The UC Riverside Life Sciences Incubator recently welcomed its first two tenants in line with the university’s guidelines for ramping up research during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karamedica Inc., a spinoff company from Loma Linda University Health; and Murrieta Genomics Inc. are the initial businesses to take advantage of the first wet lab incubator in the Inland Empire.
The UC Riverside Office of Technology Partnerships manages the incubator. The team has attracted 15 interested potential tenants, of which two are fully onboarded and ready to advance their proof-of-concept research in this state-of-the-art research facility.
Karamedica is developing a chitosan-based nanoparticle drug delivery technology for transporting synthetic DNA from the nose to the brain in an effort to treat cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a condition that afflicts more than 85% of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and leads to breakdown of the arteries in the brain and cognitive decline.
“We are delighted to advance our research and development in the facility and look forward to expanding our relationship with the university and our ties to the Riverside community,” said Andrew Crofton, Karamedica’s president.
Murrieta Genomics is dedicated to advancing the use of genomic sequencing in precision medicine, agriculture, forensics, veterinary and direct-to-consumer applications. The company foresees a strong collaboration with UCR’s core facilities and with faculty performing DNA and RNA research.
“We are glad to welcome Karamedica and Murrieta Genomics as the first tenants of the Life Science Incubator at UC Riverside,” said Rosibel Ochoa, associate vice chancellor for technology partnerships at UC Riverside. “Our tenants, life sciences startups, gain access to local wet lab space as well as guidance from experts. We welcome all life sciences startups from the region, regardless of the association with UC Riverside, we can provide a home to biotechnology, medical technology, agriculture, chemistry and bioengineering companies.”