Entrepreneurial spirit is embedded in JBEI’s culture. Research programs are run with entrepreneurial fervor, commercial utility of JBEI technology is the ultimate measure of success, and JBEI researchers frequently leave to join start-ups or are instrumental in forming new companies.
Thirteen start-up companies have spun out of JBEI to date. Currently operating companies are:
AFINGEN® is an agriculture biotechnology company for sustainable food, feed, fiber, and fuel production. Afingen’s novel biotechnology platform has been applied to commercially competitive field crops and improving energy traits. Website: https://afingen.org/
Ansa Biotechnologies is developing a new technology for de novo DNA synthesis using enzymes. Their method promises to be faster, more accurate, and cleaner than existing DNA synthesis methods. Availability of high-quality synthetic DNA is often a bottleneck in metabolic engineering research, so improved methods for DNA synthesis would accelerate innovation the field. Website: https://www.ansabio.com/
Berkeley Yeast uses metabolic engineering to improve the oldest biotechnologies–brewing and winemaking. The company’s first technology replaced the use of hops – an expensive, variable, and non-sustainable agricultural product–by engineering brewer’s
yeast to biosynthesize hop-derived flavor compounds during the industrial brewing process. Formerly Berkeley Brewing Science.