NEW ORLEANS – Participation in Bright Kids in Biotech (BKIB) has more than tripled since Nucleate’s New Orleans chapter began hosting the program in 2024, drawing nearly 50 New Orleans-area high school students to the New Orleans BioInnovation Center in early 2026 for its annual hands-on introduction to biotechnology and entrepreneurship.
The 2026 program marked the third year Nucleate has hosted the initiative in collaboration with Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans (JAGNO). The first two Nucleate-led events in 2024 and 2025 drew around 15 students each before expanding significantly this year.
Junior Achievement focuses on financial literacy, career readiness and entrepreneurship education for young people across the region.
The initiative was originally launched by Bry Reinhardt, a former MD/MPH student at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans who co-founded the Nucleate New Orleans chapter in 2023. Reinhardt is now completing her residency in Nashville and is no longer involved with the local chapter.
Participants were juniors and seniors, ages 15 to 18, from Booker T. Washington High School, Frederick Douglass High School and John F. Kennedy High School, all part of KIPP New Orleans Schools. The students were enrolled in STEM-related elective courses such as robotics and healthcare, which helped connect organizers with the group.
Hands-On Entrepreneurship at NOBIC
Ahead of the live event, students completed pre-work assignments identifying real-world problems, outlining potential solutions and considering business fundamentals including customer segment, competition and market opportunity.
At the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC) participants toured lab space and received instruction on the structure of an effective pitch before competing in seven teams of roughly six students. Each team defined a problem, developed a solution, identified its target customer and conducted competitive analysis of existing technologies. The top three teams received prizes.
The New Orleans BioInnovation Center serves as a nonprofit biotechnology incubator, providing lab space and commercialization support to startups working to grow the region’s life sciences sector.
The winning team presented “PowerPatch,” a solar-charging battery pack that doubles as a phone case.
Throughout the program, students stepped into the roles of innovators and founders, applying scientific concepts alongside entrepreneurial thinking.
This year’s programming was led by Khushi Kiran, a Nucleate leader and LSU PhD student, and Micaela Schlichenmeyer, Director of Impact and School Support at Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans. Organizers plan to host the program again in Winter 2027.
Building a Biotech Pipeline in New Orleans
Louisiana has increasingly prioritized life sciences and biotechnology as growth sectors, with expanding research, startup activity and commercialization efforts across the state.
Nucleate is a global, student-run nonprofit organization that supports scientists, clinicians and engineers in translating early-stage life sciences research into biotech startups. The organization operates chapters at universities around the world, connecting graduate students and researchers with industry mentors and investors.
Nucleate focuses on the earliest stages of commercialization — often before a company formally exists — and provides education on intellectual property, regulatory pathways, venture funding and company formation. Its structured programming includes the Activator, which helps teams form companies around scientific discoveries and connect with mentors and capital networks.
Founded in 2023, the New Orleans chapter connects life sciences graduate students across local academic institutions. The current leadership team is led by Haley Marcotte, a Tulane PhD student, and Samuel Vodovoz, a Tulane MD student, and includes students from Tulane University, LSU, Xavier University and Loyola University.
The chapter hosts monthly events in partnership with organizations such as the New Orleans BioInnovation Center and Baker Donelson to connect trainees with industry professionals. Past programming has included networking socials, pitch workshops, panel discussions and a Women Leading Life Sciences dinner.
Chapter leaders say their goal is to strengthen the city’s biotech ecosystem by creating opportunities for students and trainees to build and scale innovations locally after graduation. Industry leaders have increasingly emphasized the need for early STEM engagement to support long-term workforce development in high-growth sectors like biotechnology.
The program also reflects growing collaboration between local academic institutions, nonprofit organizations and innovation hubs working to position New Orleans as a competitive life sciences market. By exposing high school students to biotech and startup thinking, organizers say the initiative helps build the talent base needed to support New Orleans’ growing life sciences and innovation economy.
