By Monalisa Breazu, Learning & Development Administrator We recently hosted a seminar on business lead generation from events that sparked a lot of honest conversation around something many businesses know all too well: being busy is not always the same as generating real opportunities. You can attend the right events, have plenty of conversations, collect a handful of business cards and still come away wondering why none of it turned into actual leads. One of the strongest themes from the session was that successful lead generation is rarely about saying more. It is usually about saying…

by Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus I recently attended a women‑led science event, and it’s one of those occasions that stays with you for reasons you don’t fully expect. It wasn’t a single presentation or statistic that caught my attention, but a theme that kept resurfacing throughout the day and gradually shifted how I was thinking about the whole topic. For a long time, conversations about women’s health have understandably focused on what’s missing: the gaps in diagnosis, the lack of funding, and the treatments that don’t reflect the realities of women’s…

by Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus I have been thinking a lot about One Nucleus’ recent visit to the Flanders-UK Partnering in Ghent, Belgium, partly because it was such a great couple of days, but mostly because it reminded me how energising it can be to step into another ecosystem and see how people are approaching similar challenges from a different perspective. The trip was organised with VIB and Biovia, and from the moment we arrived, it felt as though we were stepping into a community that genuinely wanted to connect, share and learn alongside us. What I…

*Guest blog by Pivotal. For more information on the information in this blog post please contact Ms. Natalia Farr - [email protected].  If you would like to submit a guest blog please email [email protected]. The AI revolution in Pharmaceutical R&D is transitioning from experimental curiosity to operational necessity. This transformation is supported by quantifiable operational improvements: AI-enabled discovery workflows have shown the potential to reduce early discovery timelines by up to 40% and costs by approximately 30% for complex targets [1]. The strategic role of…

For many Life Sciences companies, R&D tax relief has long been viewed as a mechanism for recovering cost; an incentive aligned with innovation, growth, and scientific ambition. That framing is no longer sufficient. Over the past 18–24 months, we have seen a clear shift in how R&D claims in the Life Sciences sector are reviewed and challenged  by HMRC.  The focus has moved decisively away from the size of a claim and towards its technical credibility, evidential support, and internal consistency. For finance leaders and R&D teams alike, this marks an important change in…

As we approach a new financial year, five months on from the launch of the Charities Aid Foundation's latest Corporate Giving Report, its message remains powerful: corporate giving is declining, yet it remains a central pillar to responsible business. You may be wondering who the Charities Aid Foundation are? The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) are a global charity working with individual and corporate donors to turn their generosity, connection to a cause and ambition, into purposeful change. We help businesses, including those in the life sciences sector, to give to charities around the…

R&D Tax Credit Pre-Notification: A Critical Requirement for Innovators Pre-notification is now a mandatory legislative requirement for certain companies intending to claim R&D tax credits. Introduced as part of HMRC’s reforms to the R&D tax relief regime, the rule applies to companies that are first-time claimants or those that have not made a relevant R&D tax credit claim in the previous three accounting periods. Affected companies must notify HMRC of their intention to claim within six months of the end of the relevant accounting period. If this deadline is missed, the…

by Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus As we start 2026, it’s easy to focus on the next wave of exciting science: artificial intelligence, data-driven discovery and new therapeutic platforms. All of this absolutely matters, but I increasingly believe the future of life sciences will be shaped less by what we invent and more by how well we align the ecosystems around it. The life sciences sector does not lack activity but can lack connection. Across life sciences, we still operate in silos at a sector level. Science moves forward, then funding follows later,…

By Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus Pitching is often treated as something founders do only when they are raising money, yet in life sciences it has become far more than a fundraising exercise. It has turned into one of the most adaptable tools a company has, influencing how it is perceived, supported and championed long before any investment round begins. As we head towards Genesis 2025 and the launch of the new Company Showcase stream, I’ve been thinking about how much broader the value of pitching has become. Securing capital will always matter, it is what…

By LimestoneGrey, Chartered Tax Advisers specialising in R&D tax relief Many companies working within the Med-Tech and life sciences sectors are tackling global challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, ageing populations and chronic disease management. Addressing these complex issues often requires research that extends beyond the UK's borders. However, as part of major reforms to R&D tax relief, the government has now imposed strict limits on the eligibility of overseas expenditure. The new rules aim to encourage domestic innovation, meaning that, by default, most overseas R…