Hepatitis vaccine
Building on his work at Berkeley, biochemistry professor Edward Penhoet co-founded Chiron in 1981 to develop diagnostic tools and biopharmaceuticals to tackle a range of diseases and conditions, including cancer, HIV, malaria, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. Best known for its work discovering the virus that causes hepatitis C and the subsequent development of screening methods to reduce the risk of contracting the virus via blood transfusion, the biotech powerhouse also developed the first vaccine for the hepatitis B virus. In 2006, pharmaceutical giant Novartis acquired Chiron for $5.4 billion.
Circuit simulator
Virtually every electronic microchip developed in the world today is the product of SPICE computer simulation software, or one of the modeling program’s derivatives. Based on Department of Defense-funded research conducted at Berkeley during the 1960s, the original SPICE program was developed in 1972 under the direction of Donald Pederson. Later, A. Richard Newton, professor of engineering, collaborated on crafting the software for automated electronic design in the semiconductor and integrated circuit industries. In 1983, Newton co-founded electronic design automation firm SDA Systems, which later merged with competitor ECAD to form Cadence Design Systems. Valued at $30 million at the time of the merger, Cadence has a market value of $2.68 billion, with annual revenues of $935 million and assets of $1.4 billion.
Molecular mechanics of disease
The research of Robert Tjian, professor of molecular and cell biology, has provided new insights into the molecular mechanisms that underlie a host of human diseases and conditions from Huntington’s disease and cancer to diabetes and infertility. Seeking to understand how genes are controlled inside the cell, Tjian’s work focuses on proteins that regulate the expression of genes and their role in cell malfunction and disease. Tjian identified the first gene-specific transcription factor in a human cell and later co-founded Tularik to develop pharmaceuticals that regulate malfunctioning genes. Amgen, one of the world’s largest biotech firms, acquired Tularik in 2004 for $1.3 billion.
Punching holes in tumor cells
Berkeley engineers developed a way to destroy cell walls without harming nearby tissue vessels, a breakthrough that has since become a surgical technique that attacks difficult-to-remove tumors. In 2008, UC Berkeley licensed the irreversible electroporation (IRE) technology to medical device manufacturer AngioDynamics for use in its NanoKnife System. The minimally invasive surgical system, which uses microsecond electrical pulses to punch nanoscale holes into cell walls, has received FDA approval for soft tissue removal, and is being evaluated for the treatment of prostate, liver and pancreatic cancer. The NanoKnife System generated $7.3 million in revenue last year and has been used for more than 850 patients.
Smart dust
Kris Pister, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, coined the term “smart dust” as he pioneered the development of wireless sensor network technology to measure and transmit data on conditions, such as temperature, light, moisture, vibration, movement, magnetism and pollutants. Pister co-founded Dust Networks to commercialize the technology, in which arrays of low-power microsensors are inked together to form a virtual monitoring mesh. Today wireless sensor networks are being used to optimize in-building energy use, increase manufacturing and supply-chain efficiency and control, enhance security, improve worker safety and reduce pollution.
Subscribe
