Cal State LA presented Dino Di Carlo\u2014a bioengineering professor, inventor, and serial entrepreneur\u2014with the 2025 LA BioStar Award during a ceremony recognizing his outstanding contributions to bioscience innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization.<\/p>\n
The award was presented during the graduation ceremony for cohort 8 of the LA BioStart Bioscience Entrepreneurs Boot Camp, an initiative at Cal State LA designed to mentor, train, and inspire the next generation of bioscience founders and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really grateful to all of you for choosing to come and be part of the LA BioStart this year, for becoming part of our larger network, and for all of the work that you are committed to doing moving forward,\u201d said Cal State LA Provost Heather Lattimer who delivered the opening remarks. \u201cI have the honor of recognizing Dr. Dino Di Carlo, the 2025 LA BioStar Awardee, and recognizing him for the work that he is doing in our larger community. Congratulations to Dr. Di Carlo and his family!\u201d<\/p>\n
The LA BioStar Award was established to honor a biotech leader in Los Angeles who has made significant contributions to advancing the bioscience industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m deeply honored to be named the 2025 LA BioStar Awardee, and grateful to be part of such a vibrant community of bioscience innovators and entrepreneurs,\u201d said Di Carlo, who is a Los Angeles resident. \u201cThis recognition is also a reflection of the remarkable environment in Los Angeles, where bold ideas, interdisciplinary talent, and supportive programs like LA BioStart converge to move science forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe continued, \u201cAt a time when long-term investments in research and discovery are being questioned or cut, this award is a reminder of what\u2019s possible when we build each other up and commit to shared progress. I\u2019m excited to continue working with this ecosystem to translate world-class science into real-world impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Di Carlo is the Armond and Elena Hairapetian Chair in Engineering and Medicine at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, where he also serves as chair of the Department of Bioengineering. An accomplished academic and entrepreneur, Di Carlo has co-founded six biotechnology startups based on research discoveries from his lab. These ventures have collectively raised more than $150 million, created over 150 jobs, and brought multiple products to the market. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Di Carlo\u2019s research investigates the application of micro and nanotechnologies for sensing, manipulating, and analyzing individual cells and molecules. The advances generated by this work hold wide-ranging significance for health and medicine, including the rapid diagnosis of diseases, the discovery of drugs, and the development of cell-based therapies. His scholarly contributions have also led to the co-founding of six biotechnology startup companies, each originating from innovations produced within his research group, the Di Carlo Lab.<\/p>\n
As part of the event, 39 LA BioStart fellows were recognized for completing five weeks of training in business fundamentals, leadership, and other skills essential to launching and advancing successful bioscience ventures.<\/p>\n
Since its launch in 2017, LA BioStart has trained more than 200 founders and emerging entrepreneurs\u202funder the direction of Cal State LA Microbiology Professor Howard Xu, who also directs the LA BioSpace incubator at the university. Xu served as emcee for the Aug. 14 ceremony at the University Club.<\/p>\n
Xu praised the fellows for their dedication and highlighted the program\u2019s growing impact on the region\u2019s bioscience community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is inspiring to see each new cohort embrace the challenges of building a bioscience venture and leave with the skills, network, and confidence to succeed,\u201d said Xu. \u201cTheir drive and creativity continue to strengthen Los Angeles\u2019 bioscience ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the graduating fellows shared how meaningful the experience had been for her. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long, five-week program with 80 mentors and speakers,\u201d said Christine Ho, a postdoctoral researcher at USC and an emerging entrepreneur. \u201cThank you all for your help, support, and for being part of our ventures. I have become good friends with other cohort members. We have a true hero, Howard Xu, a multiplier who made all this come true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another cohort participant, Tom Wilkinson, CEO of Mission Trail Biolabs, added: \u201cWe had a great group of participants in cohort 8\u2014all super smart, very open, and all with big endeavors. We are here because we all had gaps in knowledge, skills, or competencies in our biotech startup pursuits. We needed some help to bring our ideas to the marketplace. Thank you to the many generous mentors, who freely shared their insights, experiences, and advice with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u202fLA BioStart is an intensive training program that prepares emerging bioscience entrepreneurs to launch their own ventures. It is part of LA BioSpace, which is leading the university\u2019s efforts to promote a thriving bioscience ecosystem in the heart of Los Angeles. The program is a collaborative project between Cal State LA and more than two dozen regional partners, with initial support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal State LA presented Dino Di Carlo\u2014a bioengineering professor, inventor, and serial entrepreneur\u2014with the 2025 LA BioStar Award…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":185261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-185260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115113501109562500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}