Fireside Chat: Merton Life Sciences Network x Nucleate
About Event
Merton Life Sciences Network and Nucleate UK are hosting an evening fireside chat with Elliot Hershberg, bringing together researchers, founders, and investors from across the life sciences ecosystem.
Elliot Hershberg is a Partner at Amplify Partners, where he invests in early-stage digital biology companies building the platforms and infrastructure that will accelerate biomedical progress. He is also the author of The Century of Biology newsletter, which explores companies, data, and ideas at the frontier of biology and has been cited by NYT-bestselling books and research reports from leading investment banks. Elliot holds a PhD in Genetics from Stanford University and previously worked as a software engineer building widely used open-source tools for genomics researchers.
The conversation will explore Elliot’s experience investing in and supporting the next generation of biotechnology platforms, alongside broader themes around translating scientific discovery into impactful startups and navigating the rapidly evolving biotech ecosystem.
The fireside chat will be moderated by Jonathan Kwok, founding CEO of Infinitopes, an Oxford spinout developing precision cancer vaccines designed to prevent tumour recurrence. A clinician-scientist and CRUK Cancer Vaccines Fellow at the University of Oxford, Jonathan has led the integration of Infinitopes’ Precision Immunomics™ platform to discover tumour-specific antigens into the accelerated Phase 1/2 VISTA trial evaluating next-generation immunotherapies. Before founding Infinitopes, he trained in medicine at Cambridge, cancer immunology at Oxford, entrepreneurship at Stanford, and worked as a Starmine-winning biotech investment banker, advising C-suite teams that have grown multi-unicorn companies.
Amplify Partners is a tier-one Silicon Valley venture capital firm managing $2–3 billion in assets and known for backing deeply technical founders at the earliest stages. Since its founding in 2012, Amplify has helped build category-defining companies including Datadog, Fastly, dbt Labs, Temporal Technologies, and Recursion. In 2025 the firm raised $900 million across three new funds, including Amplify Bio, a $200 million fund dedicated to digital biology companies building the computational and experimental infrastructure powering the next century of biomedical discovery.
Infinitopes is an Oxford spinout developing precision immunotherapies. Built on its Precision Immunomics™ platform, the company uses advanced immunopeptidomics and machine learning to discover tumour-specific antigens and design next-generation T-cell vaccines. Its lead programme ITOP1 is advancing into the accelerated Phase 1/2 VISTA trial across leading UK cancer centres.
The evening will begin with a short introduction to the Merton Life Sciences Network and Nucleate, including an overview of the Activator and Catalyse programs, which support scientists and innovators in turning breakthrough research into ventures.
Following the discussion, attendees are invited to stay for networking drinks and informal conversations with the community.
A hybrid option will also be available for those joining remotely.
Event Schedule
19:00 – 19:20
Arrival & networking
19:20 – 19:30
Welcome and introduction
Emma Watts – Introduction to Merton Life Sciences Network, Nucleate, Activator & Catalyse
19:30 – 20:30
Fireside Chat & Q&A
Elliot Hershberg, moderated by Jonathan Kwok
20:30 – 21:00
Networking drinks