIH & NSF

Dec 14 Preparing forms & submitting your proposal to the NIH & the NSF

Topics

• Understanding the eligibility requirements of an SBIR grant

• Preparing to apply for an SBIR (company formation, registration at all required websites, identifying the best PI)

• Assembling all the necessary parts of the application (letters of support, sub-contract quotes and letters, facilities description, research plan, etc.)

• Strategies for designing your specific aims

• Budget strategies and restrictions

• Complete and convincing budget justifications

• Documentation required to use human samples, human subjects and vertebrate animals

• What makes a competitive proposal

• Common mistakes that applicants make

• Filling in forms and submission process

• Re-submission if your grant is not funded

• Phase II SBIR applications

• Searching for program announcements and finding non-dilutive funding opportunities

Instructors

Shauna Farr-Jones, PhD, UCSF/QB3 grant writer

Kaspar Mossman, PhD, Director of Marketing & Communications, QB3

WORKSHOP FEE

General Admission: $600

About the Instructor

Shauna Farr-Jones, Ph.D., has a record of writing successful government grant and contract proposals on diverse life science topics, providing strategic input on both research and business plans. She has helped companies secure over $200 million in grant and contract funding from numerous government and philanthropic organizations, including NIH, DOD, NSF, DTRA, DARPA, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For 20 years, she has consulted for life science companies and universities, identifying funding opportunities, preparing research plans, commercialization plans, technical reports, INDs, and NDAs. She is currently an Academic Coordinator at UCSF. Previously, she was Senior Writer at BioCentury Publications, where she analyzed and wrote about the biotechnology industry. She was a post-doctoral fellow at UCSF and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts University.

QB3/UC Hastings Freedom-to-Operate Analysis (Summer 2022)

Patenting your invention is just one step in being able to commercialize a technology. You need to make sure that you are not infringing on existing patents that could limit your ability to apply your technology. Ensuring that you have "Freedom to Operate" (FTO) can take many hours of a patent attorney's time.

To provide FTO analysis to selected startups at no charge, QB3 has partnered with the UC Hastings Startup Legal Garage. For companies accepted to the program, a team of law students with technical backgrounds will perform an FTO analysis under the supervision of an experienced attorney. The company has to interact with the students weekly to ensure progress of the project. The program itself will take approximately two months to complete and will require a time commitment of 4-8 hours from the startup.

Applications are closed for the summer cycle. We anticipate offering the same program this coming fall.

This is a selective program. Approximately four applications will be chosen based on a match with the law students' technical background and interests. Strong preference will be given to incorporated companies with issued patents. Applicants will learn by mid-August whether they have been selected for the program. Qualified applicants that we are unable to match with a student team may be offered a similar service by one of our partner law firms.

Download the Startup Legal Garage one-pager here.

QB3 Webinar: Elvis Chan, FBI, Allison Henry, UC Berkeley, & Pat Phelan, UCSF. "Cybersecurity: What You Need to Know in 2022"

Cybersecurity is a key issue for us in our private lives — think identity theft — and at the national scale — such as federal elections. For scientists in academic & commercial labs, threats include IP theft, ransomware, and hacktivism. Where are we vulnerable to those who want to disrupt or steal from us? How can we do the best possible job of protecting ourselves and the organizations we serve? Join us to learn best practices from the FBI's Elvis Chan, who manages San Francisco’s Cyber Branch, which is responsible for cyber investigations and digital forensics, and Allison Henry and Patrick Phelan, chief information security officers at UC Berkeley and UCSF respectively.

Co-sponsored by the UCSF Cyber-Champion Team.

Last year, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chan shared some standard FBI handouts covering common cybersecurity issues. Download them in PDF format below:

A Case Study of Ransomware Attacks for Healthcare

Delta Project - Guidance for Startup Companies

DOJ Incident Response Guidance

FBI Business Travel Guidance

FBI Economic Espionage Guidance

FBI Intellectual Property Protection

FBI Supply Chain Management Guidance

Ransomware Executive One-Pager and Technical Document

Ransomware Prevention and Response Guidance

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
1:00 to 2:00 PM, Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Register Now

About the Speakers

Elvis Chan is an Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) assigned to FBI San Francisco. ASAC Chan manages the field office’s Cyber Branch, which is responsible for cyber investigations, digital forensics, technical operations, and private sector engagement. With over 15 years in the Bureau, he is a decorated agent who is recognized within the Intelligence Community as an election cybersecurity and cyberterrorism expert. ASAC Chan was the lead agent on significant cyber investigations and managed joint counterterrorism operations with domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies. Prior to joining the Bureau, ASAC Chan was a process development engineer in the semiconductor industry for 12 years. He holds two U.S. patents, presents at many technical and law enforcement symposiums, and published multiple articles in journals. SSA Chan graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry.

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Allison Henry is chief information security officer at UC Berkeley. She wrote her first computer program in BASIC to automate the painfully repetitive task of alphabetizing her weekly 4th grade spelling list. From an early age, she has been building and securing information technology solutions to solve problems and enable people to do what they do best.

After graduating from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science in Integrative Biology in 1996, Allison started her Information Technology career as a system administrator at UC Santa Cruz.

Allison came to UC Berkeley in 2004 when she joined Communications and Network Services and pivoted to Information Security in 2006. In 2013 she started managing the Security Operations team, providing monitoring and incident management services for the complex and heterogeneous UC Berkeley campus computing environment. In that role she led initiatives to modernize security operations through custom built systems for automated alert processing and incident management. This allowed the Security Operations team to scale with the growth of the campus network. In 2018 Allison served as Associate CISO and provided oversight and direction for Information Security Assessments and Compliance activities, before assuming the role of Chief Information Security Officer in December of 2019.

In addition to information technology and security, Allison has a passion for the study of optimizing human performance through fitness and nutrition, and enjoys endurance athletics including trail running and triathlon.

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Patrick Phelan is chief information security officer of UCSF, one of the premier academic medical centers in the country. He is responsible for the security strategy for systems supporting the research, education, and clinical missions of the institution. A 20-year IT veteran, he is a member of several professional organizations, holds CISSP, CEH, CISM certifications, and a B.S. in computer science from UCLA.

QB3 Webinar: Michelle Arkin, UCSF. "Modulating Output of Protein Networks by Targeting Protein-Protein Interactions"

Michelle Arkin chairs the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UC San Francisco. Her research focuses on the development of drug-like molecules that alter important biological processes. These biological processes often involve complex networks of proteins that interact directly with each other; yet protein-protein interactions are difficult to target with conventional small molecules. Join us for on a briefing on the latest results from her lab.

Where & When

Zoom Webinar
Thursday, May 5, 2022, 1:00 to 2:00 PM PT

About the Speaker

Michelle Arkin’s lab develops innovative approaches to screen for chemical tools and drug leads, using biophysical approaches like fragment-based drug discovery and biological approaches including high-content imaging. Their goal is to demonstrate ‘druggability’ of new target classes and to use their compounds to discover new targets for drug discovery. Areas of interest include protein-protein interactions, allosteric and scaffolding sites in enzymes, focusing on diseases of aging like cancer and neurodegeneration. Michelle is Co-Director of the UCSF Small Molecule Discovery Center, a collaborative research and core lab that includes a high-throughput screening facility and medicinal chemistry. She is co-founder of Elgia Therapeutics and Ambagon Therapeutics.