Launched in 2015, the Cyclotron Road fellowship program was the first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP). The program supports leading entrepreneurial scientists as they advance technology projects with the potential for global impact in an array of fields including critical materials, advanced microelectronics, energy conversion and storage, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing processes.

With support from the DOE and in close partnership with the Lab’s nonprofit partner Activate, the program recruits, hosts, and trains entrepreneurial scientists and engineers at Berkeley Lab. The program provides a living stipend in addition to research facilities and non-dilutive funding to accelerate the development of new commercial solutions to the world’s most pressing scientific challenges.

“Together with the DOE and our partners, we selected this ninth cohort of Cyclotron Road fellows for their exceptional leadership potential in fields critical to building economically and environmentally sustainable systems,” said Todd Pray, chief strategic partnerships officer at Berkeley Lab. “Our goal is to provide the resources and connections to support their growth as innovative entrepreneurs.”

With the addition of today’s cohort, 95 fellows have taken part in the program, leading 74 startups and employing nearly one thousand people to-date. The DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) are the founding and anchor sponsors of the program. Other partners supporting the 2023 cohort include the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) with the State of California, the California Energy Commission (CEC), the DOE Building Technologies Office (BTO), and Activate.

This year’s Cyclotron Road fellows and their companies are:

• Drew Lilley, Calion Technologies: Calion Technologies is eliminating the need for refrigerants using its new liquid and salt-based cooling and heat-pumping technology.
• Julian Rees, HOPO Therapeutics: HOPO Therapeutics is developing safe, effective, and orally available treatments for heavy metal poisoning.
• Will Liberti, Morphosis: Morphosis is developing wearable neurotech for real-time authentication and control of devices/technology.
• Michelle Lu and Nieves Martinez Marshall, Novel Farms: Novel Farms is on a mission to produce cultivated meat cuts that match traditional meat in quality and affordability.
• Nate Good, RareTerra: RareTerra is developing a one-step, acid-free microbial process to recover and separate REE using complex and waste sources.
• Jared O’Leary, SirenOpt: SirenOpt is developing a real-time sensing and software platform that improves the manufacturing performance and yield of batteries, solar cells, and carbon conversion technologies.
• Jyoti Taneja, Varada Agriculture: Varada provides high-performing, targeted biological products to control agricultural pests in a way that’s sustainable and safe for the environment.
• Palak Jain, Vellex Computing: Vellex Computing is accelerating computing for the future electric grid.
• Patricia McNeil, Westwood Aerogel: Westwood Aerogel delivers unparalleled performance and cost-effectiveness for all insulation needs.

Over the next two years, these Cyclotron Road fellows will collaborate with researchers and industry experts, have access to state-of-the-art lab facilities, and gain the entrepreneurial training needed to validate, scale, and fund their ideas from prototype to production.

To learn more about the Cyclotron Road fellowship, please visit our site.

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 16 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Lab’s facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.