About Berkeley RIC
About Berkeley RIC
The Berkeley Research Infrastructure Commons, or Berkeley RIC, is a group of UC Berkeley's core R&D facilities, startup incubator labs, and other resources that are available for shared use. Berkeley RIC facilities are available to industry users for commercial purposes under commercial rate structures and business-friendly intellectual property terms.
R&D-intensive entrepreneurs, startups, and established companies benefit from the Berkeley RIC business-friendly standardized agreements that enable companies to keep their own IP, and can be expeditiously executed by UC Berkeley's business contracts office.
For UC Berkeley researchers, the Berkeley RIC leverages the excess capacity of shared R&D facilities by streamlining the process for companies to use these resources for commercial fees that contribute to the financial stability of the resources.
For any questions not answered below, email ric@berkeley.edu.
Search Berkeley RIC Facilities
Use the search tool to find specific instrumentation. You may need to contact the core facility directly with questions about access and tool availability. If you are looking for a type of facility not available in the Berkeley RIC, you may also try searching the UC Berkeley's Core Facilities.
| Facility | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Biological Imaging Facility | Denise Schichnes | schichne@berkeley.edu |
| Cal-Cryo@QB3 | Dan Toso | dtoso@berkeley.edu |
| College of Chemistry Glass Shop | Laurel Wong | laurelrose@berkeley.edu |
| College of Chemistry Microanalytical Facility | Ashleigh Lightbody | alightbody@berkeley.edu |
| College of Chemistry X-ray Crystallography Facility (CheXray) | Nicholas Settineri | nsettine@berkeley.edu |
| CRL Molecular Imaging Center | Holly Aaron | hollya@berkeley.edu |
| DNA Sequencing - Sanger Sequencing of DNA Samples | Scott Geller | drgeller@berkeley.edu |
| Earth and Planetary Science Lab | John Grimsich | jlgrimsich@berkeley.edu |
| Electron Microscope Laboratory | Danielle Jorgens | ucbeml@berkeley.edu |
| Energy & Biosciences Institute Labs | Yi Liu | ebi2@berkeley.edu |
| Entrepreneurial Business Incubator (EBI²) | Yi Liu | yiliu89@berkeley.edu |
| Flow Cytometry | Kartoosh Heydari | kartooshheydari@berkeley.edu |
| IGI Next Generation Sequencing Core | Netravathi Krishnappa | netrak@berkeley.edu |
| Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy Facility | Wenbo Yang | wenbo@berkeley.edu |
| Oxford Research Facility | Christina (Tina) Wistrom | cwistrom@berkeley.edu |
| PEER-UC Berkeley Lab | Amarnath Kasalanati | amarnath1@berkeley.edu |
| Pines Magnetic Resonance Center - Core NMR Facility | Hasan Celik | hcelik@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center (BNC) | Paul Lum | p_lum@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Cell and Tissue Analysis Facility (CTAF) | Mary West | mwest@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Central California 900 MHz NMR Facility | Jeff Pelton | jgpelton@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility | Ulla Andersen | norklit@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Garage@Berkeley | Donna Hendrix | dkhendrix@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Genomics | Shana McDevitt | shana.mcdevitt@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 High Throughput Screening Facility | Pingping He | pingpinghe@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 MacroLab | Chris Jeans | c.jeans@berkeley.edu |
| QB3 Vincent J. Coates Proteomics/Mass Spectrometry Laboratory | Rob Maxwell | RobMaxwell@berkeley.edu |
| _END_ |
Frequently Asked Questions
- What instruments, facilities, and services are available through the Berkeley RIC program?
Berkeley RIC facilities include but are not limited to: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), DNA sequencing and genomics, single crystal and powder x-ray crystallographic analysis, elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, and web lab benches.
Each facility's web page provides information about its instrumentation and services, fees, and contacts for and/or links to its agreements.
If the Berkeley RIC doesn’t have the R&D resource that you need, then consider the following complementary R&D resources:
- UC Berkeley core facilities
- National User Facilities on the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab campus adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus
- Berkeley RIC Faculty Labs available to startups for time-limited access under the Faculty Lab eXceptional-use for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (FLEXIE) Agreement (previously called the SSUFIE program)
- Tell me more about the Berkeley RIC’s business-friendly terms, IP ownership, and contracting process
Subject to the straightforward terms and conditions of the Berkeley RIC Core Facility Access Agreement, Core Facility Routine Services Agreement, and Startup Lab Lease Agreement, the university won’t claim an ownership interest in any IP, materials or data that results from industry use of the Berkeley RIC. Additionally, the university won’t reserve the right to use any IP, materials or data resulting from company use of the Berkeley RIC. The straightforward, business-friendly agreements are intended to be non-negotiable and electronically executable (e.g. via DocuSign).
- How does the Berkeley RIC help startups?
Through the Berkeley RIC program, startups and emerging growth companies can use campus instruments and services, for a fee, typically during weekends and evenings when the facilities aren’t being used for academic research purposes. The Berkeley RIC serves companies in UC Berkeley’s accelerators and incubators as well as those in the region.
- What is the process for companies interested in accessing Berkeley RIC facilities and services? Who can apply?
Industry users, including startups and large companies, can quickly and easily leverage Berkeley RIC capabilities via business-friendly standardized agreements that can be expeditiously executed by UC Berkeley’s business contracts office.
Once you identify a facility, download, complete and return the agreement relevant to your use. Alternatively, contact the facility directly to discuss the agreement process.
- What is the difference between the RIC's Access Agreement, Routine Service Agreement, and Lease Agreement?
The RIC Core Facilities Access Agreement enables visitors (non UC employees) to enter RIC Core Facilities and use their resources in accordance with the business-friendly terms of the fee-based agreement.
The RIC Core Facilities Routine Services Agreement enables companies to engage UC employees working in RIC Core Facilities to do routine services (e.g. collecting test data) in accordance with the business-friendly terms of the fee-based agreement.The RIC Startup Lab Lease Agreement enables startups to lease lab space in RIC Startup Labs in accordance with the business-friendly terms of this fee-based agreement.
- What is included in the contract for accessing Berkeley RIC facilities and services?
Below are sample Berkeley RIC contracts for access to facilities and routine services. Contact the facility you want to work with to request the agreement customized to that site.
- How is the Berkeley RIC different from other fee-based uses of core campus facilities?
The Berkeley RIC leverages the excess capacity of core research facilities, streamlining the process for companies to make use of these campus assets at market rates that contribute to the facility's financial stability. Faculty or staff must apply to have their facility included in the Berkeley RIC. Facilities that join the Berkeley RIC can take advantage of standardized, business-friendly, and readily executable agreements that streamline the contracting processes.
- How does a campus research facility get added to the Berkeley RIC program?
UC Berkeley R&D facility managers can apply to have their campus shared resource added to the Berkeley RIC by submitting this 1-page Berkeley RIC application.
- How is the Berkeley RIC advancing the university’s mission?
The revenues that the Berkeley RIC generates for the campus and for the relevant labs are reinvested in maintaining and upgrading research instruments, services, and other research-supporting needs on campus. This strengthens the university’s research mission, helps attract and retain faculty, and also contributes to UC Berkeley’s service mission (in supporting our community’s new companies, the jobs they create, etc.).
- What’s the vision of the Berkeley RIC?
Our goal for the Berkeley RIC is to serve as a multi-faceted resource of R&D facilities, available to industry and academic users, administered by a single entity, with streamlined agreements, contracting, and provisioning. The Berkeley RIC is a core asset of Berkeley’s world-class I&E ecosystem, and a key attraction for trailblazing entrepreneurs and their startups. As a result, the RIC will also help Berkeley faculty maintain, upgrade, and expand their research capabilities by facilitating additional revenue during hours when facilities are not in use for academic research.