Converting Ideas to Product: Catalyst Pairs UCSF Scientists with Business to Improve Clinical Outcome for Patients 

“The colossal failures are where I learn the most,” serial biotech entrepreneur Nathaniel “Ned” David, PhD, told the UCSF scientific community during his inspiring keynote prior to the Catalyst Report Out in June. The Catalyst program pairs the University’s researchers with industry experts, venture capitalists and others who can advise them on how to advance their ideas towards products eventually forming companies or licensing their technologies to established companies to bring their therapies, diagnostics devices and digital health solutions to market. Read more.  See list of Catalyst Awardees

Watch video below of keynote address by Ned David, Founder of Unity Biotechnology. 

ShangPharma Innovation and UCSF Announce Strategic Research Collaboration 

The UCSF Catalyst Team is enthusiastic about the new collaboration between UCSF & ShangPharma Innovation Inc to advance the translation of early stage research towards products for patients. Projects will be selected for support through the collaboration from proposals coming into the Catalyst Therapeutics Track. Read more.

Apply Now for Catalyst Awards Fall 2017 Deadline Sept 18th

Catalyst Plus + 

Catalyst Team Updates

Anja Wehrmann, has stepped down from her role as program coordinator of the Catalyst Program to return to a career in environmental work with the East Bay Regional Park District. Anja joined us in June of 2014 and has been an invaluable member of the Catalyst team, dramatically improving many of our internal processes and helping to ensure a well run program. She has consistently received high praise from her colleagues as well as from many of our Catalyst advisors and project teams. She will be greatly missed by all of us here at Catalyst on both a personal and professional level. We wish her well in her new adventure.

Join the Catalyst Team

Catalyst Project Updates 
 

Dr. Rebecca Sudore, (Spring 2014 Catalyst awardee) was recently awarded a $650,000 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for integrating easy-to-read, culturally-appropriate, evidenced-based advance directives for all US states into the PREPARE website. 

"I was very satisfied with my initial exceptionally committed catalyst advisory group and the funding that was provided to conduct my project. This help has been invaluable and was crucial to me obtaining additional grant funding as well as critically thinking through, over years, whether to spin out a non-profit company or whether to keep PREPARE within the university. I would very much like to consider opportunities for additional advice and support as we gear up to take the PREPARE website and related resources to the next level of dissemination and sustainability."


Dr. Tippi MacKenzie, (Spring 2015 Catalyst Awardee) was recently awarded a $12.1 million grant, from the California Stem Cell Agency to develop a stem cell therapy to treat alpha-thalassemia major, a fetal blood disorder that is usually fatal. The therapy consists of bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem cells from the mother transplanted into the baby before birth. Read more.

"Thanks Cathy- we are thrilled. I am so grateful to you for having faith in us and supporting us through the years!"

See other Catalyst Success Stories. 

• QB3 - Life Science Pitch Summits: A series of quarterly events that introduce accredited life science investors to startups who are looking for funding from early-stage through Series A. Each cycle, we will invite 40 startups to pitch a panel of judges who will select 10-15 companies to take part in the Summit. Apply by Sept 5th for an invitation to the Consumer Health & Wellness Track, on Wed, Nov 1st @ Mission Bay.
• Sharecase 2017: IT Ecosystem, Success through Collaboration. This year’s event highlights the rich and complex network of information technology teams, services, systems and infrastructure that support the UCSF mission, as well as the collaborative efforts that drive discovery, teaching and care at UCSF. 8am-4pm, Mission Bay Conference Center, Room #251. Register by Sept 15th, event Oct 12th; 

• 2nd Annual FireceBiotech Drug Development Forum: Executive-level networking for better collaboration, more effective funding strategies & more productive R&D, Boston, Sept 25-27th;
• Digital Health Transforming Drug Development: How can we now convert vast amounts of patient data into actionable insights? How can we ensure digital health translates to new therapeutics and personalized care? MedImmune, in partnership with the UCSF Catalyst Program, will host a one-​​day forum in Silicon Valley to address these questions and more. Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA 7am-6:30pm, Sept 26th;
• Bio Investor Forum: Explores investment trends & opportunities in life sciences, with a focus on venture-stage growth & emerging public companies as well as those poised to join the growth “watch list” in 2018, San Francisco, Oct 17-18th;
• Life Sciences Summit: An early-stage investor & business development conference for emerging companies & academic innovators. The objective of the meeting is to connect emerging companies with early-stage investors, business development professionals, and medical research foundations with the goal of advancing new innovations through clinical development, NYC, Nov 1-2;
• TedMed: As we work to make advances that will shape a healthier humanity, progress is incremental but vision is unbounded. We create a healthier world by working in that fertile zone between the limited (knowledge, resources, time) and the limitless (imagination, creativity, curiosity). Palm Springs, CA, Nov 1-3