Born in California and Innovator Awards 2025
By Jill Kato, UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation
A Platform for Turning Research into Impact
A fingertip sweat patch that monitors glucose. A miniaturized propulsion system for small satellites. Cancer cells engineered to destroy themselves.
These aren’t just prototypes or hypotheticals. They’re startups—each one rooted in years of research across the University of California system.
These ventures were center stage at the 2025 Born in California event, held May 5 at the Cove at UC Irvine’s Beall Applied Innovation. The event brought together 20 startups from all 10 University of California campuses and drew more than 200 attendees, including investors, researchers, and campus leaders. Now in its fourth year, Born in California has become a regular feature of OC Innovation Week and a central venue for university research on the path to commercialization.
But before there’s a product, there’s a pitch. Each team had six minutes to present, followed by a brief Q&A. For the first time, founders received advance coaching from investors—resulting in more polished, market-ready presentations across fields like gene therapy, battery materials, and data infrastructure.
The range of startups reflected both broad societal challenges—such as chronic illness, climate risk, and data security—and technical frontiers, including artificial intelligence, next-generation materials, and aerospace systems.
Biotech with a Mission
Several teams presented technologies aimed at addressing persistent gaps in healthcare access, diagnosis, and treatment—reminders that medicine is as much about people as it is about precision.
Makani Sciences (UC Irvine): Real-time respiratory monitoring outside the hospital
Makani is developing a wireless, wearable device that tracks breathing rate and depth continuously, aiming to improve respiratory care for patients from neonatal to sports and performance tracking.
Persperion Diagnostics (UC San Diego): Non-invasive, sweat-based glucose testing
Using fingertip sweat instead of blood, Persperion offers an affordable and user-friendly alternative to traditional glucose monitors—with future potential to measure hormones and other biomarkers.
Kopra Bio (UC San Francisco): Turning cancer cells into self-destructing agents
Kopra Bio is developing an immunotherapy platform for glioblastoma that reprograms cancer cells to trigger their own destruction, showing dramatic early results in preclinical models.
DataUnite (UC Santa Barbara): Privacy-first health data for faster clinical trials
DataUnite gives researchers access to real-world health data without compromising patient privacy. Its platform lets hospitals and biopharma companies query data inside existing systems—without copying or transferring it—cutting the time and cost of clinical trials by up to 50%.
Materials, Machines, and Mobility
Other teams focused on building the infrastructure behind emerging industries—from satellite propulsion to clean energy to next-gen wireless.
CISGAM (UC Irvine): Compact satellite propulsion for crowded orbits
CISGAM’s electrospray propulsion system uses micro-nozzles and ionic liquid to steer small satellites with precision—offering a combustion-free option for in-space maneuvering and refueling.
SolGrapH (UCLA): Cleaner, faster graphite for battery production
SolGrapH turns sunlight into graphite, compressing what used to take years into seconds. It uses solar-driven pyrolysis (a method of breaking down materials with heat, but without combustion) to produce synthetic graphite, a U.S.-designated critical material, helping secure a domestic and low-emissions supply chain for EVs and energy storage.
Light Links (UC Santa Cruz): Laser-based wireless for a crowded spectrum
Light Links replaces traditional radio signals with diffused laser beams, delivering fast, secure wireless communication that avoids interference—ideal for AR, defense, and next-gen connectivity.
Intelligent Twins (UC Riverside): AI agents for next-gen engineering design
Intelligent Twins builds AI-powered digital agents to accelerate engineering workflows in sectors like aerospace, automotive, and energy. By enhancing traditional digital twin models, their platform helps teams simulate, test, and iterate on designs faster.
The UC system is one of the largest research engines in the world, and Born in California is a direct expression of that scale and breadth. The event showcases not just what’s being developed in labs across California, but how those ideas move toward application—with the support of campus-based programs, state and federal research funding, and industry collaboration.
UC Irvine plays a key role in that pipeline. As the host of Born in California and the home of Beall Applied Innovation, the university offers a platform that connects research to real-world deployment through Proof of Product grants, startup support, and investor engagement. This annual gathering underscores the value of coordinated public efforts to move ideas out of the lab and into the market. Translation, not invention, is often the hardest part.
“In a time when research is increasingly under threat, Born in California stands as a reminder of what’s possible when public investment is matched by strategic action,” says Errol Arkilic, UC Irvine’s Chief Innovation Officer. “This is not just about launching startups. It’s about ensuring that the research we support leads to public benefit.”
UC Irvine Innovator Awards
Following the afternoon of startup pitches, UC Irvine hosted its seventh annual Innovator Awards, recognizing faculty who have moved university research toward commercial application. The awards ceremony, also held at the Cove, reflected the university’s broader commitment to research with measurable outcomes and was created with the generous support from Don and Ken Beall.
Nominees were recognized across three categories: early career innovation, entrepreneurial leadership, and breakthrough innovation.
This year’s winner for the Early Career Innovator / Emerging Innovation of the Year was Andres Sebastian Bustamante (School of Education) for his work designing interactive learning tools that support STEM education through play and movement.
Lauren Albrecht (School of Pharmacy) for her work targeting diseases at the cellular level and Jenny Yang (School of Physical Sciences) for her work capturing greenhouse gases were also nominated.
This year’s winner for the Entrepreneurial Leader of the Year was Michelle Khine (School of Engineering) for her work developing wearable biomedical devices and founding multiple startups focused on improving health monitoring.
Jessie Colin Jackson (School of the Arts) for his innovation in architectural environments and Reginald Penner (School of Physical Sciences) for his work advancing low-cost diagnostic tools were also nominated.
This year’s winner for the Innovator of the Year was Joe Rinehart (formerly School of Medicine) for developing an automated system to manage blood pressure treatment and advancing it toward clinical use.
Matthew Blurton-Jones (School of Biological Sciences) for his work reprogramming the brain’s immune system for therapeutic use and Mari Kimura (School of the Arts) for her gesture-based control system for musical performance were also nominated.
During her acceptance speech, Khine stood on stage with her sleeping infant strapped to her chest. “It takes a village,” she said, thanking her collaborators and acknowledging the support required to move both ideas and companies forward. “To raise kids and to raise a company.”
Her comment underscored a broader truth about innovation: it rarely unfolds in isolation. Events like Born in California and the Innovator Awards reflect the network of support—technical, institutional, and financial—required to translate research into practical use.
That work is ongoing. And at UC Irvine, it’s part of a larger strategy to ensure research doesn’t just live in academic journals, but in tools, therapies, and systems that make a measurable difference.
A full list of the participating startups in Born in California can be found here. More information about the UC Irvine Innovator Awards and past awardees can be found here.
Click here to read full article on the UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation website.
