Nucleate Bay Area Presents: The Forum
Nucleate Bay Area Presents The Forum 2025 (formerly known as Demo Day), our 4th Annual Ecosystem Celebration on May 27th, 2025 from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm PT at the Covington Law offices in Salesforce Tower, San Francisco.
The event features two prominent fireside chats: Hal Barron and Professor David Schaffer!
This flagship event brings together innovators, builders, and thinkers from across the ecosystem for a day of insight, connection, and momentum. Whether you're launching your first company, fundraising, advising startups, investing in breakthrough science, translating research at the bench, or building the infrastructure and communities that make innovation possible, the Forum is where biotech’s future takes shape. Space is limited so RSVP now!
📅 AGENDA
[2:15 pm] Registration Opens
First Floor of the Salesforce Tower.
[3:00 - 3:45 pm] Fireside Chat
David Schaffer, PhD.
Hubbard Howe Professor, UC Berkeley
Director of QB3
Director of Bakar Labs
David Schaffer is the Hubbard Howe Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bioengineering, and Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and he also serves as Director of QB3 and Director of Bakar Labs, Bakar Bio Labs, Bakar Climate Labs, and the Bakar Fellows Program. He completed his B.S. in chemical engineering at Stanford University in 1993, his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at MIT in 1998, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1999 before joining Berkeley in 1999. There, he applies engineering principles to optimize gene and stem cell therapies, work that includes developing the concept of applying directed evolution to engineer targeted and efficient viral gene therapy vectors as well as new technologies to investigate and control stem cell function. He has published >250 papers, has advised >90 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, is an inventor on >50 issued patents, and developed technologies that are being used in 9 human clinical trials. In addition, he has co-founded seven companies from his lab, including 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ FDMT), Ignite Immunotherapies (acquired by Pfizer) and Rewrite (acquired by Intellia). Finally, has received recognitions including the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, Andreas Acrivos Professional Progress Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award, the American Chemical Society Marvin Johnson Award, and the Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Shaffer Young Investigator Award.
[3:45 - 4:00 pm] State of Nucleate Presentation
Zach Cogan, Nucleate Co-President and PhD Candidate in Peter Walter Lab, UCSF
[4:00 - 4:30 pm] Innovation Talks: Solutions to Big Problems
[4:30 - 5:00 pm] Break
[5:00 - 5:45 pm] Fireside Chat
Hal Barron, PhD.
CEO, Founder and Board Co-Chair of Altos Labs
Prior to joining Altos, Hal was Chief Scientific Officer and President, R&D at GSK, where he was responsible for all research and development activities globally across pharmaceutical molecules and vaccine candidates including life-cycle management for all approved products. He remains a non-executive director on GSK’s Board of Directors. Prior to joining GSK, Hal was President, R&D at Calico Labs, an Alphabet-funded company. Prior to this role, he was Executive Vice President, Head of Global Product Development, and Chief Medical Officer of Roche, responsible for all the products in the combined portfolio of Roche and Genentech. At Genentech, Hal was Senior Vice President of Development and Chief Medical Officer. He was a non-executive director and chair of the Science & Technology Committee at Juno Therapeutics until March 2018, when it was acquired by Celgene Corporation. He also previously served as a non-executive Board director of Grail until it was acquired by Illumina in 2021. He was also an Advisory Board Member of Verily Life Sciences until 2021.
[5:45 - 6:30 pm] Drinks & Breakout Rooms
Intimate breakout discussions with innovators and leaders
[6:30 - 8:00 pm] Open Networking and Scientific Poster Sessions
🎙️ WHY ATTEND!
Insightful Sessions
Hear from top industry leaders about what’s next in the rapidly evolving world of biotech – where discovery meets design. What will research, entrepreneurship and collaboration look like in a future shaped by AI labs, robotic research, and gym-distributed longevity products?
Discover Cutting-Edge Tech
Meet Nucleate’s emerging founders as they showcase state-of-the-art innovations. Dive into one-on-one conversations and explore the breakthroughs shaping the future of biotech in NYC and beyond.
Build Deep Connections
Nucleate New York brings together founders, researchers, investors, and ecosystem builders to strengthen the greater biotech network. If you’re building, fundraising, operating, researching, or investing in biotech or eco, come share your ideas and thesis with the community!
Exclusive Networking Opportunities
Engage directly with founders, VCs, industry leaders, and government representatives
💛 SPONSORS
Nucleate Bay Area's Activator program is supported by Bakar Labs, MBC BioLabs and Biocom California.
We want to thank our HQ supporters for championing our open-access mission and empowering the next generation of biotech entrepreneurs: Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, MilliporeSigma, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Pillar VC, Amino Collective, Excedr, Mercury, Brex, Fedsprout, AcademicLabs, Lens.org, SynBioBeta
🧬 ABOUT NUCLEATE
Nucleate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. With chapters spanning 41 geographic regions and participation from over 280 academic institutions, Nucleate sparks new intellectual communities and embeds emerging talent within a global biotech community. Through open-access educational programming, Nucleate helps democratize biotech innovation — removing barriers and helping founders concentrate on building transformational technologies. Visit www.nucleate.xyz for more information, and visit https://nucleate.xyz/privacy-policy/ to read our privacy policy.
📈ABOUT THE ACTIVATOR
Our Activator Program enables academic researchers to translate their discoveries into impactful biotech ventures. The Activator is an equity-free, fee-free program upstream of traditional accelerators and incubators, which lowers the activation energy of life sciences company formation from academic labs. We aim to (1) reduce inefficiencies and remove barriers faced by life sciences innovators, (2) increase the quality and quantity of new life science ventures emerging from life sciences ecosystems, and (3) connect emerging innovators to our vast industry network.
The Activator strategically follows a structured eight-phase framework for company formation, specifically tailored for life sciences innovators solving unmet problems in human and planetary health. Nucleate facilitates: (1) Systematic sourcing of innovators developing research and technologies with proof of concept data generated in an academic lab, (2) interdisciplinary team formation at the intersection of science, business, and the clinic, (3) multifactorial mentor matching, (4) expert-guided workshops iterating on core components of a life sciences venture thesis, (5) world-class networking, innovator support opportunities, and service provider resources, (6) regional community demo-day showcases, (7) invitation to the Global Summit, and (8) sustained alumni support.
To accomplish this extensive programming, Nucleate collaborates with the world’s top VC firms, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and service providers. Throughout the program, Nucleate leverages a global expert and mentor network of over 4000+ experienced industry professionals. To date, Nucleate has facilitated the formation of >75 companies, raising over $400M in seed and Series A financing, that have collectively created >200 new jobs.
Please reach out about sponsoring Nucleate Boston or The Activator program!