Nucleate announces expansion to new regions in the United States and Europe
Nucleate, the nonprofit organization led by academic trainees and dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders, today announced its international expansion and 9 new regional chapters: Ann Arbor, MI; Atlanta, GA; Boulder, CO; Chicago, IL; Seattle, WA; Texas; Nice, France; Switzerland; and the United Kingdom.
“Free biotech education is urgently needed beyond the most privileged industrial hubs,” said Michael Retchin, Nucleate’s EVP of Strategy and PhD candidate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “We are determined to broaden access for the global community of future biotech leaders.”
The expansion follows the latest cycle of Nucleate’s Activator, its free and rigorous curriculum for life science venture formation. Participants form teams, develop venture theses, and gain a powerful network of mentors, free perks, and millions in direct funding from the Petri Prize, Alnylam John Maraganore Prize, and the extended Nucleate investor network. Since the inaugural class four years ago, Activator’s alumni have raised over $170 million in funding.
“When we launched Nucleate nationwide last fall, we were amazed at the strong interest we received from new regions. Since then, we have demonstrated that our model is scalable, translatable, and impactful,” said Soufiane Aboulhouda, Nucleate founding President, Chairman of the Board, and PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School. “Serving diverse life sciences communities is core to our mission. We have tirelessly strengthened our infrastructure so that we can take on this challenge while raising the quality of our programs.”
Nucleate’s operations are made possible by support from premier advisors, partners, and sponsors. Reach out to contact@nucleate.xyz to get involved.
“Nucleate has proven to be an impactful organization that empowers life sciences students to develop into future industry leaders. Alnylam is honored to support their work, and I look forward to advising Nucleate as they expand their impact across the United States and internationally,” said John Maraganore, founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
A growing biotech community
With today’s announcement, Nucleate now spans more than 120 institutions across 17 regions and welcomes international participants to its open-access educational programs. The expansion reflects Nucleate’s commitment to bridge life sciences communities.
“Bringing Nucleate to Atlanta has already created a strong network for talented individuals to collaborate and learn from each other,” said Nada Boualam, managing director of Nucleate Atlanta and PhD candidate at Emory University. “In Nucleate, I have found lifelong friends and professional colleagues. Backed by Nucleate’s global resources, we could not be more excited to build up Atlanta biotech.”
“We are living in an unprecedented era of biotech discovery. But turning a discovery into a cure is hard work that requires the support of a sophisticated ecosystem of labs, talent, and startup capital,” said John Flavin, founder and CEO of Portal Innovations. “Portal is thrilled to be working with Nucleate to equip our brightest students with the skills they need to shepherd these critical innovations from university labs to patients, right here in Chicago.”
Following Nucleate’s public launch last year, this announcement marks Nucleate’s first international expansion, beginning with Switzerland and the UK.
“Nucleate UK has the potential to transform biotech entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom,” said Miroslav Gasparek, co-managing director of Nucleate UK and PhD candidate at the University of Oxford. “We’re excited to be bringing the highly successful US programme to the UK, unlocking the value of UK life science research,” added James Bayne, also co-managing director and PhD candidate at the University of Oxford.
About Nucleate
Nucleate is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders, with chapters spanning 17 regions and participation from more than 120 academic institutions. Nucleate identifies future biotech entrepreneurs, removes barriers, and helps founders concentrate on building transformational technologies.
The Activator program is made possible thanks to our generous sponsors: Alnylam, Genentech, Pillar VC, Schmidt Futures, Alexandria LaunchLabs, Benchling, Emerald Cloud Labs, Latch Bio, and Morrison & Foerster. Visit www.nucleate.xyz for regional sponsors and more information.
