Nucleate Texas

We're back with another Spears Spotlight to highlight Gloria Samuels, the SMU Cox School of Business student entrepreneur behind Kiwi! ?? Gloria was recently accepted into Nucleate, a highly competitive national program for emerging biotech founders. As a part of this year's cohort, she's been working alongside scientists, mentors, and industry leaders to advance her health education startup. She'll be pitching at Nucleate's final showcase this May! Her venture, Kiwi, is an innovative app focused on delivering accessible, personalized health information to young girls, helping them understand and navigate their health from an early age. Originally focused on maternal health, Gloria pivoted Kiwi’s direction after identifying a deeper, more foundational issue: the lack of preventative education at the start of a girl’s health journey. We're proud of Gloria for using entrepreneurship to drive change in women’s health and are wishing her all the best in the upcoming Nucleate competition! Check out her full Spears Spotlight interview at https://bit.ly/4hH6JK1! #SpearsSpotlight #StudentsInEntrepreneurship #StudentFounder

?? Nucleate Texas is thrilled to highlight our next Activator sponsor, Port San Antonio, a 1,900-acre technology innovation campus, connecting people to life-changing opportunities. ?? Port San Antonio is the region’s largest and fast-growing technology hub—today home to 18,000 people employed by more than 80 enterprises on the campus who are on the leading edge of innovations in ?? aerospace, ?? cybersecurity, ??? space exploration, ???? national defense, ?? industrial robotics, and an array of ???? applied technologies. ?? “As a leading home of innovation and with a focus on connecting people to transformative opportunities in their careers, educational pathways, or as entrepreneurs, we’re proud to support Nucleate’s kindred efforts to showcase and advance new medical technologies from our community that could have global, life-saving implications in healthcare outcomes.” -Stephanie Garcia, Business Development Specialist, Port San Antonio

?? We are halfway through our Activator workshops, with #3 "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)" in the books! ?? The objective of this workshop was to highlight the importance of JDEI in biotechnology, showcase diverse leaders and their contributions to the field, foster connections between Nucleate participants, regional leaders, and the broader biotech community, and align Nucleate Texas chapters under a shared JDEI initiative to amplify collective impact. ?? This workshop was executed through a diverse panel discussion, and we thank these experts for contributing their time to this very important topic: Juan Pablo Orlov, Stan Watowich, Amanda Ramirez, Ph.D., Preethi Samuel, PhD, and Becky R.

?? Nucleate Texas Demo Day: Dallas Activator Team Highlights ?? ??? When? May 30th, 2025 ?? Where? San Antonio, Texas ?? RSVP HERE ?? https://lu.ma/djbhgrve ?? Vaibhav Bommareddy, Harsh Dave, and Dallas, Texas leadership are proud to have five teams participating in this years Activator Cohort: ?? AmyGo Solutions is a structure-based diagnostic for protein misfolding diseases founded by Rose Pedretti, with Zhen (Jen) L. ♀? Kiwi Health Solutions is a preventative healthcare app for the management of reproductive health founded by Gloria Samuels, with Shreya Tirumala Kumara, Ishita Tarnekar, Cheshta Sharma, Ph.D., and Mounica Reddpalli. ?? Sancorda Medical is an all-in-one software solution combining advanced artery reconstruction, analysis, and visualization tools founded by John Yoo, with Jeremy Warren. ?? Omphalos Lifesciences Inc is leveraging scalable biosystem modeling technology to address human health and other pressing global challenges founded by Daehwan Kim and co-led by Donghoon Lee. ?? BioDelivera is a platform technology for targeted and precise delivery of therapeutic agents founded by Ikeda Trashi, with Orikeda Trashi, Mateusz Durbacz, and Parker Hibble. ?? This is our only Texas-wide in-person event of the year — an opportunity to come together as a community, celebrate our incredible finalists, and see the hard work and dedication that’s been poured into the Activator program over the past few months. This is THE moment for our finalists to showcase everything they’ve built and share their passion on a BIG stage. For us, it’s an exciting time to witness the evolution of Activator teams in real-time as they pitch, network, and grow. But here’s the thing: This event wouldn’t be complete without YOU! ?? Whether you’re a scientist, entrepreneur, or just someone passionate about innovation, Demo Day is a unique chance to connect, collaborate, and fuel the next wave of biotech entrepreneurship. This is about more than just the pitches — it's about building a thriving community together.

Nucleate Texas is honored to highlight our next sponsor in this series: UT Health San Antonio ??The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the largest academic research institution in South Texas with an annual research portfolio of more than $436 million. The university drives substantial economic impact for San Antonio and the South Texas area with its six professional schools, a diverse workforce of more than 9,400, an annual expense budget of $1.67 billion and clinical practices that provide 2.5 million patient visits each year. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, graduate biomedical sciences and public health have graduated more than 43,771 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. “UT Health San Antonio is proud to be a sponsor of the Nucleate program for future biotechnology leaders, which aligns with our university’s mission to empower science innovators of tomorrow with the tools, mentorship and collaborative networks needed to translate discoveries into real-world solutions. By nurturing the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs, we are helping to build a thriving biotechnology ecosystem that drives breakthroughs in healthcare and other sciences.” - Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD, MPH, Senior Vice President for Research, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Founding Director of the Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Potter serves as a principal investigator (MPI) of the Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science (IIMS), home to UT Health San Antonio’s NIH-supported Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) and the Peer Recovery Innovation Network (PRIN), a National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded initiative to build and expand the field of recovery science. Dr. Potter has been part of major studies that have transformed treatments for substance use disorders including the NIAAA-supported COMBINE study, NIMH-supported Project LIGHT, and the NIDA-supported POATS trials.??

?? Nucleate Texas Demo Day: Austin Activator Team Highlights ?? ??? When? May 30th, 2025 ?? Where? San Antonio, Texas ?? RSVP HERE ?? https://lu.ma/djbhgrve ?? Jess Sterling, Antonio Cordova, and Austin, Texas leadership are proud to have three teams participating in this years Activator Cohort: ?? Neurawear is a wearable brain-computer interface for stroke rehabilitation on-the-go, founded by Ilya Pyatnitskiy, with Steve Rodriguez, and Kritika Ramesh. ?? Omni Movement is a wireless tracker of limb movements for precise training and rehabilitation, founded by Joseph Schmidt, with Tetiana Kolodiazhna, Esther Oyanibi, Michael Reed Corum, and Parker Hibble. ?? ImageInsight is a software platform to enable precision oncology via cancer patient digital twins, founded by Dinesh Elanchezhian. ?? This is our only Texas-wide in-person event of the year — an opportunity to come together as a community, celebrate our incredible finalists, and see the hard work and dedication that’s been poured into the Activator program over the past few months. This is THE moment for our finalists to showcase everything they’ve built and share their passion on a BIG stage. For us, it’s an exciting time to witness the evolution of Activator teams in real-time as they pitch, network, and grow. But here’s the thing: This event wouldn’t be complete without YOU! ?? Whether you’re a scientist, entrepreneur, or just someone passionate about innovation, Demo Day is a unique chance to connect, collaborate, and fuel the next wave of biotech entrepreneurship. This is about more than just the pitches — it's about building a thriving community together.

?? Workshop 2 is in the books for our 2025 Activator Program Teams covering Market Risk, led by Paulomi Modi and Nucleate Texas Leadership ?? ?? The objectives for this workshop were to help teams understand how to manage their market risk, share non-confidential preliminary data supporting feasibility of technology, and present company overview and pre-work slides. This allowed our experts to come in to help identify unique value propositions of their technology, define key value-creating experiments that investors would want to see, and discuss relevant market risks associated with deploying this technology. ?? Thank you again to this group of experts for giving time out of their evenings to help better our teams skills and preparation! Juan Pablo Orlov, Hendra Hoang, MCTM, Lisa C. Brown, PhD, Roshini Prakash, Rasindu Rajanayake, Huckie Del Mundo, MD, MBE, Nishi Viswanathan, MD, MBA, Attrayee C., Xiaotong Song, Becky R., Phil Speros, Deepavali Chakravarti, PhD

?? Introducing The Nucleate Network: Celebrating Our Global Community! We're thrilled to launch The Nucleate Network, a new Signal series highlighting the amazing people who power our global community! ??? Intro article: https://lnkd.in/gr72vqzH Each feature will share personal journeys of leadership members and early Activator alumni from around the world—covering their paths to Nucleate, challenges they've faced, and their future plans. Our goal is to showcase the diverse backgrounds and experiences driving innovation at Nucleate. A quick intro from Lauren Clubb ?? "Hi! I'm Lauren, a 5th-year PhD candidate at UC San Diego, 2023 Activator alum, and Co-Director of Communications for our San Diego chapter. I recently joined HQ Communications to bring The Nucleate Network series to life! Throughout my time at Nucleate, I've learned that diverse, meaningful connections are key to growth. Inspired by advice to build broad networks across geographies and disciplines, I believe this series will help foster even stronger community bonds." Stay tuned for inspiring stories from across our global network—there’s something for everyone! #NucleateNetwork #Biotech #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #GlobalCommunity #Networking #Startups #Activators #BiotechInnovation

?? Last year, Nucleate Texas welcomed the San Antonio chapter to the region. San Antonio now joins Houston, Dallas, and Austin as a part of Nucleate Texas! There are immense benefits the development of a San Antonio chapter has added over the past year. Specifically, we are excited to announce McCombs Enterprises as a 2024-2025 regional sponsor. We thank Texas Director of Operations Antonio Cordova, San Antonio co-managing directors Shiva Kazempour Dehkordi and Paulomi Modi, and Nucleate San Antonio leader Joseph Goodson-Gregg for spearheading this amazing relationship. We look forward to seeing both of our organizations grow the future of biotech in San Antonio and beyond. Read more about McCombs Enterprises below: ?? McCombs Enterprises is a multi-generational diversified company based in San Antonio, Texas, founded in 1953 by the late Red McCombs. The company operates in several sectors, including ?? automotive, ?? real estate, ? energy, and ?? investments. Red enjoyed buying, and occasionally selling businesses. He looked for businesses that had operational or management inefficiencies, where he could step in and make an immediate impact, often saving companies that would have otherwise collapsed. Beyond that, he was an entrepreneur, having created businesses that then grew into market-leading companies. His legacy includes significant contributions to education and healthcare, with institutions like the Texas McCombs School of Business at the The University of Texas at Austin named in his honor as well as the Red and Charline McCombs Institute Research Complex which houses MD Anderson Cancer Center’s expanding research complex in Houston, Texas. ?? “I am pleased to support Nucleate and appreciate the encouragement, guidance, and inspiration it provides for students who are investing their time and educational efforts in potentially transformative bio-tech and bio-science research.” - Marsha McCombs Shields, Red McCombs’ daughter, Manager at McCombs Enterprises

?? Last Thursday kickstarted our first Activator Workshop: Technical Risk & Scientific Risk led by Shiva Kazempour Dehkordi and Nucleate Texas leadership. Our teams needed to understand how to manage technical risk, share non-confidential preliminary data supporting feasibility of technology, and present company overview in order for our mentors to help teams identify unique value propositions of the technology, define key value-creating experiments that investors would want to see, and discuss relevant scientific risks associated with deploying this technology. ?? Thank you to our experts for sharing their insights and dedicating time out of their evening to help our teams learn about technical and scientific risk! Michael Schultz, PhD, Enrique Lin Shiao, Ph.D., Olga Karpus, Lisa C. Brown, PhD, Rasindu Rajanayake, Huckie Del Mundo, MD, MBE, Nodar Makharashvili, Rahul Saini, Roshini Prakash, Florian Muller, Kareem Azab, Phil Speros, Parsa Modareszadeh, Pramod Mishra, Becky R.