Xiaohongshu
2025-26: What We Did 🚀
This was a big year.
Our Inside Industry speaker series 🎤 brought some of the most exciting companies in biotech directly to UCL. Notpla came to talk about engineering seaweed-based materials to replace single-use plastics. Orchard Therapeutics walked us through gene therapy, correcting rare genetic diseases at the DNA level. Outpost Bio showed how machine learning is being used to decode the gut microbiome and build the next generation of live biotherapeutics. Speakers from GSK, Takeda, and Novartis covered everything from antibody engineering to the future of drug development. And through our partnership with Meatly and Hoxton Farms 🥩, we went deep into cultivated meat, exploring how stem cell biology and precision biomanufacturing are building an entirely new food system from the ground up.
Lightning Lectures ⚡ ran every Monday and gave UCL's leading academics a platform to share live research. Topics included engineering adeno-associated viruses for improved biomanufacturing, digital bioprocessing, protein engineering and the design of manufacturable biologics, and biotechnological approaches to renewable feedstocks and the circular bioeconomy. These weren't polished overview talks — they were specific, technical, and genuinely at the frontier.
We also hosted a full AI in Drug Discovery and Development panel 🤖 bringing together the VP of Diagnostic Imaging, Data and AI at a major pharma company, the founding partner of a leading biotech venture fund, the CEO of BioCortex, and the Head of AI for Life Sciences at Deloitte. It covered where AI is actually delivering in drug development, and where the hype still outpaces the biology.
Beyond the academic programming, we ran internship application masterclasses with sponsors from HSBC, Macfarlanes, BNP Paribas, Barclays, and Morgan Lewis 💼, a life sciences career panel, and built partnerships with 8+ UCL societies and external organisations including AstraZeneca and Hoxton Farms.
We also recruited first-year student reps in December, giving the next cohort a genuine stake in shaping the society from day one. 🌱
One thing we're particularly proud of: our partnership with the Laidlaw Foundation. The 2025-26 president is himself a Laidlaw Scholar, and we built a dedicated pipeline connecting Biotechnology Society members to Laidlaw scholarship opportunities. This year, 6 out of 30 UCL Laidlaw Scholars came directly from our society. 🏆
And of course — the socials. Pub nights, bowling 🎳, games nights, lab tours at Hoxton Farms, and more. Because the best scientific conversations happen away from the lecture hall too.
2026-27: What's Coming 🔭
We're building on everything above and going further.
Lab tours are expanding significantly. Members will get access to the facilities at Hoxton Farms, Meatly, Orchard Therapeutics, and the Francis Crick Institute 🏛️ — some of the most exciting biotech environments in the country, all within reach of campus. Lab tour access will also be tied to membership, making joining the society genuinely worthwhile from day one.
The Lightning Lectures and Inside Industry series continue, with more academics, more industry figures, and more of the specific, technical programming that made this year's events worth showing up for.
We're launching an inter-university programme 🤝, building connections with biotech and synthetic biology societies at Imperial, King's, and beyond. Expect joint events, panels, and the kind of cross-university network that actually matters when you're looking for collaborators or co-founders.
We're running a dedicated Laidlaw panel to help members navigate the scholarship application process, building on the pipeline we established this year.
And we're launching a biotechnology magazine 📰 — a publication covering the science, the industry, and the ideas that don't fit neatly into either. More details coming soon.
The socials aren't going anywhere either. Freshers picnic in Regent's Park, pub nights, bowling, quiz nights, games evenings, and more — because community is the point, not just a bonus. 🎉
If you want to be around people who are genuinely excited about where biology is going, this is the place.