Want to become an entrepreneur? Nucleate's Activator Might Be Your Launchpad

By Sonal Garg

As PhD students and postdocs, most of our days are spent planning experiments, troubleshooting, and thinking about the next research question. Somewhere along the way, many of us start to wonder whether our work will ever make an impact outside the lab, but some of us will question whether our research could turn into a company. If you have the second question in mind, keep reading.

At Nucleate New York's second annual Activator info session hosted by iJOBS this September, three Nucleate alumni and co-managing directors of Nucleate New York, Fatemah Mukadum, Alejandro Grau Perales, and Nancy Zhang, discussed their experiences. Personally, hearing from recent PhD students and postdocs about this experience made entrepreneurship much more approachable. This blog post will cover the Nucleate Activator program and answer typical questions from interested students.

What is Nucleate?

Nucleate is a nonprofit organization that helps early-career scientists become future leaders in biotech. Nucleate is built on three pillars: forming companies, supporting career growth, and building a community of scientists who want to translate their research. Its flagship program is Activator. Nucleate also runs a professional development series for aspiring entrepreneurs, along with events and resources on how a startup is built. Today, it has more than 900 active leaders across 40+ chapters globally.

The Activator Program

The Activator has two tracks. The Bio track covers therapeutics, diagnostics, and research tools, while the Eco track covers food and agriculture, chemicals, energy, and consumer products.

What stood out to me most is that you don't need your own idea to take part. You can apply as a founder if you have an idea, a concept, or some preliminary data, or as a contributor and bring your scientific, clinical, or business skills to someone else's team.

The program runs in stages:

Nucleate's Achievements

Since Nucleate New York started in 2021, it has run five cohorts, supported 60 teams, and helped raise over $12 million for the teams. A few alumni stories:

• UTR Therapeutics Inc. (2022 cohort) submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) for a first-in-human trial of an mRNA destabilizer for c-MYC-driven cancers.
• Osteologic (2022 cohort) raised a $9 million seed round.
• Calyrx publicly launched in August 2026 with $3.5 million in funding.
• Joe, a former student at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, joined the Bio track as a contributor on a team using antibodies to target cancer cells. He is now an organizer at Nucleate.

Want to Apply?

Applications for the 2026–2027 cohort are open and reviewed on a rolling basis, with a deadline of October 20, 2026. It is competitive; last cycle had roughly 75 spots, 250 applicants for 15 teams of around five people per team. If you already have a team, you can apply together and skip the matching stage. Follow Nucleate New York on LinkedIn for updates.

Thinking About Entrepreneurship? Start Here

You don't need a startup idea to begin. A few small steps can get you moving:

• Join as a contributor first: Working on someone else's team lets you see how a startup is built before you take on the risk of starting one.
• Learn about intellectual property: Research done at a university usually belongs to the university, so talk to your tech transfer office early.
• Practice the non-technical pitch: Try explaining your research in two minutes to someone outside science.
• Build business literacy: Workshops and info sessions like this one will teach you the basics of markets, funding, and customers.

Q&A Highlights

Is the Bio track more popular than the Eco track?
It depends on the ideas people bring in each year. The fifth cohort (Activator 5.0), for example, was mostly Bio track teams working on therapeutics and biological tools, along with four Eco teams.

Who can apply?
PhD students, postdocs, research scientists, faculty, and research technicians. You just need an idea or a willingness to learn. Nucleate New York recruits from several universities across New York and New Jersey.

What kind of events does Nucleate host?
In 2025 alone, Nucleate hosted 16 events and workshops for its Activator cohort that focused on professional growth and building a business mindset. Beyond the Activator, it also holds community events that bring together scientists, MD/PhDs, and industry professionals.

What do they look for in an application?
Contributors are asked about their publications, their research projects, and any startup or biotech experience. Business contributors are asked which program, such as marketing, they are in. Selection involves an individual interview first, followed by a team interview.

Entrepreneurship Resources Closer to Home

You don't have to look far to get started. The session pointed to two resources right here at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

1. Rutgers I-Corps: Based on the National Science Foundation model and offered with the Rutgers Office for Research. Novus is a half-day intro workshop for anyone curious about innovation. Propelus is a four-session program in which teams interview potential customers to test whether their technology meets a real market need.
2. New Jersey Innovation and Research Fellowship Program (IRFP): Funded by the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development, this fellowship places recent PhD graduates in research roles at New Jersey science and technology companies.

During the session, a founder of a diagnostics startup who went through I-Corps shared that his biggest lesson was to think like a customer and ask: Why should anyone care about your product?

Nucleate taught me that entrepreneurship doesn't have to start with a perfect idea or a business plan. Curiosity, scientific training, and a willingness to learn are real starting points, and the Activator program is a great way to join a community that values exactly that. The application closes October 20th, 2026, so if you believe your research could go beyond the lab, now it’s time to apply.

This article is edited by Junior Editor E. Beyza Guven and Senior Editor Antonia Kaz.