JBEI Startups

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.

Twelve 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.

Illium Technologies produces ionic liquid solvents from lignin. The ionic liquids can be used for biomass pretreatment to produce cellulose and/or glucose for biomanufacturing. Illium was formed to commercialize JBEI technology for the synthesis of ionic liquids from lignin. Website: http://www.illiumtech.com/index.html

JungleBio develops healthy microbes that are fit for work. Highly controlled and tailored gene-expression solutions generate stable and productive microbes for a cost- and time-efficient bioprocess. (contact: [email protected])

Lygos produces “bio-advantaged” chemicals, where petrochemistry cannot compete with biochemistry. Lygos is currently commercializing its first product, malonic acid, and its platform for synthetic biology is being exploited to develop a number of pipelined products. In 2015, Lygos was nominated by QB3 as Synthetic Biology Startup of the Year. Follow: @LygosBiotech; Website: www.lygos.com

Perlumi is developing seeds that, using a novel biological carbon fixation pathway, make important crops more productive without requiring more water or fertilizer. These seeds will help meet the needs of a growing global population on a warming planet.

TeselaGen Biotechnology, Inc. is developing a fully integrated solution for synthetic biology. Their DNA design and assembly platform provides the most advanced Bio CAD/CAM system available and makes genetic engineering cheaper and faster. Since 2012, TeselaGen has had an exclusive license to distribute JBEI’s j5 and Device Editor software for DNA assembly to commercial users. Website: https://www.teselagen.com/

XLSI Bio Inc Next-Gen Synthetic Biology Platforms: Developing high-throughput tools that integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence, micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) with traditional synthetic biology process chains.”

JBEI Affiliated Start-Ups

Demetrix is using synthetic biology to harvesting millions of years of evolution to make nature’s medicines in a smart and responsible way. Website: www.demetrixbio.com