Molecular Therapeutics Initiative
Accelerating drug discovery at UC Berkeley by bridging academia and biotech to develop next-gen therapeutics for unmet medical needs.
- @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social has opened campus nominations for the new UC Regents Innovation Awards, recognizing standout research, startups, and partnerships across the UC system. ⏰ Campus deadline: March 2, 2026 (noon) 🔗 regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/innovation-a... #UCBerkeley
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- 🧠 The MTI just named Ross Wilson & Hanqin Li, Markita Landry & Stephan Lammel, and Eunyong Park & Laurie Wang as our 2026 Parkinson’s Therapeutics Awardees. Each team gets $90k + discovery support. #Parkinsons #MTIAwards #Berkeley 💡 Read more at moleculartherapeutics.org/2026-mti-par...
- 🚀 UCSF, UC Berkeley & UW faculty: the ATN Joint Projects are now accepting proposals. This Roche/Genentech‑supported opportunity funds two years of collaborative research to speed therapy development for brain & nervous system diseases. Learn more: www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/02...
- 🚀 Ready to build something big in biotech? @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social's LSEC Venture Grant Program gives life sciences founders up to $200K in support, plus access to @berkeleyskydeck.bsky.social startup resources. Apply by Feb 13, 2026! Full details & apply: lsec.berkeley.edu/venture-grant
- Hands-on drug discovery at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social! 🚀 Our Masters in Biotech workshop gave students practical lab experience in core drug discovery methods to bring real-world biotech skills into the classroom. Preparing the next generation of innovators! #BioTech #DrugDiscovery #Education
- @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social’s life sciences ecosystem lit up #JPM2026 at the Berkeley Bio Startup Showcase, where biotech startups connected with investors and industry leaders. @mti-ucb.bsky.social is proud to have co-supported this event, hosted by the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center ✨
- One of our own has contributed to a newly approved medicine. The MTI at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social congratulates the Cytokinetics team and our Executive Director, Dr. Julia Schaletzky, on FDA approval of aficamten for #HCM, available starting mid-January. #BerkeleyHealth #GoBears #patientsfirst
- Data: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... Press release: ir.cytokinetics.com/press-releas...
- @mti-ucb.bsky.social, we are thrilled that our Executive Director, Dr. Julia Schaletzky, is highlighted in @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social’s Top Stories of 2025 for her work advancing campus viewpoint diversity. Read here to learn more: news.berkeley.edu/2025/12/15/n...
- UC has launched the Regents Innovation Awards, celebrating use-inspired research and entrepreneurship driving real-world impact. MTI shares this mission and our ED Julia Schaletzky serves on the Presidential Council supporting this work. Learn more: regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/innovation-a...
- Excited to co-sponsor the 2026 Gordon Research Conf. on Autophagy in Health & Disease! 🧬 Join us in Ventura, CA with top speakers incl. Eileen White, Ivan Đikić & Sharon A. Tooze. 🧫 Autophagy helps cells recycle their damaged components. Apply here ➡️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in... #GRC2026 #Autophagy
- We’re thrilled to see this groundbreaking work from @mti-ucb.bsky.social Faculty Co-director @dannomura.bsky.social! TRACERs represent a significant leap forward in targeting “undruggable” transcription factors with small molecules. We are honored to support this work! #Epigenetics #DrugDiscovery
- We unveil TRACERs, Transcriptional Regulation via Active Control of Epigenetic Reprogramming: a new small-molecule-based induced-proximity modality that silences transcription factors by recruiting endogenous corepressor complexes for locus-specific repression. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- The University of California just set a world record: 5 Nobel Prizes awarded to its faculty and alumni this year! 🏆🥇 A feat that underscores the impact of bold science and strong research ecosystems. Read more here: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-wins... #NobelPrize #Research #Innovation
- @mti-ucb.bsky.social is proud to have contributed to this exciting look at innovation at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social. Congrats to all involved on bringing "Startup Campus" to life! #StartupCampus #BerkeleyInnovation #MTI
- 🌟 SkyDeck’s latest newsletter is here! 📘 “Startup Campus” book launch - watch the powerhouse UC Berkeley innovation panel tinyurl.com/UCBPanelSC 🏅 UC’s record-breaking 5 Nobel Prizes in one week 🚀 Fundraising wins for SkyDeck alums 🔗 Read more: tinyurl.com/1017News
- UC Berkeley PIs & collaborators: MTI invites proposals for its newly launched Parkinson’s Therapeutics Program! Offering up to 3 awards of $90k, and additional funded access to MTI's drug-hunting infrastructure. 🗓️ Deadline: Nov 16, 2025 More info 👇 moleculartherapeutics.org/mti-launches...
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeExcited about turning basic science into new therapeutic modalities? Want to work with brilliant and *friendly* colleagues? Hoping to be part of a public university that shapes California? Then come join us #MolecularTherapeutics, @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social !!! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeTenure track position alert! Assistant Professor of Molecular Therapeutics in MCB @UCBerkeley. Apply and come be our colleague! 🎉 aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
- Congratulations, Professor Yaghi! A remarkable achievement for our UC Berkeley community - Fiat Lux and Go Bears!
- Congratulations to Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian-American chemist at UC Berkeley, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry today, sharing it with Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan. news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/08/u...
- Congratulations, Professor Clarke! What an incredible moment for our UC Berkeley community - Fiat Lux and Go Bears!
- John Clarke, UC Berkeley emeritus professor, has been awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in #Physics. The @nobelprize.bsky.social committee honored Clarke "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit." news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/07/j...
- 📢 The California Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (CITE) Conference is happening Wed, Oct 15 at UC Berkeley! A half-day event with expert talks, discussions & networking on tech, innovation & entrepreneurship. Breakfast and lunch included. 🔗 More Info: sites.google.com/berkeley.edu...
- 🏆 For the third year in a row, PitchBook has ranked UC Berkeley as the world’s top university for producing venture-backed startups: 1,650 companies, 1,804 founders, and the highest number of female founders. The MTI is proud to be part of this momentum. #PitchBook2025 #UCBerkeley #Biotech #MTI
- 🔬 The future of biotech is female… and global. We just wrapped up a strategic advisory session for female founders as part of a program for international entrepreneurs. From cancer immunotherapy to non-resistant antibiotics, they’re building what’s next 🧪 #WomenInBiotech #MolecularTherapeutics
- 🫀 Organos, a @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social startup from Kevin Healy’s lab, advised by MTI Executive Director Dr. Julia Schaletzky, just secured a $2M NIH SBIR Phase IIB grant! Their platform uses engineered heart tissue + analytics to transform cardiac drug discovery. #biotech #cardiology #NIH
- If you're into startups, innovation, or university impact, don’t miss this. Startup Campus chronicles @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social's rise as a global startup hub, with named contribution from the MTI's executive director, Dr. Julia Schaletzky. Learn more at news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/02/n...
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeCheck out this recap of Berkeley's recent inaugural Bay Area Biotech Day which brought communities together to foster collaboration and accelerate the translation of cutting-edge biological discoveries into life-changing therapeutics! 🧪 @mti-ucb.bsky.social mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-eve...
- 📣 IGI & Aditum Bio launch the IGI Incubator Program (IIP) for UC Berkeley PIs working on novel therapeutics & enabling platforms. Grants $200-400K + mentoring. 2-3 page proposals due Sept 15 2025. Details: innovativegenomics.org/igi-incubato... @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
- 🚀 MTI & affiliate labs at @UCBerkeley welcomed teens from the Lawrence Hall Of Science’s Teen Research Program for hands‐on tours - from their first PCRs to high‐throughput compound‐screening. Big thanks to every mentor who made STEM pathways feel real! 🌟🔬 #ScienceOutreach #MTI
- 🧬📈 The UC Regents approved the IGI-Bakar Labs building, expanding lab space for the @innovativegenomics.bsky.social - founded by MTI board member Jennifer Doudna - and building out Bakar Labs - championed by MTI ally David Schaffer. 📰 Read more at inspire.berkeley.edu/o/crispr-res...
- Grateful to everyone who brought #BayAreaBiotechDay to life yesterday at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social! It was incredible to see the energy in the room and the cutting-edge advances shared by leaders in both academia and industry. Excited to see what’s next for biotech!
- 🚨 Bay Area Biotech Day hits @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social next week! Hear from leaders at Denali, Frontier, Nurix & more on the future of drug discovery. 🧬 Posters, panels & networking. #Biotech #DrugDiscovery #UCBerkeley
- MTI advisor and board member @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social just teamed up with the @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to unveil UCSF’s Center for Pediatric CRISPR Cures. First up: 8 children receiving custom edits after Baby KJ’s landmark treatment. Details: time.com/7300257/cent... #CRISPR #RareDisease
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeOut now in TIME — @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social on IGI's new initiative, teaming up with the @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to create a new center for pediatric #CRISPR cures! Read here: ow.ly/E5un50WnbCi
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeA new Pediatric Center for CRISPR Cures builds on the recent saved life of Baby KJ, who expeditiously had bespoke in vivo base genome editing @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @doudna-lab.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social erictopol.substack.com/p/new-center...
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeWe're excited to announce that the IGI is teaming up with @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to create a new center for pediatric #CRISPR cures @UCSF + @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social building on the recent success of an on-demand CRISPR therapy for Baby KJ. Read more: ow.ly/XUQH50Wmt7U
- 🚀 Bay Area Biotech Day lands at #UCBerkeley 7/22! Hear Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi + leaders from Denali Therapeutics, Calico Labs, Frontier Medicines & more leaders in biotechnology unveil the next wave in drug discovery. Scan the QR on the flyer to register now! 🧬🥂
- Big congrats to MTI and MTx faculty member Markita Landry on winning a Guggenheim Fellowship! Her new project explores plant-based compounds from Indigenous Bolivian medicine as potential neurotherapeutics. 🌿🧠 🔗 news.berkeley.edu/2025/04/22/t... #MTI #Neurotech #Guggenheim #UCBerkeley
- Excited to announce a new collaboration between the Molecular Therapeutics Initiative (MTI) and Amgen Inc.! This partnership includes funding for cutting-edge research & an internship program for grad students to train in drug discovery & development at Amgen. #MTI #Amgen #Biotech #UCB
- @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social is launching the Chancellor’s Fund - a VC fund backing startups from the UC ecosystem, with all returns flowing back into the university. www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco...
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeCongratulations James! From basic discovery to drugging it in such a short time! Amazing work out of #MolecularTherapeutics @mti-ucb.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social!!!
- 🧠 Don’t miss it! Hardly Strictly Synapses 🗓️ June 3 | 9 - 4:30 | UC Berkeley 🎤 Südhof (Nobel), Gouaux, Chen, Gomez, and more ✨ Celebrating 1 year of Berkeley Neuro 📍 125 LKS | FREE entry Scan flyer QR to register! #Neuroscience #Berkeley #Synapse #NeuroTwitter
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeFantastic MTx-Neuro seminar by Michael Ward @michael-e-ward.bsky.social, incredible science and full house! @mti-ucb.bsky.social
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeThank you to Michael Ward for presenting his amazing science addressing urgent problems in neurodegenerative disease at a joint #MolecularTherapeutics, @mti-ucb.bsky.social, and Neuroscience talk at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social today! Great science helping patients is more important than ever!
- 🚨 Big win for Berkeley in the CRISPR patent battle: A federal appeals court says the USPTO got it wrong - Broad’s patent claims were legally flawed. Case now heads back for reconsideration. Dr. Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor and MTI board member, is still leading the way. #CRISPR #MTI #UCberkeley
- 🧪 Meet 2025 MTI Innovators Rumi Sherriff & Dr. James Olzmann! They’re developing molecular glues that coax cancer cells into degrading mutant lipid kinases - drivers in aggressive blood cancers. From AI-driven target discovery to real biochemical action, this is next-gen translational science.
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeCongratulations to #MolecularTherapeutics faculty and @mti-ucb.bsky.social member @olzmannlab.bsky.social for receiving the Beatriz Manz award for 'transformational teaching and community service'. Glad to have you as a friend and colleague @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, James!
- 🌍 Meet Dr. Matt Welch, 2025 MTI Innovator Awardee! His lab is developing selective inhibitors of parasite-specific kinesins - a new and safer strategy to treat African sleeping sickness and related diseases. A leap forward in neglected tropical disease drug discovery. #MTI #GlobalHealth
- 🧫 Meet Dr. Jim Hurley, 2025 MTI Innovator Awardee! His lab is unlocking the druggable potential of the ESCRT system - an essential pathway once considered too complex to target in cancer. From deep structural biology to novel screens, this is drug discovery done differently. #MTI #CancerTherapeutics
- 🧠 Meet Dr. Ehud Isacoff, 2025 MTI Innovator Awardee! His lab is using FRET-based biosensors to find compounds that fine-tune glutamate receptors - unlocking new treatments for depression, including hard-to-treat cases. A new era of brain-targeted molecular therapeutics. #MTI #Neurobiology #FRET
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeThank you to @brentstockwell.bsky.social of @columbiauniversity.bsky.social for visiting #MolecularTherapeutics at @mti-ucb.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social and presenting a tour-de-force through the ferroptosis field!
- 🧬 Meet Dr. Liana Lareau, 2025 MTI Innovator Awardee! Her lab is using CRISPR + machine learning to reprogram RNA and silence toxic genes - offering hope for retinitis pigmentosa & beyond. A new era of mutation-agnostic therapeutics. #MTI #CRISPR #RNA moleculartherapeutics.org/2025-mti-inn...
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeCongratulations to #MolecularTherapeutics faculty and @mti-ucb.bsky.social member Markita Landry on winning a Guggenheim Fellowship! So cool to work with such amazing colleagues on a daily basis! news.berkeley.edu/2025/04/22/t...
- 🚀 Excited to announce that MTI Executive Director Julia Schaletzky and 2025 Innovator Awardee Jim Hurley will both be presenting at the UC Drug Discovery Consortium 2025 Symposium! Learn more: www.ucdrugdiscovery.org/2025-symposium #DrugDiscovery #MTI
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeWonderful talk by @rushika-perera.bsky.social of @ucsfhealth.bsky.social today in our @mti-ucb.bsky.social/#MolecularTherapeutics seminar series at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social today, presenting cool data about organ-selective metastasis! Thank you!!!
- Reposted by Molecular Therapeutics InitiativeNew paper from @mti-ucb.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social faculty member @robzonculab.bsky.social ! Congratulations!!!
- AKAP11 recruits PKA holoenzymes to #autophagosomes in a bidirectional functional association, both promoting downstream PKA signaling and increasing AKAP11-PKA complex degradation @robzonculab.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
