Nucleate Texas House @ SXSW 2026
Nucleate Texas House
Welcome to Nucleate Texas House, our unofficial SXSW 2026 home base where science, startups, and culture collide in the heart of Austin 🔥🧬🎶
Texas is building something real. World-class research institutions, a growing founder pipeline, patient-scale clinical access, and a new generation of operators are turning the state into the next major biotech hub. Nucleate Texas House brings that story to life by gathering the people actually building it.
Throughout the afternoon, evening, and night, join founders, scientists, investors, clinicians, and creatives for a high-energy gathering designed for real connection beyond standard conference programming. The day features:
• A curated biotech panel 🧬
• Rapid-fire company elevator pitches 💼
• Investor reverse pitches 💰
• Talks from our event partners 🤝
• Multiple DJ sets from afternoon to late night 🎵
• A hat bar for a bit of Austin, Texas style 🤠
• Great drinks and space for genuine conversation 🥂
Expect strong discussions, good music, and a vibe that carries through from daylight to last track 🍸🤝
Hosted in partnership with PTP, Tech Ranch Austin, Wild Gins, 434 Media, Live Oak Brewing Company, Rancher Hat Bar, CleanSpace, and Powerhouse Therapeutics.
This is an unofficial SXSW event with open attendance. All guests must RSVP, tickets will be checked at the door. Entry is first come, first served, subject to venue capacity (entry not guaranteed). All guests must be 21 years of age or older (valid government issued ID required).
Whether you are building, investing, hiring, or just curious about what is coming next, this is the place to experience the momentum behind Texas biotech in real time 🚀
DJ Sets by Rosetta Stoned, GRIFFA, and TechnoVirus with some DJing during intermissions
Detailed Agenda
5:00 - Doors open
DJ set by GRIFFA
5:45 - Event kickoff
6:00 - "State of Biotech in Austin" Panel 🧬
7:00 - Startup elevator pitches
7:30 - Reverse pitches
7:50 - Closing remarks
8:00 - Networking and DJ sets
8:00 - 9:00 - TechnoVirus (DJ Set)
9:00 - 10:00 - Rosetta Stoned (DJ Set)
10:00 - 10:30 - Soulless Ducky (DJ Set)
Featured Panel - The State of Biotech in Austin
Moderated by Jason Scharf - Austin Next Podcast
Jason Scharf has spent nearly two decades pursuing his life's mission of catalyzing innovation. As an early stage investor, he targets the bio innovation tech stack and the business of health. He has held key leadership roles in strategy and market intelligence at industry pillars such as Illumina, BD, and Amgen. Through the Austin Next Podcast and Substack Ecosystem Metacognition, he explores Innovation, Bio & Health, tech, ecosystems, Austin, and their convergence.
Featuring:
Jani Tuomi - Serial Founder & CEO
Jani is passionate about and focused on helping people make more informed healthcare decisions. He co-founded imaware in 2028 to empower individuals to proactively screen for health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune conditions from their own homes in order to engage their doctors sooner. Jani has helped start, launch, or advise over 6 successful startups including SENSOR BIO, Coya Therapeutics, and Matchday Health.
Rep. Donna Howard - Texas House of Representatives
Rep. Howard is the Texas State Representative for Austin. A former critical care nurse, she is a leading legislative voice for healthcare access, medical research funding, and science-driven policy in Texas.
Timothy Sullivan - Founder & CEO, Zeteo Biomedical
Timothy is the Founder and CEO of Zeteo Biomedical LLC and a serial entrepreneur with five decades of experience building and scaling innovative technology companies across multiple sectors. For the past 25 years his work has focused on healthcare innovation, where he has invented ophthalmic, nasal, and nose-to-brain drug delivery device platforms and holds 54 global patents in drug and biologic packaging and delivery systems.
Josh Clemente - Founder & CEO, Levels
Josh is the Founder and CEO of Levels and former SpaceX lead life-support systems engineer. Levels pioneered the integration of continuous glucose monitoring with intelligent software for real-time lifestyle guidance and metabolic health improvement.
Nancy Lyon - Director, ACC Bioscience Incubator
Nancy is the director of the ACC Bioscience Incubator. She provides early-stage biotech startups with crucial wet lab infrastructure, equipment, and mentorship to help them bridge the gap from concept to commercialization.
Panel presented by PTP
Hosted in partnership with TechBioTransformers and Bits in Bio
Event Partners
PTP empowers scientific innovation through information technology & services that are intelligent, secure and frictionless.
Tech Ranch Austin helps innovators, startups, and scale-ups gain access to markets to drive global impact through enabling relationships, resources, and practices.
Wild Gins WildBark West Texas Dry Gin and WildJune Western Style Gin are the only gins in the world featuring native Texas junipers from the West Texas Mountains.
Live Oak Brewing Company has been committed to producing delicious lagers and ales for the enjoyment of passionate beer drinkers of Austin, Texas, and beyond since 1997.
Rancher Hat Bar Custom cowboy, rancher, and trucker hats with pop-ups and brick and mortar locations across the U.S.
434 Media is a vertically integrated media company that owns niche audiences and delivers precision-targeted content at scale.
CleanSpace delivers precision-engineered clean, cold, and dry rooms with guaranteed costs and timelines.
Powerhouse Therapeutics is a biotechnology company building cell therapies that help patients fight the deadliest cancers.
Interested in sponsoring?
Nucleate Texas House offers a rare opportunity to engage directly with founders, investors, and operators shaping the future of biotech in Texas. Reach out to [email protected]
We extend our appreciation to the sponsors and partners who directly support the Nucleate Texas chapter. Their commitment strengthens our mission to empower emerging founders and expand the biotech innovation ecosystem across the state. Their contributions help create the open-access programming, community events, and founder support that make Nucleate Texas possible.
Chapter Sponsors: Lyda Hill Philanthropies, McCombs Foundation, University of Texas at Dallas, Novogene, CleanSpace, Texas State University
About the Host:
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.org for more information, and visit https://nucleate.org/privacy-policy/ to read our privacy policy.
We want to thank our HQ and Regional supporters for championing our open-access mission and empowering the next generation of biotech entrepreneurs!
Platinum: Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, MilliporeSigma
Philanthropic Support: Lyda Hill Philanthropies
Preferred Partners: Pillar VC, Amino Collective, Fenwick, Excedr, Mercury, Brex, Fedsprout, Browne Consulting
In-Kind Support: AcademicLabs, Lens.org
Disclaimer: Nucleate Texas House is an independent event produced by Nucleate Texas, the Texas-based chapter of Nucleate Bio Inc. We are not affiliated with Texas House or the official SXSW conference. They run great events, but our programming, operations, and branding are entirely separate.