walked through a building on the University of California, Berkeley, campus just before the Thanksgiving break.
“This is the Women in Enterprising Science Program,” Doudna told Bertozzi, introducing the space where three female scientist-entrepreneurs will take up residence starting in mid-January. At the same time, their work is wrapped in a belief that diverse viewpoints are a key ingredient in cutting-edge science that can save lives and change the world.The Bay Area has long been a hotbed for research, producing 70 Nobel Prize winners in all. But Doudna in 2020 became the first woman among Cal’s 27 Nobel laureates, and Bertozzi is the first woman in Stanford’s lineup of 36 Nobel winners.
“She was on a mission to do that,” recalled Bertozzi, who had already started Redwood Bioscience with a former grad student in her lab. “Chemists are dreamers,” Bertozzi said at the Nobel Prize banquet in early December. “We think up new molecules and bring them to life.” Berkeley’s most-famous perquisite for Nobel laureates is a dedicated parking space. At Stanford, Nobel winners are feted during a football game.
The two-phase program of up to four fellows — culled from postdoctoral fellows or current UC Berkeley, UCSF, UC Davis or UC Santa Cruz faculty applications — receive a 12-month appointment with mentorship and up to $150,000 for salaries, benefits, programming and supplies. Two fellows then can be picked to be “WIES Entrepreneurs” with a possible $1 million from a third-party funder.