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Initiatives
Center for BioEntrepreneurship
The UC San Francisco Center for
BioEntrepreneurship (CBE) hosts a series of lectures, symposia and
courses to educate the UC San Francisco community on entrepreneurship and business
in life sciences.
Computational Biology
Computational biology, which involves research at the interface of
computation and molecular biology, includes genomic analysis, cis-regulatory
networks, SNPs and genome evolution, expression analysis, multi-scale
molecular modeling and in-situ image analysis. A remarkable level
of activity is underway in computational biology on all three QB3 campuses.
At UC Berkeley, QB3 has facilitated the development of the Center for Computational
Biology (CCB), which features undergraduate and graduate education
components, including the newly created Graduate
Group in Computational and Genomic Biology. At UC San Francisco, master's
and doctoral students may complete a School
of Pharmacy graduate program specifically designed to train biomedical
informatics researchers for academic and industry. At UC Santa Cruz, the
School
of Engineering now offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in bioinformatics.
Drug Development
QB3 partners with PharmaSTART,
a consortium of research organizations led by SRI International that offers
translational drug development services to help California-based universities,
research institutes, and small biotech companies bridge the gap between
identifying exciting new drug discoveries and bringing them successfully
through clinical development. PharmaSTART offers drug development consulting,
networking, and drug development services including lead development,
GLP toxicology, analytical and regulatory services and cGMP manufacturing.
Synthetic Biology
Synthetic biology involves engineering microorganisms to address problems with energy production, the environment, and medicine. The emerging field promises major new advances in preventing and treating disease, generating new energy sources, and preventing and mitigating environmental threats. Helping to shape synthetic biology is a priority for QB3. On the Berkeley campus, the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) was launched in summer 2006 with a $16 million grant from NSF, with participants from UC San Francisco, MIT, Harvard, and Prairie View A&M University. Matching funds from industry and the participating universities bring the total five-year commitment to $20 million. QB3 participants include Jay Keasling, who will direct SynBERC, Wendell Lim, who will serve as the centers deputy director, Adam Arkin, Carlos Bustamante, Susan Marqusee, Tanja Kortemme, and Chris Voigt.
Industry and Venture Capital Partnerships
QB3 fosters industry and venture capital partnerships by identifying potential opportunities for research collaborations and support, and by assisting faculty with intellectual property and technology transfer issues. QB3's Industrial Advisory Board, which includes industry and venture capital leaders, provides private sector perspective on QB3's role in the California economy and identifies emerging opportunities for new QB3 activities. For more information on partnering with QB3, contact these QB3 representatives:
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