TIME magazine has named several inventions linked to the University of California (UC) faculty and alumni in its Best Inventions of 2025 list. The magazine’s annual feature recognizes new technology and products that it says are “changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.”
The inventions associated with UC span fields including health, agriculture, computing, and environmental sustainability. They include advances aimed at treating Parkinson’s disease symptoms, reversing balding, protecting endangered species, developing lab-grown seafood, and creating compostable retail bags.
Many of these innovations benefited from UC’s support infrastructure for entrepreneurship. The university system has established business clubs, incubators, accelerators, and technology commercialization offices that connect inventors with industry partners and help bring their ideas to market. This ecosystem supports students, faculty, and staff across UC’s ten campuses.
TIME’s recognition follows a recent report from Pitchbook ranking six UC campuses—Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine—among the world’s top 100 universities for producing undergraduate alumni who start venture-backed businesses.
Among the featured inventions is Medtronic’s BrainSense adaptive deep brain stimulation device for Parkinson’s disease. UC San Francisco neurologist Simon Little co-developed one of its key algorithms. ChompSaw—a kid-safe power tool co-founded by UC Davis alum Kausi Raman—also made the list. Other inventions include HerBrain by UC Santa Barbara assistant professor Nina Miolane; Majorana 1 quantum chip led by UC Santa Barbara professor Chetan Nayak; Memory Air scent device invented by UC Irvine professor Michael Leon; and non-invasive blood cloning technology from Colossal Biosciences co-developed by UC Santa Cruz professor Beth Shapiro.
UCLA professors William Lowry, Heather Christofk and Michael Jung founded Pelage Pharmaceuticals to develop PP405—a therapy to reverse balding. Wildtype’s lab-grown salmon was co-founded by UC Berkeley alum Justin Kolbeck and recently received FDA approval as the first cell-grown seafood. Scout Gen 5 vineyard management software emerged from research at UC Davis.
Other recognized innovations include SoundHealth Sonu for drug-free sinus relief developed by UC San Francisco alum Dr. Peter Hwang; Sway’s TPSea Flex compostable retail bags created by UC Santa Barbara alum Julia Marsh and UC Berkeley alum Matt Mayes; the Vera C. Rubin Observatory project involving UC Santa Cruz astronomers; and WattTime Automated Emissions Reduction technology founded by UC Berkeley alum Gavin McCormick.
“You can change what time you use energy, and you can change where,” said Gavin McCormick regarding WattTime’s approach to reducing emissions through automated scheduling of electricity consumption.
Sonia Fernandez, Mike Peña, Tom Vasich, John Harlow, Rose Miyatsu and Robin Marks contributed reporting for this story.
