BERKELEY, Calif., June 3, 2025 – UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center (LSEC), a center that fosters life sciences entrepreneurship by coordinating and building upon existing campus resources, today announced the 2025 recipient of its Venture Grant Program, created to assist UC Berkeley faculty-led teams to launch their own biotech and life sciences startup companies. Now in its third year, the Venture Grant program offers winning recipients a minimum of $200,000 in funding, admittance into Berkeley SkyDeck and access to a wide variety of UC Berkeley resources including the I-Corps intensive workshop, QB3’s Bio Startup Speed Teaming, and attending Bakar Labs events.

This year’s recipient, HypO2Regen Therapeutics, is working to develop and bring to market novel disease-modifying drug therapeutics for chronic intractable inflammatory diseases. This includes the first cell-free stem cell treatment to induce true regeneration of tissues damaged by chronic inflammation. The company’s initial application is focused on moderate- to-severe periodontitis, which affects almost 300 million people in the US and Europe combined, 70% of whom are untreated or undertreated, and the rest treated with expensive implants. The company was founded by UC Berkeley Bioengineering Department Chair Phil Messersmith and seasoned entrepreneur Isabelle Gorrillot.

“UC Berkeley has a rich tradition of supporting founders, with some of the world’s leading companies and most important research coming from our campus,” said Darren Cooke, interim Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer at UC Berkeley and Executive Director of Berkeley LSEC. “The LSEC Venture Grant program continues that legacy, and we’ve already seen impressive results from our inaugural recipients. We are excited to see what the HypO2Regen team will accomplish, and look forward to supporting them at every step of their journey.”

To qualify for the Venture Grant Program, teams must be ready to incorporate as a company and be composed of at least two members, either Berkeley faculty, PhD students, postdocs, or graduate students in biosciences, business or engineering students. Their innovation must be in the life sciences field and based on IP invented at Berkeley. Previous recipients include Editpep, AsparaGlue, MZR, MuscleMatrix, and ASO Therapeutics (currently operating in stealth).

Venture Grant recipients receive $100,000 as an academic translational grant from Berkeley LSEC as well as a $100,000 investment from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, which has an option to invest an additional $100,000. This year’s recipient will participate in Berkeley SkyDeck’s Batch 20 cohort, which began May 5, 2025. With an acceptance rate around 1%, Berkeley SkyDeck stands as one of the most competitive accelerators in the world, and Venture Grant recipients will gain access to the SkyDeck network which includes over 800 advisors, 50 startup-supporting workshops, and more than 500,000 UC Berkeley alumni. 

“The LSEC Venture Grant program has been an exciting addition to Berkeley SkyDeck, and our Bio+Health Track has been instrumental in supporting grant recipients as they begin their startup journeys,” said Caroline Winnett, Executive Director of Berkeley SkyDeck. “We are excited to welcome HypO2Regen into our Batch 20 cohort. Their breakthrough - stem cell therapy without the stem cells - has truly exceptional therapeutic potential.