UC Berkeley announces nominees for the inaugural UC Regents Innovation Awards
UC Berkeley nominated five faculty and a city strategist for the inaugural UC Regents Innovation Awards, recognizing research translated into societal impact across gene editing, biotech, skin treatments, urban policy, and semiconductor design.
The University of California system launched its first Regents Innovation Awards to honor faculty and partners whose research creates real-world benefits. UC Berkeley announced five nominees, including Professor Fyodor Urnov, whose team reduced the cost of personalized CRISPR therapies for children with genetic diseases by 90% and shortened development timelines tenfold, leading to new FDA pathways and a $20 million ARPA-H grant for rare immune diseases.
Professor Markita Landry’s lab developed biotechnologies that avoid genetic damage, using nanosensors to study brain chemistry in addiction and autism and editing single plant cells to create disease-resistant crops without foreign DNA. Her work has produced an international rice variety, earned a 2025 Guggenheim Prize, and a 2026 Fulbright Fellowship.
Professor Jay Keasling co-founded ResVita Bio to deliver topical biologics for skin diseases like Netherton Syndrome, addressing limitations of systemic treatments. The startup uses genetically engineered bacterial cells to continuously produce therapeutic proteins, reducing degradation and cost while targeting validated skin disease pathways.
Elizabeth Redman Cleveland, Berkeley’s Chief Strategist for Sustainable Growth, leads the Berkeley Startup Cluster, implementing zoning reforms that exempted $30.1 million in R&D grants from local taxation and connecting local high schoolers to innovation careers, earning the cluster two awards in 2026.