Community perks,
exclusive to you
Sponsor Perks
Academic Labs
Accelerate Your Research or Startup with AcademicLabs! AcademicLabs is an AI-powered scouting platform used by top biopharma teams to find collaborators, monitor IP, and track early-stage innovation. As a Nucleate community member, you can access special offers: academics get 50% free, register here using code NUCL-AL. Founders can get free access through 2025 in exchange for a case study, apply here!. Corporate teams can try a 2-week trial with onboarding — email arne@academiclabs.com to learn more.
Byte51
BYTE51 is a Life Science data platform for Founders/Startups to gain access to $702 Billion of Life Science VC Funding data across 6,200 Clinical phases on 22,300 private life science companies funded by 15,200 VC Investors. Secure your lead investor on BYTE51! Nucleate Current Activator discount $65 per month. Nucleate Alumni Activator discount $799 annually. Schedule for a BYTE51 Demo today!
Fenwick
Fenwick is pleased to present the following package to the startups that are part of the Nucleate’s Activator Program (each one, a “Company”), inquire today. 1. Deferral. Fenwick will defer up to $10,000 in fees for legal services until the earlier of (i) when the Company has raised at least $1,000,000 in financing (whether through the sale of equity and/or debt), (ii) the closing of an acquisition of the Company, (iii) 12 months from the date of engagement, or (iv) termination by the Company of Fenwick’s. 2. Board Meetings. We will not charge for our attendance at routine board meetings while the Company is privately held and backed by venture capital or private equity financing. We do charge for travel expenses incurred for non-local meetings that you request we attend in person. 3. Client Intake. We will provide up to 10 hours free new client intake if company already formed. 4. Initial Intellectual Property advice. We will not charge for our time, up to a value of $3k, to provide initial advice on IP issues related to patent filing and prosecution strategy, licensing agreements, IP ownership and assignment, and freedom to operate risk analysis. Additionally, we will offer a further deferral of fees of up to $10k related to drafting and filing the first provisional patent application.
Mercury
As part of their partnership with Nucleate, Mercury is excited to offer a number of exclusive perks for Nucleate community members to help them hit the ground running, including a $500 sign up bonus, discounts on lab space and other partnered services, and free 409A valuations. Follow this link to learn more about Mercury’s platform, open an account, or connect with their team!
Morrison Foerster
Join Morrison Foerster for MoForum 2026 | Life Sciences – From Innovation to Impact, an exclusive gathering in San Diego bringing together leaders from across the life sciences ecosystem. Through thoughtful discussion and real-world perspectives, the program will explore how innovation translates into meaningful outcomes for patients, companies, and the industry. The program will feature engaging panel discussions and curated networking opportunities designed to foster connection, exchange insights, and strengthen relationships among life sciences and healthcare companies, investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders shaping what comes next. MoFo is honored to spotlight leading voices from across the life sciences ecosystem, including: Stewart Abbot (Program Leader, AbbVie), Laurie Adami (Patient Advocate), Betty Cabrera (Director of Research Engagement and Operations, UC San Diego Gene Therapy Initiative), Stephanie Cherqui, Ph.D (Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego, Director of the UC San Diego Gene Therapy Initiative), Ugur Eskiocak (CEO, Voro Therapeutics), Kim Kamdar (Managing Partner, Medical Excellence Capital), Niall O’Donnell (Managing Director, RiverVest Venture Partners), Carter Palmer, Ph.D. (Co-Founder & CEO, Third Element Bio), Kim Raineri (Chief Technology Officer, Aspen Neuroscience), George Smith (CEO, Co-Founder, Desna Therapeutics), Tania Thomas (Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Halozyme), Court Turner (Partner, LYZZ Capital), and Kim Walker (Faculty Director, Center for Regulatory Science, College of Sciences, San Diego State University). We look forward to welcoming you, register here!
Community Perks
HiTE™
HiTE™ is a transduction enhancement technology developed by Nucleate alumni, designed to address one of the biggest bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy manufacturing: low and inconsistent viral transduction efficiency. HiTE™ uses a novel class of Transient Fusion-Promoting Peptides (TFPs) to enhance transduction across primary T cells (63%), iPSCs (73.9%), and NK cells (33.3%) representing 4–47× improvements over standard enhancers while maintaining >90% cell viability and enabling a 5–10× reduction in viral vector usage. The technology is drop-in compatible with existing workflows: no spinoculation, no plate coating, and under 8 hours from start to finish. HiTE™ is currently available for research use. Learn more at our website, white paper, or connect on LinkedIn.
Forage Evolution Plasmid Subcloning Kit
Forage Evolution is helping scientists spend less time at the bench and more time on the science—starting with the new Forager-Fast Plasmid Subcloning Kit, just launched by an NY alum–founded team. It’s the first competent cell on the market that does the plasmid transformation for you and grows super fast, so you can get to purified plasmid a full day (or two) sooner with far fewer hands-on steps. Want to try it out? Check it out here, and for the Nucleate community (please keep this to participants and alums so we can keep it active!) use promo code NUCLEATE-10 for 10% off.
Wasteless Bio
As early-stage biotech companies navigate lab setup and operations, access to equipment remains a key factor in managing both costs and timelines. Wasteless Bio is a marketplace for surplus life science equipment and consumables, designed to provide organizations with access to pre-owned instrumentation through a structured, vetted resale model that aims to address considerations around quality, compliance, and reliability. For more information, visit wasteless.bio or learn more here.
Job Opportunities
Nucleate Jobs Board
Whether you're looking for your next role or hiring for your team, the new Nucleate Jobs Board is open to the entire ecosystem and beyond. Job seekers: Join our Talent Network to be seen by top employers hiring for strategy, science, ops, and venture roles. Hiring? Click “POST A JOB” on the homepage to share your open roles. Need help? Watch the short walkthrough. Questions? Contact louisp@nucleate.org, willyn@nucleate.org, or oliver@nucleate.org.
Amplify Partners
Applications are now open for an Associate to join the bio investing team at Amplify Partners. Following the close of a $200M dedicated digital biology fund, Amplify is doubling down on founders building at the intersection of AI and life sciences. The team is looking for someone with a background in CS, AI, or computational biology who’s excited to go deep on research, build meaningful relationships across the bio x AI ecosystem, and work directly on deals from day one. This SF-based role offers high autonomy and the opportunity to help back the next generation of techbio founders. Interested? Reach out directly to david@amplifypartners.com
Marigold Biosciences
Marigold Biosciences is building the AI engine to unlock the full potential of programmable medicine. siRNA-based medicines are safe, clinically proven, and make it possible to design new drugs in days instead of decades. But they currently suffer from a last-mile problem: we can get siRNA to the liver, but it can't reach 95% of the body's tissues. Marigold generates proprietary, large-scale in vivo data and trains AI models to design peptides that deliver RNA to any tissue in the body. We are looking for talented and driven scientists to help build the biological data generation engine that fuels our AI models: designing experimental protocols, identifying tissue and disease targets, and managing internal and external discovery. Ideal candidates should have experience in oligonucleotide delivery, peptide design, or highly multiplexed in vivo screening. Joining offers the chance to build a category-defining platform from the ground up, significant equity ownership, and the autonomy to shape the scientific direction of the company. Roles open include Founding Scientist and Head of Biology.