Last Updated: January 20, 2026 4:53 PM (EST) by Michael Kim

Mission

Nucleate Dojo is a subsidiary of Nucleate that focusses on building the training ground for future biotech leaders. We do so with the three pillars:

1. Education (e.g. open-access resources, courses, workshops, and events to democratize biotech knowledge and give undergraduates early exposure into various key-players and components of biotech).
2. Capital (e.g. research grant funding, awards to attend conferences like SynBioBeta, and project launch stipends, like in DojoExplore).
3. Community (e.g. co-living communities, regional pop-up events and socials, and an alumni talent network).

In general, we aim to solve the main barriers undergrads face in biotech:

• “There are no biotech opportunities at the undergraduate level” — many positions require a Ph.D. or above. There is no ‘known’ centralized platform to source opportunities.
• “I don’t know what to work on in biotech” — education about biotech key players, sub-fields, and pertinent problems is inaccessible. No one knows where to begin.
• “Biotech doesn’t pay well” — undergraduate researchers are paid very little, if at all. There is a hefty ‘start-up’ cost required in biotech work (i.e. to purchase lab space, reagents, equipment, etc.).
• “Biotech is too slow for me” — science discovery moves slowly and translation can take years. You don’t get an immediate reward for your work and it requires a lot of effort to achieve large-scale impact (e.g. compared to the software industry).
• “None of my friends are in biotech” — for the above reasons, biotech can be difficult to navigate alone, and it can feel very isolating.

Read more here.

Organizational Structure

The Dojo leadership team is divided into four main teams (3 programs, 1 operational team). These are Grants, House, Explore, and Community / Insights. On each team there are:

• 1-2 Program Directors/Managers — point of contact between team and the managing directors, HQ, and sponsors/partners. Also responsible for strategy, managing timelines, setting the high-level goals and vision (will be chosen in approx. 1 month).
• 2-5 Associates — work tightly with PMs to bring programs and initiatives to life. Mainly responsible for being “on the ground” executing on logistical plans and helping make key decisions.
• Managing Directors will be responsible for checking-in on PMs of programs, planning out our organizational roadmap, external relations with sponsors/partners/HQ, and building strong foundations for the organization (e.g. team culture, documentation, etc.).