ON Helix: From Invention to Impact

The 2025 programme is shaping up to be as ambitious as ever. Key themes this year include harnessing the immune system to fight disease, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost productivity and reach key value inflection points, assembling the right data to support clinical development, and advancing industrialisation in life sciences.

These themes reflect a clear journey from early-stage discovery to global healthcare impact. At the heart of this journey is the integration of advanced therapeutics, AI, and data technologies to transform the development, manufacturing, and delivery of healthcare globally.

Setting the stage will be a keynote from Simon Cook, Institute Director at the Babraham Institute. Simon’s opening keynote will highlight Cambridge’s role as a global leader in science-led innovation and set the tone for a day of discussion focussed on the technology, therapeutics, and innovation ecosystems that we need to bring scientific breakthroughs to patients.

Cambridge is at the forefront of leveraging our immune system to fight cancer and autoimmune conditions. Companies like Artios Pharma and Microbiotica are leading examples of local biotechs translating immunological insights into clinical-stage therapies. Up-and-coming innovators such as Momentous Therapeutics are also gathering pace, having recently benefited from a share of £12 million from the Innovate UK Cancer Therapeutics programme.

At ON Helix, Jake Glason, VP of Technology at Alchemab Therapeutics, will present their cutting-edge approach which combines immune profiling and AI to identify protective antibodies in resilient individuals, a promising new approach to drug discovery.

In a different, yet equally impactful application, James Price, Consultant Adult and Paediatric Emergency Physician at Cambridge University Hospitals and honorary consultant with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) research department, will discuss the BRAIN-FIRST study at EAAA, introducing prehospital inflammatory brain biomarkers at the scene of an incident to guide therapeutics and critical care decisions.

AI-enabled drug discovery platforms are revolutionising how we find new targets, design molecules faster, and predict efficacy more accurately. Cambridge is at the centre of this with local innovators like Ignota Labs, a Cambridge start-up that recently raised $6.9 million to develop AI tools for repurposing failed drug candidates. ON Helix promises to spark excitement about what lies ahead, reinforcing Cambridge’s role as a hub for these technologies with the potential to transform research and development.

Opening the session, Kinga Bercsenyi, Chief Business Officer at Arctoris will deliver the keynote, unveiling the company’s bold vision for the potential of AI-driven drug discovery. With deep ties to Cambridge, Arctoris has collaborated with the University of Cambridge and King’s College London on an exciting project using GPT-4 to identify drugs against breast cancer cells, without harming healthy cells.

Building on this theme of AI-enabled innovation, several other Cambridge-linked companies will also take the stage at ON Helix. Among them is Kuano, a Cambridge-based innovator with Catherine Stace, Executive Vice President Business Development, set to present their revolutionary ‘Quantum Lens’ – a unique combination of AI, structure-based drug design, and physics to unlock challenging targets and design better drugs. Joining them is Isomorphic Labs, fresh off a landmark financing.

Miles Congreve, Chief Scientific Officer, will reveal how their pioneering AI-first approach, built on the groundbreaking AlphaFold platform, is fundamentally reshaping drug discovery. While based in London, their scientific links to Cambridge include Miles’ strong professional presence in Cambridge, including previous roles at Sosei Heptares and Astex Therapeutics, and a PhD in chemistry from Cambridge University.

Yet, even as we push boundaries, challenges remain. This is especially the case when it comes to navigating complex regulatory frameworks and moving from pre-clinical to first in-human. These persistent hurdles are now compounded by a challenging financing environment.

Investor priorities are changing; according to Biotechgate’s Life Science Financing Summary (December 2024), the number of deals made on products in the pre-clinical stage decreased from 44% to 36% between Q3 and Q4, while the number of deals for companies in phase III more than doubled from 7% to 16%. This preference for later-stage de-risked assets places additional pressure on traditionally early-stage innovation ecosystems like Cambridge.

ON Helix will address these hurdles directly. Quodria, a dermatology spin-out from Alderley Park, part of a growing network of UK life science clusters that Cambridge is connected to, will share lessons learnt in clinical development from a small biotech perspective, touching on key areas like CMC, regulatory engagement and IP.

The journey from innovation to commercialisation is rarely linear, and the closing session will explore what it takes to scale-up disruptive science into global healthcare solutions. Drawing on lessons from experts, it will address the challenges and include global perspectives from the participants of the One Nucleus Boston Bootcamp 2025.

The Bootcamp winners - Metrion Biosciences, PharmEnable Therapeutics, RNAvate and Tailor Bio - joined by self-funders Cellestial Health and OutSee, drawn from across Cambridge and the wider UK life sciences ecosystem, exemplify the innovation and ambition that define our region’s global impact.

Success stories like Arecor and Bicycle Therapeutics underscore how Cambridge continues to foster and scale leading biotech innovations.

Among the speakers will be Cathy Tralau-Stewart, Executive Director at the Milner Therapeutics Institute, who will discuss a major new collaboration with Flagship Pioneering and Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP), designed to accelerate the path from discovery to impact.

Don’t miss your opportunity to be part of the conversation. Join us at ON Helix 2025 and help shape the future of life science innovation. Register for the July 3 event today at www.onhelix.com