Who Builds the Builders? The Rise of Trainee-Led Biotech Communities

Michigan winter evenings are frigid and unrelenting, but inside a crowded room on a Tuesday night, the sparks of innovation are still burning brightly. Those gathered tonight are attending the monthly A2 BioSocial, a gathering that brings together a cross-section of the local life sciences community. Organized by volunteers, the event exists to help lay the groundwork for a growing startup ecosystem.

On the agenda tonight is a spotlight on the newest teams from the local chapter of Nucleate, a trainee-led nonprofit formed to support emerging biotech founders. These teams are part of the organization’s flagship Activator program. One by one, the microphone passes between graduate students and postdocs presenting technologies that, until recently, existed only as research projects within the local academic system. It’s less a formal pitch than an appeal to the experience in the room, paired with the reassurance of a community eager to support both these teams and Nucleate’s mission.

During my own graduate school experience, the idea of pitching a research project with a business application in mind would have felt foreign, despite my interest in making my work as impactful as possible. “Founder” seemed like a distant identity, and academic lab work felt too far removed from real-world technology.

The main culprit is a lack of exposure. Trainees never have the opportunity to see a pathway from research to entrepreneurship. Outside major biotech hubs, that pathway feels hidden. Organizations like Nucleate help change that by building the bridges that allow academic discovery to move toward real-world impact.

Nucleate is a young organization, founded in 2019, but it has already grown into a global network with chapters across North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Its mission is to empower the next generation of biotech leaders by connecting trainees with the tools, education, and networks needed to launch new ventures. Central to that mission is the Activator program, where early-stage teams form around promising biotechnology ideas. These teams - composed of graduate students, postdocs, and business students - work together to evolve research discoveries into viable companies. Since its launch, Activator has supported more than 600 teams worldwide, which collectively have raised over $570 million and created more than 800 jobs.

The Michigan chapter, founded in 2022, already connects universities, industry partners, sponsors, and investors across the state. Together with partners at the Chicago chapter, the network extends to Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. These relationships connect trainees to the infrastructure and expertise needed to advance their technologies, while strengthening the broader regional biotech ecosystem. Local SmartZones, with organizations like Ann Arbor SPARK, advocacy groups like MichBio, and academic resources such as the Michigan Biomedical Venture Fund, all play complementary roles in this growing network.

So what’s the point? Groups like Nucleate provide the connective tissue that links a thriving academic research community to commercial outcomes. They do this in three key ways: first, by exposing trainees to scientific entrepreneurship; second, by creating fertile ground for mentorship and the sharing of entrepreneurial expertise; and third, by expanding the pipeline of potential founders who will launch the next generation of biotech companies.

The Activator program illustrates this mechanism well. I’ve had the opportunity to observe several of its events,  and one of the most memorable was the business partnering session. The format resembles speed dating, except that participants are scientists and business students seeking complementary skills. Trainees with early-stage technologies meet with business school trainees to explore whether their expertise might align to build a company.

Around the room, conversations take off. A graduate student working on a therapeutic delivery platform meets a new teammate who can dissect the market landscape and sketch out a business strategy. In many cases, it’s the first time a science trainee has articulated the broader value of their work to a business audience. Just as importantly, the exchange works both ways. Business students evaluate technologies through a market lens, asking practical questions about competition, regulation, and scalability. Not every promising scientific idea translates into a viable product, and learning to navigate that distinction is a critical step in the entrepreneurial process. 

Later in the program, newly formed teams present their technologies and strategies to a curated group of mentors from the local life sciences community. Once again, the structure encourages rapid interaction, with teams rotating through short conversations with potential advisors. Because the technologies are highly specialized, the mentors bring a mix of general startup expertise and deeper domain knowledge. These interactions do more than refine business plans. They orient trainees within the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem, connecting them with experienced professionals who can help guide their next steps. In the process, they also build community, an essential element in a startup environment that thrives on collaboration and shared expertise. 

And this points to Nucleate's most important role in connecting the academic-to-application pipeline: expanding the pool of potential founders. Programs like Activator make the possibility of a career in entrepreneurship more tangible. Trainees work in interdisciplinary teams while drawing on mentorship from across the life sciences ecosystem. That breadth is reflected in the technologies represented in the current cohort, which span diagnostics, digital health, medical technology, therapeutics, and research tools. With ideas, expertise, and institutions converging from across the region, the program provides a uniquely valuable training ground for the Midwest’s growing biotech community.

The Activator program culminates in a Demo Day, where regional teams showcase their progress. Alongside participants from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University, recent Michigan chapter cohorts have also included teams from The Ohio State University. In past years, winners had the opportunity to pitch at a joint Nucleate Midwest Activator Showcase, a collaborative event between the Michigan and Chicago chapters. At Demo Day, founders present their technologies to industry experts and investors, gaining exposure, feedback, and momentum for the next stage of their ventures. In doing so, they help make startup pathways across the region increasingly visible and interconnected. This year’s Demo Day will be held in Columbus, OH, on May 2, 2026, hosted by OSU. 

Personally, I’ve come to appreciate through my own work just how valuable spaces like these can be. During my own training, there were few opportunities to explore what it would take to move beyond the lab. I find myself wondering how much earlier graduate students might benefit from participating in communities like this. Programs like Nucleate's Activator can do more than launch startups. They’re investing in the people and networks that power the next generation of scientific leaders and deep-tech breakthroughs, ensuring that the discoveries emerging from our labs have a clearer path toward real-world impact.

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Ruby Miller is a Biotechnology Regulatory Fellow with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. She holds a PhD in Chemistry, has worked on the commercialization of cutting-edge biomedical technologies and has a keen interest in how these technologies are funded and come to market.