Milner Therapeutics Institute kickstarts 2026 with business-to-business event for affiliates

Last week, the Milner Institute welcomed more than 45 of its affiliated companies to a business-to-business networking event on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The event brought together start-ups from the Milner Bio-incubator and beyond, biotech, services and CRO companies from our affiliate network, as well as pharma partners from the Milner Therapeutics Consortium. It was an opportunity for companies in our network to better understand each other’s expertise and uncover potential opportunities for partnerships. 

Mike Ward, Global Head of Life Sciences and Healthcare Thought Leadership at Clarivate, gave a fantastic keynote talk on inflection science, reflecting on the global biopharma market throughout 2025, key messages from JPM 2026, and insightful steers on how companies should now position themselves for partnering and fundraising.   

The audience also enjoyed flash talks from selected Milner affiliates* highlighting company capabilities and partnership priorities, before settling into a panel discussion on the future of human in vitro models in drug discovery. Chaired by Erica Bello (Milner Therapeutics Institute), the session brought together perspectives from AstraZeneca (Davide Gianni), STEMCELL Technologies (Salvatore Simmini), Carcinotech (Nikki March) and Medicines Discovery Catapult (Emily Offer), sparking discussion around the opportunities and challenges for adoption of human in vitro models in drug discovery. 

The event also offered extensive networking opportunities, including more than 40 pre-arranged 1:1 meetings and tours of the Milner Therapeutics Institute to learn more about the Functional Genomics Screening Laboratory. It was fantastic to see so many members of our network coming together at our home on the Biomedical Campus and we look forward to seeing where these new connections lead in the coming year.