Every year our international Nucleate community comes together to connect, learn and celebrate at the annual Alumni Summit. The Summit brings together members of Nucleate leadership and Activator alumni with our dedicated partners and sponsors to reflect on our journey thus far and envision the future of biotech innovation together. The weekend is filled with both strucutred sessions and fluid networking, encouraging thought provoking conversations and catalyzing idea and relationship formation that energize us throughout the year.
Alongside informative and forward looking programming and celebrating organization-wide accomplishments, we recognize the individual contributions from our leadership members leading teams scattered across the globe.
These awards remind us that while Nucleate is a wide reaching organization, whose name alone carries weight and significance, every initiative, event and piece of content is brought to you by an individual and their team of trainees and professionals.
This year, individual leadership awards were given across six different categories: Excellence, Mentorship, Operational, Ambassador, Rising Star and Narrative. Each category captures a variety of activities and roles that leadership members hold and highlights all of the work that goes on behind the scenes that allows Nucleate to drive impact.
Let’s meet our award winners!
Lauren Stanwicks (Narrative) is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at the University of California San Diego. She has been with Nucleate for over 4 years, serving as Global VP of Research Content at Nucleate HQ, and previously as Managing Director of Nucleate San Diego and Entrepreneurial Scientist Playbook Fellow.
Dr. David Rubert (Narrative) obtained his PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, conducting research on viral self-replicating RNAs and RNA nanotechnology at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich and later at TU Dortmund. He is currently a Product and Marketing Manager at Xpedite Diagnostics in Munich, Germany. He has been with Nucleate for 1 year, first as part of the Munich Leadership Team, where he co-hosted community events and contributed to the Activator program, and later as National Co-Director of Communications with Nucleate Germany, where he and Alexander Emrich built the national communications system.
Justus Florian Gräf (Mentorship) is a PhD Fellow at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has been with Nucleate since 2023, co-founding the Denmark chapter and now serving as VP for EMEA Regions on HQ’s Global Strategy team.
Bettina Hoden (Narrative) is a PhD Candidate at Texas A&M University in Houston. She has been with Nucleate Texas for 1 year as Lead Marketing Director and Comms lead with Nucleate HQ 2025 Alumni Summit and Virtual Summit.
Alya Masoud (Mentorship) is a final year PhD Student at the Institute of Neurology, University College London. Her PhD focusses on recovering axonal transport deficits in humanised ALS models. She has been part of Nucleate for 3 years and is the current National Director of the UK Chapter.
Dr. Antonio Cordova (Excellence) is the Head of Early Stage Ventures at Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (LILIE). He has been with Nucleate for 3 years. Antonio spent 3 years as the Co-Managing Director of Nucleate Austin, 1 year as the Regional Managing Director of Nucleate Texas, and is currently serving as the Chairman of the Alumni Council for Nucleate Texas.
Abbas Mehdi (Ambassador) currently works in R&D Operations at Future Fields in Edmonton, Canada. He has been with Nucleate for 1.5 years as the National Advisor for Nucleate Canada.
Sofia Andrienko (Rising Star) is an incoming Analyst at ClearView Healthcare Partners in Boston. She has been with Nucleate for 3 years as the Director of Ops at Nucleate Dojo and Director of Content in the Nucleate HQ Summit Planning Team.
Dr. Harshit Chellani (Narrative) earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University. He spent over two years at Nucleate New York, serving as Co-Managing Director, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Director of Tech Sourcing.
Nikita Telkar (Operational) is a PhD Candidate in Medical Genetics at The University of British Columbia. She has been involved with Nucleate for 1.5 years as an Activator Co-Director for Nucleate Canada.
Brittany Sauter (Rising Star) is a PhD Candidate at the University of Alberta, Canada. She has been working with Nucleate for 1 year, previously as Alberta Operations Lead and now as Director of Programming, Nucleate Canada.
Fariha Reza (Excellence) is a PhD student at CUNY in New York and Co-Managing Director of Nucleate NY for the 2025–26 cycle. She has been with Nucleate for 2.5 years and also serves as VP of Activator Global Operations at Nucleate HQ, helping teams launch impactful, trainee-led biotech ventures.
Cathy Sun (Ambassador) is a healthcare MBA graduate from Johns Hopkins University, recently joining GenScript as Global Campaign Manager in New Jersey. She has been with Nucleate for 3 years as VP of Path at Nucleate HQ.
Hannah Payette Peterson (Excellence) is a Berlin-based biomedical scientist and ecosystem builder connecting Boston’s established biotech roots with Berlin’s growing life science startup scene. She has been with Nucleate for almost three years and is currently Co-Managing Director of Nucleate Berlin, helping turn cutting-edge research into ventures and strengthen the local biotech community.
I asked all of our award winners a few short questions, let’s see what they had to say!
What is your favorite thing you've learned since joining Nucleate?
Lauren S: Nucleate has been the catalyst for all my professional growth beyond academia during my PhD. While I’ve learned so much its hard to pick one thing, but I'm most proud of the development of strong leadership skills I've gained through leading diverse teams, managing partnerships, and driving impactful projects from idea to execution.
David R: I’ve learned how much happens when people with completely different backgrounds sit down at the same table. Science, business, and storytelling all collide here and I’ve realised that communication isn’t just a “soft skill,” it’s the thing that actually makes ideas move and makes things done.
Justus FG: How uniquely each biotech ecosystem operates, and how local stakeholders, culture, policy, and talent shape different paths from lab to market.
Bettina H: The opportunities outside of academia for graduate students and the support of the biotech ecosystem globally.
Alya M: It’s been really exciting to learn all the intricacies of running a program such as the Activator - from designing the curriculum to hosting the workshops - I’ve gained so much knowledge!
Antonio C: My favorite thing I've learned is how capable I am of being a leader. Nucleate really forced me to learn effective and efficient management and leadership skills on the fly, and I was able to rise to the challenge thanks to our Chapter advisors, alumni, and the entirety of my Leadership Team.
Abbas M: One thing that's really struck me about Nucleate is how powerful it is when you get the fundamentals right. Seeing how the program creates such incredible returns on investment, where a relatively small upfront commitment ends up generating real value for both leaders and participants - has been eye-opening. It's taught me that you don't always need massive resources to make a significant impact. What I find most inspiring is how this approach has become the guiding principle for the entire organization, driving that grassroots mission from the ground up. It's shown me that sustainable, meaningful change often comes from smart, efficient programs that truly serve their community rather than just throwing money at problems.
Sofia A: Anyone can find their own place within biotech as long as you are passionate about and dedicated to helping patients.
Harshit C: Nucleate taught me the power of the ask. You’d be amazed at how willing people are to help.
Nikita T: That I now have friends and people I can count on pretty much anywhere in the world.
Brittany S: One of my favourite things I have learned is the amount of research that students want to take from the bench to commercialization. It has been incredible to see the innovative research being conducted across Canada and how students want to grow it further beyond the bench. The student founders are driven, further pushing themselves to grow their research, which is inspiring.
Fariha R: My favorite thing I’ve learned at Nucleate is how to push myself. The experience challenged me to learn more about the venture creation world. Just as important, I learn something new from our leadership team and founders every day. Their energy is contagious and it inspires me and keeps me motivated.
Cathy S: It was exciting to get to know all the great people at Nucleate and the commonalities and differences in different regions. Especially for someone like me who doesn't directly come from the science side, learning about what people do and how they chose their career/academic path is very interesting to me.
Hannah P: One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is that you can just start building things. I joined right as Nucleate was getting off the ground in Germany and had the chance to help build the chapter from scratch. Seeing how much can be accomplished from a completely grassroots starting point has been inspiring, and it’s encouraged me to take on more founder-like, builder-oriented roles going forward.
Favorite Nucleate event or initiative?
Lauren S: My favorite initiative has been the Partnering with Pharma playbook, I learned an incredible amount and am so proud of the final product. As for events, nothing beats Nucleate San Diego’s yearly Demo Day for our Activator program. I love seeing the whole regional community come together to celebrate early-stage biotech founders.
David R: The Activator, for sure. Not just the program itself, but watching our teams grow and learning, scientists suddenly seeing themselves as founders, or a small idea starting to look like a real company. Those transformations are exciting to witness.
Justis FG: The Summit. It’s the best place to connect and make friends with chapter leadership across many regions, meet talented biotech trainees, and actively exchange ideas.
Bettina H: Definitely 2025 Alumni Summit!!
Alya M: The Forum
Antonio C: Very close tie between Nucleate Texas Demo Day, and the Nucleate x Genentech Business Development 101 Program.
Abbas M: The Activator (there is nothing quite like it)
Sofia A: Nucleate Dojo House and Nucleate Alumni Summit
Harshit C: Nucleate Summit: I loved meeting the Nucleate community in person after a year of Zoom calls and Slack message
Nikita T: Nucleate Genesis
Brittany S: It is hard to pick one, but it is a toss-up between the Lyda Hill Dinners and the Forum we host in Edmonton. The Lyda Hill dinners are an amazing way to connect women student leaders, who are growing in their skills, with recognized women leaders in their area. When we hosted our Lyda Hill brunch in Edmonton, it was an amazing experience with insightful discussion. The forum we hosted in Edmonton was also one of my favourite events. Bringing the teams across Canada to showcase their growth from the activator program, from workshops and working with their mentors, was amazing. The panels were engaging, and the speakers were incredible. These two events really showcase Nucleate’s mission to grow student founders and leaders for the next generation.
Fariha R: My favorite initiative is the Women’s Dinner Series. The small, candid setting lets us learn directly from women leaders and actually connect with them, something PhD students rarely get to do while we’re buried in lab work.
Cathy S: Nucleate Summit & PATH
Hannah P: Berlin Bio Innovation Day! It was our biggest event yet, with over 300 registrations and more than 100 people on the waitlist. We designed it to both support startups in tangible ways through a morning workshop and, in the afternoon, publicly showcase the strength and ambition of Berlin’s and Europe’s life science startup ecosystem. The goal was to combine substance with visibility, bringing together founders, investors, and researchers to highlight the innovation happening here and build momentum for what’s next.
What impact do you hope your work (within or outside Nucleate) will have in the next 3-5 years?
Lauren S: I hope my work continues to bridge the gap between academic innovation and biotech commercialization, accelerating the path from breakthrough science to real-world impact. In science, results can take years to materialize, so I’m energized by roles where I can see and feel the impact of my work more immediately.
David R: I want to make sure great science doesn’t stay hidden. By building up the German chapter’s communications, we’ve helped teams tell their story, get in front of the right partners, and build the connections they need to turn ideas into companies and challenges into solutions.
Justus FG: Help European academic trainees adopt a more translational mindset so more research moves from academic labs to company creation.
Bettina H: I hope to make science more accessible whether that be through communications or illustrations I want science to feel like a welcoming space.
Alya M: I hope to support our leadership team in particular to identify the best career path for themselves. It’s been so rewarding working with our companies in the Activator but even more so supporting our fantastic team to discover their role in the biotech ecosystem.
Antonio C: As I begin my tenure as the Chairman of the Texas Alumni Council, I hope that I am able to continue expanding Nucleate Texas' reach, and grow the Texas Biotech Ecosystem to compete with the traditional geographic powers in the industry. I believe we can exponentially grow the total number of companies we serve in a given year, and hope we can at least double our Activator-team output, and triple our prize-pool by 2030.
Abbas M: Having seen how effectively Nucleate works, I'm really excited about scaling that approach across Canada's biotech ecosystem. Over the next 3-5 years, I hope to help establish that same grassroots-driven framework in multiple Canadian cities, connecting entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry professionals who might otherwise never cross paths.
What really excites me is the potential to create a uniquely Canadian network of biotech founders that build and support each other as they continue to scale after spinning out from Universities. I would love to see us address some of our biggest challenges, like the funding gap between early research and Series A, or help founders feel less lonely in their journey to spin-out.
My hope is that by applying that same high-ROI philosophy, we can create sustainable programs that can support Canadian biotech to stay in Canada to scale.. If we can build the right support systems and community connections, I think we have the potential to create something really special here.
Sofia A: Inspire and empower biotech leaders while learning and discovering my specific field of interest
Harshit C: I’m excited to keep working with fellow Nucleate leaders as we move beyond academic training and further the mission of empowering trainees to become biotech leaders and entrepreneurs.
Nikita T: Within Nucleate Canada, I hope that the organisational systems, partnerships, and culture that I've helped to establish only continues to build
Brittany S: I hope my work at Nucleate will help the next generation of Nucleate Canada members, specifically with being connected within the Edmonton ecosystem. I have been fortunate to help provide and curate amazing events that bring together stakeholders, activator teams, leaders in our community, and members of Nucleate. Getting the ball rolling on these initiatives and growing the Nucleate name in Canada has been amazing! I hope that future members and our community, both locally and across Canada, continue to grow.
Fariha R: In the next 3–5 years, I hope our work will lower the ‘activation energy’ for starting companies across Nucleate chapters globally. By making resources visible, bridging academia and industry, and surrounding founders with mentorship, community, and go-to-market support, more trainee-led ventures can launch and thrive. As a New Yorker, I want our work to help more companies launch and stay in New York, strengthening the city’s biotech ecosystem.
Cathy S: Joining Nucleate and getting to know all these people was definitely one of my best experiences. I hope to see Nucleate grow and more people benefit from the great network and get access to the amazing resources we are providing to this community, at a global scale. Nucleate acts as a bridge that connects academia, the industry and lots of amazing innovations, I hope that I could contribute to this further and in this way we could really reach our goal of "empowering new generation of biotech leaders", for personal growth and the larger community.
Hannah P: I hope to help accelerate the translation of Europe’s world-class academic science into globally ambitious, successful life science companies.
Anything new and exciting for you on the horizon? Both in Nucleate and beyond?
Lauren S: I’m on track to graduate from my PhD within the next year, after five awesome years with Nucleate. In the meantime, I’m excited to keep researching and writing data-driven deep dives at the intersection of academia and biotech for our Hidden Layers series. Outside of work, I’m looking forward to San Diego’s best months, September and October, when the weather is perfect and the beaches are uncrowded.
David R: In Nucleate, I’m excited about directing the upcoming Nucleate Germany Activator and helping the next cycle of academic founders. Beyond that, at Xpedite we’re developing DNA and RNA extraction technologies that make molecular testing for infectious diseases and beyond faster and more accessible, so clinics and doctors get answers sooner, patients can be diagnosed and treated earlier, and more lives can be saved. It feels like exactly the kind of tool healthcare needs right now.
Justus FG: Aim to finish my PhD in Copenhagen by the end of next year, keep growing the Denmark and EMEA footprint within Nucleate, and explore opportunities across Denmark’s biotech ecosystem.
Alya M: I look forward to seeing how the UK ecosystem will continue to flourish over the next few years - there are so many exciting projects to come!
Antonio C: I just started my role at Rice University, where I currently oversee in-academic-year student innovation and acceleration. The goal is to support 80+ student-led ventures across campus and all forms of industries with small funding grants and mentorship!
Abbas M: There are definitely some exciting things brewing!
Within Nucleate, I'm really excited about our upcoming Activator program formally including the Eco-track. Canada really punches above its weight in Eco on both cleantech and agri/food based biotech, can not wait to meet the founders pushing this sector forward.
Beyond Nucleate, I am looking forward to the work we are doing at Future Fields with genetically modified fruit flies to produce recombinant proteins - everything from growth factors to complex antibodies. With our recent Series A and a pilot facility to scale this for our clients, it is incredibly satisfying to see innovative, cost-effective approaches making a real dent in major biotech challenges.
Sofia A: I am wrapping up my corporate strategy internship at Syntis Bio and am looking forward to starting full-time as an analyst at ClearView!
Harshit C: I’m currently interning on the Bioscience Investment team at Connecticut Innovations, gaining experience in early-stage life sciences investing. Stay tuned for what’s next!
Nikita T: Wrapping up my PhD, I'm very excited for my next steps after graduation
Brittany S: I have recently become the Director of Programming for Nucleate Canada, stepping into a national role, which I am very excited about. I was previously responsible for the Edmonton region of Canada; however, this transition allows me to grow other regions and provide support for all my teammates across Canada. I am defending my PhD in December 2026, and I am excited to wrap up my PhD journey.
Fariha R: I’ve recently become more interested in business development and hope to keep learning over the next few years. In parallel, I’m excited to move my PhD project from materials findings to a testable device.
Cathy S: I just recently joined GenScript as a Global Campaign Manager and am excited for my next journey. I really enjoy the work I'm doing now and still share my love as part of Nucleate, I hope that I could bring the two together and foster more great partnerships moving forward.
Hannah P: I recently finished my master's and wrapped up my time at Apollo Health Ventures working in early-stage life sciences VC. I've been exploring next steps and have some exciting things on the horizon, but nothing that can be announced yet.
Thanks for taking the time to learn more about this year's Leadership Award Winners!
Stay tuned for the next edition of the Nucleate Network, coming soon!
About the author. Lauren is a post-doctoral fellow University of California San Diego (UCSD) in the Gutkind and Mesirov labs using compuational tools to gain new insights on the immune landscape of cancer. Lauren joined Nucleate leadership in 2024 and currently works as the Director of Partnerships for Nucleate San Diego and as a content lead and contributor for HQ. A special thank you to the Signal and Nucleate team members: Lauren Stanwicks, Isabella Altillo, Angela Li.