ASCB

What ASCB does

ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology), founded in 1960 and headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional scientific society serving the global cell biology research community. The society operates an integrated portfolio of products and programs anchored by two peer-reviewed journals — Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), publishing original research across cell biology, and CBE–Life Sciences Education (LSE), a free open-access journal on life sciences education research published in editorial partnership with the Genetics Society of America and partially funded by HHMI. Its flagship offering is the annual Cell Bio meeting, jointly organized with EMBO since 2019 and scheduled through at least 2030 across major US and European convention venues. The society also operates The Cell Image Library, the ASCB Newsletter (six online issues per year), and a growing on-demand video archive spanning 13 pages of recorded webinar and conference content.

ASCB monetizes through a hybrid revenue model spanning membership dues (multiple tiers for students, postdocs, faculty), institutional journal subscriptions, conference registration and exhibit fees, a five-tier corporate sponsorship matrix ranging from $5,000 (Supporters Circle) to $50,000+ (Leadership Circle), website and newsletter advertising managed via Multiview, and federal grants from NIH (MOSAIC/AMP, Grant UE5GM139190-01) and NSF (FRED, Grant MCB-2110604). Career development programs — ASCB Connect (powered by Neuromatch's matching algorithm), the Biotech Course (co-organized with Keck Graduate Institute and UMass Lowell), FRED grant writing training, and the MOSAIC Program (AMP) — serve graduate students, postdocs, and faculty seeking mentorship, industry transition support, and grant funding. The society maintains 51-100 employees, a member base that includes 45 Lasker Awardees and 42 Nobel laureates, and strategic partnerships with NIH, NSF, HHMI, EMBO, Neuromatch, Genetics Society of America, Coalition for the Life Sciences, Multiview, and SPARGO. Distribution is multichannel, spanning direct digital platforms, third-party advertising and exhibit sales partners, and physical conference venues.

Name

ASCB

Legal name

The American Society for Cell Biology

Website

https://ascb.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific society founded in 1960 that serves global cell biology researchers through two peer-reviewed journals (MBoC, LSE), the annual Cell Bio meeting with EMBO, professional development programs, and federal grant-funded career training.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Professional Society

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Training Course Marketplaces (B2B Content Libraries) (EDAFAIAH)

Keywords

• Scientific society
• Cell biology research
• Scientific publishing
• Professional membership
• Life science conferences

Headquarters

HQ city

Rockville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: ASCB generates revenue through annual membership dues from individual scientists, researchers, students, and postdocs globally. Benefits include free subscription to Molecular Biology of the Cell, access to the member portal, discounted meeting registration, and participation in ASCB committees and programs.
2. Annual Meeting Revenue: Registration fees, exhibit booth fees, and sponsorship fees from the annual Cell Bio meeting (jointly organized with EMBO). Corporate sponsorship tiers range from Leadership Circle ($50,000+) to Supporters Circle ($5,000+).
3. Institutional Journal Subscriptions: Institutional subscriptions to MBoC (Molecular Biology of the Cell) for academic libraries and research institutions. Individual and institutional subscription rates are published separately.
4. Advertising Revenue: ASCB sells website and newsletter advertising through a partnership with Multiview, reaching scientists and biologists in cellular research at colleges and universities. Also offers advertising in ASCB's print and digital publications via SPARGO.
5. Corporate Sponsorship and Exhibits: Corporate recognition matrix with five tiers from Leadership Circle ($50,000+) to Supporters Circle ($5,000+). Benefits include showcase articles, priority exhibit space selection, logo placement, complimentary memberships, and booth recognition.
6. Job Board and Career Portal: Revenue from employers posting job listings on the ASCB jobs portal (jobs.ascb.org). Available to biotech, pharma, and academic institutions seeking cell biology professionals.
7. Grants from NIH and NSF: ASCB receives grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the MOSAIC/AMP program (Grant #UE5GM139190-01) and from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the FRED program (Grant #MCB-2110604). These grants support professional development initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ASCB is a nonprofit scientific professional society that supports the global cell biology community through membership services, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, an annual international scientific meeting, and professional development and mentorship programs for researchers, trainees, and educators.

Product overview

ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) is a professional scientific society that offers a portfolio of products and programs centered on advancing cell biology research, education, and professional development. The core offerings include the annual Cell Bio Meeting (jointly with EMBO), two peer-reviewed journals (Molecular Biology of the Cell and CBE—Life Sciences Education), and the ASCB Newsletter. The society provides career development programs including the Biotech Course, FRED Grant Writing Training, and the MOSAIC Program (AMP), as well as mentorship matching through ASCB Connect. Additional resources include on-demand videos, speaker referral lists, teaching resources, awards and grants, and science policy outreach initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cell Bio: Annual joint meeting with EMBO bringing together the global cell biology community
• Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC)
• CBE-Life Sciences Education (LSE)
• ASCB Connect
• ASCB MOSAIC Program (AMP)
• FRED Mentoring Program
• ASCB Biotech Course

Products and services

• Cell Bio Annual Meeting
• Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC)
• CBE—Life Sciences Education (LSE)
• ASCB Membership
• Professional Development Programs Career development programs for cell biologists including training, workshops, and resources for researchers at all career stages.
• Mentorship Matching Program Structured mentorship program that pairs early-career cell biologists with experienced mentors to support career guidance, professional growth, and networking.

Quantifiable outcome

• 75% of Biotech Course attendees transitioned to jobs in biotech, medtech, or pharma
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, strategic and supporting.

• SPARGOcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorASCB partners with SPARGO (spargoinc.com) to sell and manage exhibit booth reservations and sponsorship for the Cell Bio annual meeting. Contact: [email protected]. SPARGO handles the commercial transaction processing for conference exhibits and sponsorship sales.
• NeuromatchcoreTechnology or IntegrationASCB partners with Neuromatch for the ASCB Connect program, using their proprietary matching algorithm to pair members with mentors and mentees based on shared research interests. Neuromatch's mission is to foster inclusive global interactions for learning, mentorship, networking, and professional development.
• EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB and EMBO co-organize the annual Cell Bio meeting, bringing together researchers, educators, and innovators from around the world. The joint Cell Bio meetings (Cell Bio 2025, 2026, etc.) alternate between US and European venues and represent the premier global cell biology conference.
• Genetics Society of AmericamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB publishes CBE—Life Sciences Education (LSE) journal in editorial partnership with the Genetics Society of America, combining scientific society resources to advance life science education research.
• MultiviewmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorASCB has a long-standing partnership with Multiview, North America's largest B2B publisher, to sell and manage website and newsletter advertising opportunities. Multiview extends ASCB's advertising reach to scientists and biologists in cellular research at colleges and universities. Contact: [email protected].
• Coalition for the Life Sciences (CLS)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB is a member of the Coalition for the Life Sciences (CLS), collaborating with other life science societies on science policy advocacy and public engagement.
• DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB is a signatory to DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment), developed to improve the evaluation of scientific research by journals and institutions. ASCB has also introduced DORA Reformscape as an initiative to advance research assessment reform.
• Keck Graduate InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB partners with Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) to co-organize the 3-day virtual Biotech Course helping scientists transition to jobs in biotech, medtech, or pharma. KGI provides faculty including Dr. Steven Casper (Henry Higgs Professor of Management) for the commercialization curriculum.
• University of Massachusetts LowellcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASCB partners with the University of Massachusetts Lowell (Manning School of Business) to co-organize the Biotech Course. Dr. Denise Dunlap (Associate Professor) serves as faculty for the program, contributing business and commercialization expertise.
• National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN)supportingTechnology or IntegrationASCB's FRED program recommends NRMN as a platform to connect biomedical scientists with mentoring relationships. NRMN allows mentors to sign up indicating their interest in mentoring, providing an additional pipeline for FRED mentee-mentor matching.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Society for Neuroscience (SfN): One of the largest life-sciences professional societies globally, with comparable membership dues, a flagship annual meeting (Neuroscience Meeting), peer-reviewed journals (JNeurosci), and career/advocacy programs—structurally analogous to ASCB at a larger scale.
• EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization): ASCB's co-organizing partner for the Cell Bio meeting. EMBO is the European counterpart professional organization, also running journals (The EMBO Journal), fellowships, and the EMBO Meeting—directly comparable mission and structural model.
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR): A major cancer-research professional society that operates journals, an annual meeting, grants, and advocacy. AACR overlaps with ASCB's cell biology member base (especially cancer cell biology) and is a directly comparable membership-driven scientific society.
• Genetics Society of America (GSA): A scientific society that is a direct editorial partner with ASCB on CBE–Life Sciences Education (LSE). GSA publishes GENETICS and G3 journals and runs the research conference model highly comparable to ASCB's structure.
• ASBMB (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology): A peer professional scientific society in molecular biosciences. ASBMB publishes leading journals, hosts the annual ASBMB Annual Meeting, and runs career development programs—directly comparable in membership model, journal publishing, and event-driven GTM to ASCB.
• Biophysical Society: A professional society for biophysics with an annual meeting, peer-reviewed journals, and member programs. Strong overlap with ASCB members in biophysics, quantitative cell biology, and structural biology research communities.

Regional players

• Royal Society of Biology: The UK's national biology professional body, operating membership, publications, accreditation, and policy advocacy. Comparable in mission and structure to ASCB, but serving primarily the UK/European market rather than US/global.

Others

• National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN): A mentoring and professional-development platform with which ASCB's FRED program is integrated. NRMN is a comparable ecosystem partner focused on biomedical mentoring, with adjacent rather than directly competitive offerings to ASCB.

Broad incumbents

• American Society for Microbiology (ASM): A much larger and broader life-sciences professional society with journals (mBio, mSphere, JCM), the annual ASM Microbe meeting, and advocacy. ASM's broader scope makes it a comparable incumbent operating at significantly larger scale than ASCB.
• FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology): An umbrella federation of multiple life-sciences societies (of which ASCB is a member). FASEB provides shared advocacy, publications (FASEB Journal), and career programs, making it a broad incumbent in the same scientific society ecosystem as ASCB.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ascbiology
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCvTYrHvCaObq1ilUqCRBtDQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/ascbiology
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-society-for-cell-biology

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ASCB