Beaker List – UCLA Edition
Top Entrepreneurial Life Science Professors @ UCLA
BIOS: Nucleus of Life Science Innovation 🚀
JOBS
BIOS Talent: Find Jobs @ Breakout TechBio Startups — Search Jobs 🚀
Post Jobs: Add Your Startup to BIOS Talent — Post Now 🎉
Students: Join Alix Ventures Fellowship — Join Now 🧬
BIOS Contributor: Share Your Thought Leadership — Join Now🔬
CONTENT & COMMUNITY
BIOS Daily: Join 25K+ Subscribers Following TechBio — Sign Up 🔥
BIOS Insider: Premium TechBio Thought Leadership — Sign Up ✨
BIOS Commons: World’s Largest #TechBio Community — Join Now 🎉
INVEST
BIOS Angels: 1st TechBio Angel Investing Syndicate — Join Now 🌟
Alix Limited: Invest in Breakout TechBio Startups — Learn More 🧠
By:
Alix Ventures: Supporting Early Stage Life Science Startups Engineering Biology to Drive Radical Advances in Human Health
Overview
Behind every transformative technology is a team of brilliant scientists and researchers. Academic research in particular is a driving force for technological innovation. Here, we have identified a ‘Midas List’ of researchers who have pioneered highly transformative technologies that have translated to the clinic. Using venture backed startups as a primary guide along with other impact metrics such as patents, citations, and thought leadership, the following professors have demonstrated patient impact, providing significant contributions to the startup ecosystem.
UCLA is considered one of the country's Public Ivies, and is frequently ranked among the best universities in the world by major college and university rankings. The University is currently divided into six undergraduate colleges, seven professional schools, and four professional health science schools. On an annual basis, UCLA has over $1 Billion dollars in research funding. It is safe to say, UCLA provides top level education on massive scales. As of October 2021, 27 Nobel laureates, three Fields Medalists, and five Turing Award winners have been affiliated with UCLA as faculty, researchers, or alumni. Among the current faculty members, 55 have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 32 to the National Academy of Engineering, 41 to the National Academy of Medicine. Their groundbreaking research is leading to better diagnostics and treatments for disease; better strategies to protect our rapidly changing natural environment; a clearer understanding of mental health; and a deeper awareness of the role of science in society. As an example of the amazing work that this university is producing, we would like to highlight ten professors leading life science entrepreneurship efforts at UCLA, both in innovation and strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the school.
We asked Dino Di Carlo for comment on how UCLA fosters an entrepreneurial environment & what entrepreneurship means to him:
“It has been a real pleasure working in such a fantastic entrepreneurial ecosystem at UCLA, including the team at UCLA's Technology Development Group. The support of individuals and facilities, like the Magnify Incubator at the California NanoSystems Institute, allows myself, students, and colleagues to go way beyond the initial academic publications to be able to achieve real impact, building not just knowledge but actual products that tangibly help people. This is what inspires us to keep shedding a bit more light, overcoming unknown obstacles, when we can only see a glimmer of possibility.”
—Dino Di Carlo
Dino Di Carlo
Dino Di Carlo is a Professor, inventor, and entrepreneur with >50 issued patents. He is the Armond and Elena Hairapetian endowed chair in Engineering and Medicine at UCLA and a Professor of Bioengineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He serves in academic leadership roles as the Vice Chair of the Bioengineering Department and Deputy Director of a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. His academic research @ the Di Carlo Lab, has focused at the interface of micro & nano-systems, data science, and the ultimate limits of biology (single cells & molecules).
Over the last 10 years, Di Carlo has co-founded 7 startup companies in life science research tools, diagnostics, medical device, & pharmaceutical industries: Vortex Biosciences, CytoVale, Tempo Therapeutics, Forcyte Biotechnologies, Hana Diagnostics, Partillion Bioscience, & Ferrologix.
He has also served as a Scientific Advisor to several life sciences companies, including Cue Health (NASDAQ:HLTH) & Omega Biosciences, which was acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2017.