Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based Founder operating in the Biotechnology space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Valentina Milanova
Founder and CEO of Daye
Valentina previously worked with Techstars as a Business Development Associate. She is currently looking after the AI portfolio at Founders Factory – launching 200 businesses in the next five years! Before entering the startup and VC worlds, Valentina studied law and worked as a technology correspondent for large international publications.
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About Daye: Daye creates category-defining products and services that set a new standard for medical research and scientific innovation.
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Sara Murray
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Buddi
Sara Murray (M.A. Oxon) is a serial entrepreneur. She founded Ninah Consulting, which uses proprietary software to advise clients, including GSK and Coca-Cola, on marketing effectiveness, and sold it to Publicis Groupe. In 1999, Sara founded Inspop, which owns the brand Confused.com. She built and sold the online company to the Admiral Group. She was a non-executive Director of Schering Health Care and a founding board member of Seedcamp. Sara won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2009 and sits on the Technology Strategy Board Governing Board. Sara was awarded an OBE for services to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2012 and is a qualified helicopter pilot.
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About Buddi, Confused.com: Buddi is an innovative, high-growth and british technology company that develops location and health monitoring technologies.
Siro Perez
Co-Founder & CEO of Molecular Warehouse
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About IP Group, Kira Biotech, Molecular Warehouse: Molecular Warehouse is creating a world where most diseases are prevented, by giving people the power of molecular diagnostics and mHealth.
Nikita Alexandrov
Co-Founder of Molecular Warehouse
Nikita brings advanced expertise in instrumentation and high throughput research techniques. Prior to MW, he founded Permanetix Corporation, developing technology in the field of Fusion energy. Previously, he was the first employee in the aerospace materials testing start-up XEEL Corp, where he developed tools and techniques for high energy testing of space flight hardware for NASA. Nikita graduated from Auburn University (USA) in 2012, with a degree in chemistry, focusing on analytical chemistry, where he received his own lab to conduct chemical plasma reactor research and development. Nikita has an MBA from the University of Alabama (USA).
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About Molecular Warehouse: Molecular Warehouse is creating a world where most diseases are prevented, by giving people the power of molecular diagnostics and mHealth.
Benjamina Bollag
Founder & CEO of HigherSteaks
Benjamina is the CEO of London-based food tech start-up Higher Steaks, which she founded in 2017. Previously, Benjamina co-founded a London-based B2B electronics company selling to FTSE500 companies. Benjamina has also worked at Israeli 3D printing company, Stratasys, at the digital marketing division of PepsiCo’s joint venture with Strauss and was the lead developer an ed-tech startup. Benjamina holds a Master of Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College, where she completed a project focusing on the design of a peptide plant, conducting a lab-based research on synthesis and liquid exfoliation of graphitic carbon nitride
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About HigherSteaks, Zestful: HigherSteaks is about providing with that juicy, tender, and delicious meat they love but without harming their health, planet, and animals.
Michael Anstey
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Proteorex Therapeutics Inc.
Michael Anstey is an Investment Director specialising in healthcare investments. Before joining CIC he was a Principal in the Healthcare Practice Area at The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Toronto office. Michael has experience in advising multinational healthcare businesses across North America, Europe, India, and Japan on a broad range of topics, including corporate strategy, sales and marketing, new launches, R&D and medical strategy, and M&A. Michael was co-founder and COO of an early stage biotechnology company focused on developing small molecule drugs that target protein-protein interactions implicated in disease. Prior to BCG, Michael worked in venture capital, where he focused on investing in early stage healthcare and life science businesses. Michael earned his DPhil in Zoology in the field of neurobiology, jointly supervised by professors at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Michael sits on the board of Bicycle Therapeutics.
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About Cambridge Innovation Capital, Proteorex Therapeutics Inc.: Expanding horizons to find cures
George Goldsmith
Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of COMPASS Pathways
George is a serial entrepreneur with significant experience in pharmaceutical regulation. George’s early training and experience was a multi-disciplinary blending of cognitive psychology, clinical psychology and computer science.His first company, The Human Interface Group, was a pioneer in collaborative software and acquired by Lotus Development. George led the Lotus Institute and developed software and services to support high-performance, distributed teamwork. George then created TomorrowLab, which provided strategic guidance to internet businesses in the late 1990s. At the same time, he became a senior advisor to McKinsey & Company’s leadership, and eventually joined McKinsey as CEO of TomorrowLab@McKinsey. Subsequently, as a member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) and its International Board of Directors, George founded YPO Networks. In 2002, George founded Tapestry Networks, an organisation committed to improving leadership performance and governance effectiveness in regulated sectors. He still serves as Tapestry Networks’ Non-Executive Chairman. George also serves on the board of directors for AnaBios, a company redefining drug discovery. He and his wife, Ekaterina Malievskaia MD, live in London.
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About COMPASS Pathways: Compass Pathways is a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health.
Ekaterina Malievskaia
Chief Innovation Officer & Co-Founder of COMPASS Pathways
Ekaterina received her medical degree from St Petersburg Medical Academy in St Petersburg, Russia. After her Internal Medicine residency training, she completed an Environmental Medicine Fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and received her MSc in Public Health from New York University Medical School. She worked in private practice, academic medicine and public health for more than 15 years in the greater New York area. She was a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as well as a Research Professor at City University of New York. After moving to London in 2011, Ekaterina worked in global health and medical philanthropy, focusing on improving outcomes in maternal and child health. She founded COMPASS Pathways with her husband George Goldsmith in 2016, having experienced at first hand the challenges in accessing evidence-based and effective mental health care for a family member.
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About COMPASS Pathways: Compass Pathways is a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health.
Sebastian Brunemeier
Founder & COO of Samsara Therapeutics
Sebastian Brunemeier is the Founder and COO of Samsara Therapeutics.
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About Cyclone Therapeutics, Samsara Therapeutics, U.S. Department of State, University of Oxford: Samsara Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that aims to discover therapeutics to treat rare genetic and neurodegenerative disease.
Gabriella Santosa
Co-Founder and CSO of Puraffinity
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About Puraffinity: Puraffinity develops precision materials to target chemicals, with an initial focus on PFAS in water
Henrik Hagemann
CEO and Co-Founder of Puraffinity
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About Puraffinity, Tech London Advocates: Puraffinity develops precision materials to target chemicals, with an initial focus on PFAS in water
Charles Blundell
Founder & CTO of C4X Discovery
Charles invented C4XD’s core Conformetrix technology, founded the Company and led the spin-out from The University of Manchester in 2008 with Dr. Andrew Almond. Charles has been awarded multiple grants from top UK research councils during his career and has published over 20 research articles in leading scientific journals. He studied for his undergraduate masters degree and DPhil in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford (Keble College), graduating within the top 5 of his peer group.
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About C4X Discovery: C4X Discovery brings a new dimension to drug discovery. Using its unique NMR-based technique to determine 3D molecular.
Houman Ashrafian
Managing Partner & Founder of SV Health Investors
Houman Ashrafian is the Managing Partner at SV Health Investors.
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About Catamaran Bio, Cellinta, Enara Bio, Karus Therapeutics, Sitryx Therapeutics, SV Health Investors, Zarodex Therapeutics: SV Health Investors is a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on investments in biotechnology and healthcare industry.
Stephan Tual
Founder, CEO of 3 Billion Pairs Genetic
Stephan Tual is the Founder & CEO at 3 Billion Pairs Genetics Ltd. & he attended Institut Franco-Américain de Management in 1995.
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About 3 Billion Pairs Genetic: 3 Billion Pairs Genetic is a biotechnology based company.
Maria Chatzou Dunford
CEO and Co-Founder of Lifebit
Dr. Maria Chatzou, CEO of Lifebit, is a biotech innovator and a proud geek, expert in bioinformatics, medical informatics and high performance computing. She is also a passionate entrepreneur and has founded two companies, Innovation Forum Barcelona and Techstars-backed Lifebit. Prior to Lifebit, she was a researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation, in Barcelona, where she was designing and deploying tools and methods that facilitate the analysis of Big Biomedical Data, allow for biological discoveries, and promote personalised medicine. She was part of the developing team of Nextflow, a programming framework that is revolutionising the computational analysis of genomic data and setting the foundations for personalised medicine computational analyses. Maria is also a frequent industry speaker and has spoken in many international conferences on the subjects of docker containers, genomics workflows, the computational challenges of personalised medicine, AI and HPC in genomics, women in leadership, entrepreneurship, science ventures, among many other topics.
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About Lifebit: Lifebit CloudOS is the intelligent genomics platform that is the industry standard for unified, secure research over distributed big data.
Pablo Prieto Barja
CTO and Co-Founder of Lifebit
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About Lifebit: Lifebit CloudOS is the intelligent genomics platform that is the industry standard for unified, secure research over distributed big data.
Arthur Kay
Founder of bio-bean
Arthur Kay is an award-winning designer and entrepreneur, the Co-Founder and CEO of bio-bean, an award-winning green energy company that recycles waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels. Arthur came up with the idea for bio-bean whilst studying architecture at The Bartlett, UCL, and in two years has raised several million in financing, built the world’s first coffee waste recycling factory and a team of twenty. He currently holds positions on a number of boards associated with social enterprise and green entrepreneurship and is a Fellow of WIRED, the RSA and IoD. In 2013, Shell named him ‘the UK’s most Innovative Entrepreneur,’ he was appointed as a ‘London Leader’ by Mayor Boris Johnson, in 2014 he became one of NESTA’s ‘New Radicals’ and was named ’25 under 25 most influential Londoners’ by the Evening Standard. He was named the youngest ever Guardian Sustainable Business Leader of the Year in 2015.
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About bio-bean, Skyroom, UCL, United Nations Global Compact: bio-bean is a U.K.-based green company that offers its users with processes of recycling and waste management solutions.
Gregg Sando
Founder & former Chief Executive Officer of Kuur Therapeutics
Gregg Sando is the founder and CEO of Cell Medica. After a career in investment banking based both in London and New York, he completed his Immunology MSc degree at the medical school of Imperial College. Recognizing the significant progress taking place in the field of cellular immunotherapy, Gregg formed Cell Medica in cooperation with a small group of the leading clinicians and immunologists who were pioneering this new mode of medical treatment. (B.A. Biochemistry, Harvard University; M.B.A. University of Chicago; MSc Immunology, Imperial College London).
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About Kuur Therapeutics: Kuur Therapeutics is committed to transforming the lives of patients with cancer & is leading the development cell therapies.
Jonathan Sieff
Co-Founder of Polymateria
Jonathan Sieff is the Co-Founder of Polymateria.
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About Polymateria: Polymateria is a London-based startup advancing science to help nature deal with plastic pollution.
Lee Davy-Martin
Co-Founder of Polymateria
Lee Davy-Martin is the Co-Founder of Polymateria.
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About Polymateria: Polymateria is a London-based startup advancing science to help nature deal with plastic pollution.
Tom Simmons
Founder & CEO of Supplant
Tom has over 10 years of experience in carbohydrate biochemistry. He formerly held fellowships at the University of Cambridge and at the World Economic Forum and has advocated sugar reduction initiatives through Sky News and Channel 4 television appearances.
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About Cambridge Judge Business School, Supplant: Supplant is a biotechnology platform that makes sugar substitutes.
Michael Brennan
Co Founder & Non-Executive Director of BenevolentAI
Mr. Michael Brennan co-founded BenevolentAI Limited in 2013 and serves as its Head of Corporate Development. Mr. Brennan co-founded Novum Securities in 2006 and served as it Chief Executive Officer. In 2009, Mr. Brennan joined Proximagen Group plc, as Head of Corporate Development, where he was focused on fund raising, corporate transactions and business development. Mr. Brennan has over 14 years of equity capital markets experience in the City focusing on the small and mid cap market. He is a Senior corporate finance executive with over 15 years City based capital markets experience. The majority of his time was spent with Evolution Securities where he served as a Director in their corporate finance department and has significant transactional experience including M&A and takeover work. He has been a Non-Executive Director at Litebulb Group Limited since September 13, 2013.
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About BenevolentAI, SimplyPayMe: BenevolentAI is a developer of artificial intelligence and computational medicine technologies.
Ivan Griffin
COO & Co-Founder of BenevolentAI
Ivan joined NESTA in March 2009. He makes and manages investments in the Healthcare sector. Prior to joining NESTA Ivan spent four years at IP Group where he was predominantly focused on healthcare and life science businesses. At IP Group his role encompassed all aspects of technology commercialisation, including identification of investment opportunities, spin-out company formation, business and corporate development as well as private and public equity financings and trade sales. Before joining IP Group Ivan spent two years at Oxford Technology Venture Capital Trust, and a year in post-doctoral research where he published several scientific papers.
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About BenevolentAI: BenevolentAI is a developer of artificial intelligence and computational medicine technologies.
Brent Gutekunst
Chief Development Officer & Founder of BenevolentAI
Mr. Brent Gutekunst co-founded BenevolentAI Limited in 2013 and also serves as its Chief Development Officer. Mr. Gutekunst is the founder of Stratified Medical, Inc. Previously, he founded TouchDx in 2009. Prior to TouchDx, he founded E-Auction. He also founded Collectors Universe and after merging with leading firms in the collectibles industry completed a successful IPO in collectibles.
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About BenevolentAI: BenevolentAI is a developer of artificial intelligence and computational medicine technologies.
Ken Mulvany
Founder & Board Director of BenevolentAI
Mr. Ken Mulvany is a serial entrepreneur and investor with more than 20 years of business leadership experience. He is the Founder and Chairman of BenevolentAI, a $2bn machine intelligence company with end-to-end drug development capabilities. Mr. Mulvany was previously Founder and CEO of Proximagen, a leading biotech company developing medicines for central nervous system disorders, which he sold in 2012. Mulvany sits on several advisory boards including the advisory panel to the UK Government on Artificial Intelligence and the Advisory Board for Oxford Sciences Innovations. He is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, and formerly, the Chairman of the Trustees of the Cure Parkinson’s Trust. Mr. Mulvany is a world champion sailor and competed in the 1992 America’s Cup.
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About BenevolentAI: BenevolentAI is a developer of artificial intelligence and computational medicine technologies.
Mark Kotter
Founder/CEO of bit.bio
Mark Kotter is the founder and CEO of bit.bio.
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About bit.bio: Bit.bio specializes in the fields of coding and biology that determine the identity of every human cell.
Tom Henley
Founder and CEO of Empyrean Therapeutics
Tom Henley is the founder and CEO of Empyrean Therapeutics.
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About Empyrean Therapeutics: Empyrean Therapeutics develops next generation cell therapies to enable global and affordable cures for diseases.
Andrew Shepherd
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Omega Diagnostics
Andrew Shepherd is the Founder and Managing Director of Omega Diagnostics Limited. He is responsible for corporate strategy, general management, sales and marketing and technical direction. He has been involved in the medical diagnostics industry for the last 35 years. He started his career in 1974 by holding technical positions at G.D. Searle Limited and then attended university, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He then moved into a sales and marketing position at Cambridge Life Sciences plc in 1981, before establishing his first diagnostics company, Cambridge Biomedical Limited in 1982. In 1986 he moved to Scotland to join Bioscot Limited and shortly afterwards, established Omega. Shepherd used his technical experience and knowledge of exporting to oversee the growth of the export of Omega products to exceed £2 million per annum. Omega now exports to over 100 countries around the world, and he travels regularly to many of the countries in which Omega customers are based. Shepherd is an active member of a number of relevant trade associations and was a member of the Scottish Exports Forum, a body which reported to the Scottish Parliament to oversee and guide the export activity of Scottish Development International. Mr Shepherd was also a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s (BMGF) Global Health Diagnostics Forum, which provides direct guidance to BMGF in advising on future investments in worldwide diagnostics programmes for developing countries.
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About Global DX Ltd, Omega Diagnostics: Omega Diagnostics provides IVD products for use in hospitals, blood banks, clinics, and laboratories.
Aris Papageorghiou
Co-Founder & CMO of Intelligent Ultrasound
Aris Papageorghiou is the Professor of Fetal Medicine at University of Oxford.
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About Intelligent Ultrasound, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Ultrasound Diagnostic Services, University of Oxford: Intelligent Ultrasound develops software that improves the quality, reliability, and diagnostic power of medical ultrasound.
Andrew Barker
Co-Founder & Director of Intelligent Ultrasound
Andrew Barker is the Chairman at Oxford Brain Diagnostics .
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About Anchard Associates, Brainomix, Intelligent Ultrasound, Oxford Brain Diagnostics: Intelligent Ultrasound develops software that improves the quality, reliability, and diagnostic power of medical ultrasound.
Amit Nathwani
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Freeline
Amit is renowned for his pioneering work on gene therapy for haemophilia B, and was first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe haemophilia B. Amit is the Director of the Katharine Dormandy Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Free Hospital, and a Senior NIHR Investigator. He is also Professor of Haematology at UCL. He graduated in Medicine from the University of Aberdeen in 1984. In 1997 he moved to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA, to work with Dr Arthur Nienhuis on adeno-associated virus mediated gene transfer. Here he started his pioneering work on gene therapy for haemophilia B. In 2001 he returned to University College London as a Senior Lecturer in Haematology and a Consultant to the National Blood Services in the UK. He was the first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe haemophilia B, using a distinct gene transfer approach developed in collaboration with Dr’s Davidoff and Nienhuis at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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About Freeline: Freeline Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing liver directed gene therapies for a range of diseases.
Aron Rachamim
Founder & CEO of Senzo
Aron Rachamim is committed to changing the world by putting healthcare information into everyone’s hands. A serial entrepreneur, scientist, and experienced leader, Aron aims to apply pioneering technologies to improve people’s quality of life. His expertise and passion for the science of microfluidics builds on his background in life sciences, physics, and engineering. His company Orphidia intends to transform the world of medical diagnostics. Aron launched Orphidia in 2013 to provide affordable, point-of-care diagnostics that allow everyone to know their health. Orphidia has advanced the state-of-the-art with microfluidic-based medical diagnostics that are minimally invasive, replacing venous blood draws from a phlebotomist with a simple fingerstick that anyone can perform. Aron is a serial entrepreneur, whose background combines a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a focus on microfluidics and biotechnology with strong experience in professional management. At Protein Logic, a spin-out from Cambridge University that raised more than £3 million in initial funding to develop proprietary biomarker technology for the diagnosis and prediction of diseases, he served as COO. At WiseMed, where he was Co-founder, his team developed crowdsourced medical diagnostic technology as an affordable solution for improving healthcare in the developing world. Now, at Orphidia, Aron is providing the vision and leadership that will usher in the next generation of medical diagnostics, empowering everyone to know their health.
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About Senzo: Senzo is a deep-tech bio-med company developing testing products and IP.
Hannah Sore
Founder and CEO of PharmEnable
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About PharmEnable: PharmEnable has developed a rapid and cost effective way to identify better chemical starting points to drive the discovery.
Abdullah Sabyah
Founder and CEO of Rightangled
A scientist-entrepreneur and a healthcare professional, also a member of the British Heart Foundation Alliance, a member of the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Implementation Consortium in the US, and the inventor of a patent pending-technology for nucleic acid testing on a lateral flow assay (the patent is for a technology to detect DNA sequences in real-time).
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About Rightangled: Medtech specialised in Genetics, Blood and infection testing. Service is delivers through a platform that connects users with specialists.
Mario Alberto Accardi
CEO and Co-Founder of Orexia
Life sciences executive and investor focused on starting, funding and running companies in the life sciences. Over a decade experience in the industry spanning fundamental research, venture capital and operational roles. I am now CEO and Co-Founder of Orexia and Inexia, two biotech companies founded with VC investor Medicxi and Sosei Heptares. I am also CEO and Co-Founder and inventor behind Orthonika, a medtech spin-out from Imperial College London.
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About Orexia, Orthonika: Orexia aims to develop orally administered orexin positive modulators for the treatment of neurological diseases.
David Tuch
Founder & Executive Chairman of Lightpoint Medical
David Tuch is the Founder and CEO of Lightpoint Medical. He has more than a decade of experience in the medical imaging and pharmaceutical sectors. Previously, he was Head of Research Alliances at GE Healthcare and Head of Clinical Imaging at Novartis. Before joining industry, Dr. Tuch served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Radiology. He is currently an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Imperial College, Department of Bioengineering. Dr. Tuch holds a PhD from MIT and Harvard Medical School, a BA from the University of Chicago, and has completed executive education at INSEAD.
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About Lightpoint Medical, Lucida Medical: Lightpoint Medical, a medical device company, develops intra-operative imaging technology that can detect cancer during surgery.
Sophie Dundovic
Co-Founder of Parasym
Sophie Dundovic is a Co-founder at Parasym.
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About Parasym: Parasym is a neurotechnology company focused on providing innovative neurostimulation products that improve quality of life.
Andrea Spezzi
Chief Medical Officer & Co-Founder of Orchard Therapeutics
Andrea is a co-founder of Orchard Therapeutics and brings to the company extensive experience and expertise in the development and execution of all aspects of clinical development and particularly in paediatric rare diseases. Prior to joining Orchard Therapeutics, Andrea served as VP and Medicine Development Leader at GSK Rare Diseases Unit. Previous to joining the GSK Rare Diseases Unit, Andrea was Senior Medical Director at the Immune Inflammation Discovery Performance Unit. Before GSK, Andrea was Global Medical Director R&D at Takeda in the metabolic and cardiovascular area and in charge of the paediatric developments for Takeda Europe R&D. Before that, she worked as Research Physician at Hammersmith Medicines Research. Before moving to the pharmaceutical industry Andrea practiced as a paediatrician for 12 years in Argentina, Spain and UK. Andrea obtained her medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and completed residency in paediatrics and post graduate training in paediatric immunology at the Dr Elizalde Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She obtained a Specialist in Pharmaceutical Medicine degree from University of Basel, Switzerland and she is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in London, UK (FFPM).
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About Orchard Therapeutics: Orchard Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients through innovative gene therapies.
Zhangming Niu
Founder & CEO of MindRank AI
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About MindRank AI: MindRank is a developer of an AI-enabled drug-discovery platform intended to discover and develop next generation precision medicines.
James Noble
Founder & CEO of Adaptimmune
James Noble has served as our full-time Chief Executive Officer since March 2014 and part-time CEO from July 2008 to March 2014 and is one of our co-founders. From July 2008 until March 2014, Mr. Noble was also part-time CEO of Immunocore. Mr. Noble has 24 years of experience in the biotech industry. He has held numerous non-executive director positions, including at CuraGen Corporation, PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, Oxford GlycoSciences plc, MediGene AG, and Advanced Medical Solutions plc. Mr. Noble is also Deputy Chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals plc and a non-executive director of Immunocore Limited. Mr. Noble is qualified as a chartered accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and spent seven years at the investment bank Kleinwort Benson Limited, where he became a director in 1990. He then joined British Biotech plc as Chief Financial Officer from 1990 to 1997. Mr. Noble was previously Chief Executive Officer of Avidex Limited, a privately held biotechnology company that was our predecessor, from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Noble holds an MA from the University of Oxford.
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About Adaptimmune, Advanced Medical Solutions, Curagen Corporation, MediGene, Oxford GlycoSciences, PowderJect Pharmaceuticals: Adaptimmune develops T cell therapies to treat cancer, human immunodeficiency virus, and infectious diseases.
James Field
CEO & Founder of LabGenius
James is founder and CEO of LabGenius. James completed his PhD studies at Imperial College London where his research was focused on re-engineering protein nanocages for biotechnological applications. Prior to his PhD, James completed a BSc in Biology with Microbiology and an MRes in Systems and Synthetic Biology, at Imperial College London. James is an active member of the synthetic biology community having participated in the iGEM competition both as an undergraduate (2009), advisor (2011) and judge (2016). In 2017, James was awarded the BBSRC Innovator of the Year award for early career impact. James is also a fellow of the prestigious Synthetic Biology Leadership Excellence Accelerator Program (LEAP).
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About LabGenius: LabGenius is a biopharmaceutical company developing protein therapeutics using a machine learning-driven evolution engine.
Ed McDermott
Co-Founder and Managing Director, UK of EMMAC Life Sciences
Ed McDermott is the co-founder and managing director at EMMAC Life Sciences.
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About EMMAC Life Sciences: EMMAC is a medical cannabis company that works to join together the latest science and research with cutting-edge cultivation.
Craig Johnston
CTO & Co-Founder of ENOUGH
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About ENOUGH, Swedish Biomimetics 3000: ENOUGH is a foodtech startup producing protein through fermenting fungi using renewable feedstocks.
Dhivya Venkat
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Esya
Dhivya Venkat is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Esya. University of Cambridge Degree NameGeneral ManagementField Of StudySuccessful Negotiation Strategies Dates attended or expected graduation2009
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About Esya: Esya is a biotech company that measures, monitors, assist drug development, and pre-assess patient cohorts for treatment.
Paulina Chilarska
CEO & Founder of Cambridge Biolabs
Chilarska’s cutting-edge work at the University of Cambridge was funded by the prestigious 4-Year Wellcome Trust PhD award in Stem Cell Biology. Already at the age of 21 she worked with the Nobel Prize winner Sir Professor Paul Nurse on the cell cycle thus investigating the mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis. Dr Chilarska is an expert in the molecular basis of ageing and strongly believes that ageing is a disease which can be prevented and treated. She is currently wirting a book describing her revolutionary approach to Ageing Prevention and Ageing Reversal. She is fluent in five languages and has international consulting experience.
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About Cambridge Biolabs: Biotech-meets-tech startup developing personalised skincare solutions
Michalis Papadakis
CEO & Co-Founder of Brainomix
Dr Michalis Papadakis is the CEO and co-founder of Brainomix. He leads the management team, commercial strategy, fund raising, and corporate partnerships. He has grown the company from the ground up, building the company’s global presence and has raised over £15 million of private investment and public funding. When he founded Brainomix he was the Scientific Director of the preclinical stroke lab at the University of Oxford. He has a BSc Honours in Biochemistry from Imperial College London and a PhD in neurosciences from UCL School of Pharmacy. He has been an invited speaker at international scientific and innovation conferences
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About Brainomix: Brainomix specializes in the creation of AI-powered imaging biomarkers that enable precision medicine for better treatment decisions
Keiran Olivares Whitaker
Founder & CEO of Entocycle
Environmental engineer, YC alumni, five years expertise in rearing insects, passionate environmentalist, deep sea diver.
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About Entocycle: Entocycle’s automated insect farm produces environmentally friendly insect protein to feed farmed animals.
Paulo Garcia
CEO & Co-Founder of Kytopen
Dr. Paulo A. Garcia co-invented the Flowfect™ technology while he was a Research Scientist at MIT. He is currently leading the development and commercialization efforts of the proprietary cell engineering platform for therapeutic and biotechnology applications.
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About Kytopen: Kytopen developer of a cell therapy platform for non-viral delivery of molecules into hard-to-transfect immune cells.
Nick Morrell
CEO and co-Founder of Morphogen-IX
Nick is the British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiopulmonary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, based in the Department of Medicine. He has 25 years of experience working in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and is the Research Director of the National Pulmonary Hypertension Service at Papworth Hospital. His research spans clinical translational studies, experimental medicine, genetics, cell and molecular biology and preclinical models of disease. He has published over 200 papers in this field and is an internationally recognised authority on the pathobiology of PAH.
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About Morphogen-IX, Papworth Hospital, University of Cambridge: MORPHOGEN-IX Limited is a drug discovery company founded in 2015 by Index Ventures to develop bone morphogenetic proteins
Wei Li
Co-Founder of Morphogen-IX
Wei Li, Co-Founder at MORPHOGEN-IX LIMITED.
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About Morphogen-IX: MORPHOGEN-IX Limited is a drug discovery company founded in 2015 by Index Ventures to develop bone morphogenetic proteins
Susan Greenfield
Founder & CEO of Neuro-Bio
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About Neuro-Bio: Neuro-Bio is a British pharmaceutical company
Baroness Susan Greenfield
CEO & Founder of Neuro-Bio
Susan Greenfield is a neuroscientist, writer, and broadcaster. She has been awarded 30 Honorary Degrees from British and foreign universities and heads a multi-disciplinary research group exploring novel brain mechanisms linked to neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford and has currently co-founded a biotech company developing a novel approach to neurodegenerative disorders (Neuro-Bio Ltd). In addition, she has published a neuroscientific theory of consciousness,’The Private Life of the Brain’ (2003) and developed a keen interest in the impact of modern technologies on how young people think and feel. This was discussed in her book, ‘ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century’ (2008). In 1998 she received the Michael Faraday Medal from the Royal Society, was awarded a CBE in the Millennium New Year’s Honours List and was granted a non-political Life Peerage in 2001. In 2000 she was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and in 2007 to an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was appointed Chancellor of Heriot Watt University in 2005. Further recognition of her work includes L’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur from the French Government, and the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award, both received in 2003. Susan was also awarded the Australian Medical Research Society Medal in 2010. In 2011, Susan joined the Advisory Board of the Kusuma School of Biological Sciences at the Indian Institute for Technology, Delhi. In 2012, Susan was offered the Honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Risk Management and also became a Vice Patron of POWER International. Further on in 2012, Susan was selected to serve as the Parliamentary Patron of the Westminster Higher Education Forum, alongside of continuing to be a Parliamentary Patron of the Westminster Education Forum. Continuing through 2012, Susan bacame a Governor of The Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health and also started to suport the IAB (the International Advisory Board). In January 2014, she was included in the Debrett’s 500, “a recognition of the most influential and inspiring 500 people in Britain.”. Most recently, in July 2014, Susan was awarded as an Honorary Doctorate at Middlesex University.
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About Neuro-Bio: Neuro-Bio is a British pharmaceutical company
Alex Zhavoronkov
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Insilico Medicine
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine (insilico.com), a leader in next-generation artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery, and biomarker development. He is also the founder and CEO of Deep Longevity, Inc, a global company developing a broad range of artificial intelligence-based biomarkers of aging and longevity. Since 2015 he invented critical technologies in the field of generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning (RL) for generation of the novel molecular structures with the desired properties and generation of synthetic biological and patient data. He also pioneered the applications of deep learning technologies for prediction of human biological age using multiple data types, transfer learning from aging into disease, target identification, and signaling pathway modeling. Under his leadership Insilico raised over $50 million in multiple rounds from expert investors, opened R&D centers in 6 countries and regions, and partnered with multiple pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic institutions. Prior to founding Insilico, he worked in senior roles at ATI Technologies (acquired by AMD in 2006), NeuroG Neuroinformatics, Biogerontology Research Foundation. Since 2012 he published over 130 peer-reviewed research papers, and 2 books including “The Ageless Generation: How Biomedical Advances Will Transform the Global Economy” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He serves on the editorial boards of Aging Research Reviews, Aging, Trends in Molecular Medicine, Frontiers in Genetics, and co-chairs the Annual Aging Research, Drug Discovery and AI Forum (7th annual in 2020) at Basel Life, one of Europe’s largest industry events in drug discovery. He is the adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.
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About Deep Longevity, Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine develops an AI platform for drug development to treat cancer and age-related diseases.
Abel Ureta-Vidal
Chief Product Officer & Founder of Eagle Genomics
With more than 12 years bioinformatics experience and a scientific background in molecular biology and immune-virology (PhD from the Pasteur Institute, France), Abel first mastered bioinformatics tools and code in the early 90s whilst working on viral phylogenetic studies. After his PhD, he joined the effort at Genoscope (Evry, France) in ramping up the human genome project, putting in place the automatic gene annotation system for human chromosome 14. In 2001, Abel moved to the European Bioinformatics Institute (Cambridge, UK) where he led the Ensembl comparative genomics team until 2007. He founded Eagle shortly before graduating from the Cambridge Judge Business School MBA program in 2008.
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About Eagle Genomics: Eagle Genomics is a enterprise software solutions company to enable the management, orchestration and exploitation of life sciences data.
Yue Xiong
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cullgen
Dr. Yue Xiong, PhD is a Director and Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Cullgen Inc. Dr. Xiong was awarded Pew Scholar Award (1995), American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award (1995), AACR-Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Awards (1999), UNC Hettleman Award for Scholarly Achievement (1999), UNC Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award (2011), Elected Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science (2012). Dr. Xiong has published more than 160 research papers in peer-reviewed publication and granted two US patents. After completing a Ph.D. Postdoctoral fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Lab, since 1993, Dr. Xiong joined Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a William R. Kenan Professor. Dr. Xiong finished his undergraduate at Fudan University in 1982 and Ph.D from University of Rochester in 1989.
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About Cullgen: Cullgen is a drug discovery services intended to create new drugs for the treatment of diseases that currently lack effective therapies.
Jian Jin
Co-Founder of Cullgen
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About Cullgen, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Cullgen is a drug discovery services intended to create new drugs for the treatment of diseases that currently lack effective therapies.
Pablo Graiver
President and Founder of Antidote.me
Pablo Graiver is Co-Founder of Antidote Technologies Ltd. (a/k/a TrialReach Ltd.) and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. Pablo Graiver served as Vice President of Business Development, Europe of Kayak Software Corporation. He has over 12 years of entrepreneurial and management experience in the online industry. He was an early member of NetJuice, one of the largest Internet incubators in Europe; MD at Donde Comprar.com, the first e-commerce directory in Spanish; and later co-founder and Vice President of Strategy at Kelkoo, acquired by Yahoo! in 2004. Pablo Graiver set up and launched Kayak.com in Europe, and served as European Sales Director at ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK). He studied Biology and Business Administration at UAM in Madrid.
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About Antidote.me: Antidote is a digital health company that accelerates and improves medical research by combining technologies, data, and business models.
Nick Bolas
Founder & Director of Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging
Nick Bolas is the Founder and Director at Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging Ltd.
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About Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging: Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging is a global leader in innovative diagnostic imaging.
Charles Sermon
General Counsel & Co-Founder of Mereo Biopharma
Charles is Mereo Biopharma’s General Counsel, Company Secretary and a co-founder. He has over 20 years’ experience in corporate law and biopharmaceuticals. He started his career as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields before joining Nomura as an Associate Director in 1998 where he worked for Nomura’s life science investment team investing globally in biotechnology companies. Charles was part of Phase4 Partners’ MBO from Nomura in 2010. Charles has an LLB (Hons) from Hull University. Charles is a Board Member of Phase4 Partners and a Member of the Mayor of London Enterprise Panel’s Digital Creative, Science and Technology Working Group. Prior to Nomura Charles was a corporate lawyer in London with Freshfields. Charles holds a LLB (Hons) from the University of Hull and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.
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About Mereo Biopharma: Mereo is a new UK-based speciality biopharmaceutical company.
Alastair MacKinnon
CMO and Co-Founder of Mereo Biopharma
Alastair joined the team in 2005. He serves as Board Observer for Albireo and Chroma. Further to these he has been actively involved in the investments in OncoMed (OMED), Proteolix and Nabriva. Prior to joining, Alastair was a practising physician, with a breadth of experience across cardiovascular and oncology surgery and intensive care. He holds a Physiology BSc (Hons) and MBBS from King’s College London, is a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ed) and hold s a Diploma in Corporate Finance from the London Business School.
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About Mereo Biopharma: Mereo is a new UK-based speciality biopharmaceutical company.
Ryan Taylor
Founder and CSO of CuanTec
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About CuanTec: CuanTec make packaging that will be biodegradable, compostable and anti-microbial.
Eoin McKinney
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of PredictImmune
Eoin is a Wellcome-Beit intermediate Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge and an honorary consultant in nephrology and transplantation in Cambridge University NHS hospitals Foundation Trust. He obtained a first-class degree in pre-clinical medicine from Keble College, Oxford University in 1999 and graduated in clinical medicine with honours from Edinburgh University in 2002. His primary interest is the use of systems immunology approaches to translate high throughput analyses of autoimmune disease datasets into clinical practice.
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About PredictImmune: Providing tools to physicians in the treatment of patients with immune-mediated disease, through prediction of long term clinical prognosis.
Kenneth Smith
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer of PredictImmune
Professor Ken Smith is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He trained in nephrology (FRACP, FRCP) and clinical immunology (FRCPA) and completed a PhD at the WEHI in Melbourne. His laboratory runs a translational programme in autoimmune disease (particularly inflammatory bowel disease, vasculitis and SLE) that has led to the discovery of a novel prognosis-predicting biomarker currently in clinical trials and the identification of genes and pathways involved in disease pathogenesis.
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About PredictImmune: Providing tools to physicians in the treatment of patients with immune-mediated disease, through prediction of long term clinical prognosis.
Paul Lyons
Vice President of Platform Delivery & Co-Founder of PredictImmune
Paul is a Principal Research Associate in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He has over 25 years of experience in molecular and cellular biology including Senior Scientist positions in the Dept. Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge, Dept. Surgery, University of Oxford and the Rosalind Franklin Centre for Genomics Research. His primary research interest is the application of high throughput genomic approaches to better understand the genetic and molecular basis of autoimmune disease.
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About PredictImmune: Providing tools to physicians in the treatment of patients with immune-mediated disease, through prediction of long term clinical prognosis.
Andrew Hopkins
Co-Founder and CEO of Exscientia
Andrew spent 10 years at Pfizer, where he was responsible for establishing new research foci including the concepts of druggability and network pharmacology. Andrew has raised a total of $50 million for academic and commercial research activities in his continuing role as Chair of Medicinal Informatics at the University of Dundee. He is the author of some of the most highly cited papers in modern drug discovery.
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About Exscientia, Kinetic Discovery Ltd.: Exscientia is a pharmatech company that uses an end-to-end AI platform to design and discover new drugs.
Sam Cooper
Co-Founder of Phenomic AI
Sam Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Phenomic AI. Sam and his team use machine learning for automated image analysis to study cell biology and screen drugs. But that’s just the beginning.
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About Phenomic AI: Phenomic AI is a developer of a drug discovery platform designed to discovery and optimize therapeutics directly against phenotypic assays.
Daniel L. Cohen
CEO and Co-Founder of 3D Bio Holdings
Daniel L. Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer and Director at 3D Bio Holdings.
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About 3D Bio Holdings: 3D Bio Holdings is a company that specializes in regenerative medicine and devices.
Hod Lipson
Co-Founder of 3D Bio Holdings
Hod Lipson is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and Data Science at Columbia University in New York, and a co-author of the award winning book “Fabricated: The New World of 3D printing”, and “Driverless: Intelligent cars and the road ahead”, by MIT Press. Before joining Columbia University in 2015, Hod spent 14 years as a professor at Cornell University. He received his PhD in 1999 from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, followed by a postdoc at Brandeis University and MIT.
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About 3D Bio Holdings, Columbia University: 3D Bio Holdings is a company that specializes in regenerative medicine and devices.
Tuomas Knowles
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fluidic Analytics
Professor Tuomas Knowles holds a personal Professorship in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and is also a Fellow of St John’s College Cambridge. Tuomas received his PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge, and has held positions in Engineering in Cambridge and Harvard University before returning to Cambridge as a University Lecturer in 2010, Reader in 2013 and then Professor in 2015. His current research interests are focused on using physical approaches to study the self-assembly of protein molecules both in the context of disease and for the synthesis of novel functional biomaterials. Tuomas has received a number of distinguished awards, most recently from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Newman Foundation and the European Research Council, and has co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
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About Fluidic Analytics, Transition Bio: Fluidic Analytics designs, develops and manufactures tools that seek to revolutionise the way proteins are characterised.
Sergey Young
Founder of Longevity Vision Fund
Sergey Young is the Founder of Longevity Vision Fund.
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About Longevity Vision Fund, Peak State Ventures: Longevity Vision Fund invests in technologies that have the potential to disrupt life sciences and extend healthy lifespan.
Prof James Davies
Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
James Davies is the Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Prof James Davies
Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
James Davies is the Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Prof Jim Hughes
Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Jim Hughes is the Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics and a Professor of Gene Regulation at the University of Oxford.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Prof Jim Hughes
Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Jim Hughes is the Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics and a Professor of Gene Regulation at the University of Oxford.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Dr. Danuta Jeziorska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Danuta Jeziorska is the CEO & Co-Founder at Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Dr. Danuta Jeziorska
CEO & Co-Founder of Nucleome Therapeutics
Danuta Jeziorska is the CEO & Co-Founder at Nucleome Therapeutics.
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About Nucleome Therapeutics: Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat diseases
Guido Franzoso
Scientific Founder of Kesios Therapeutics
Franzoso joined Imperial College London in June 2007 and is Head of the Centre for Cell Signalling and Inflammation and Professor and Chair of Signal transduction and Inflammation. He was previously at the University of Chicago for 10 years. Franzoso, is the principal founder of Kesios Therapeutics, a spin-out from Imperial College London founded in 2012. Franzoso’s work is highly regarded by the scientific community, as evidenced by numerous high-impact publications in journals, such as, Nature, Science, Cell, Immunity, Nature Cell Biology and Cancer Cell and he has been awarded substantial funding to pursue his research. Recognising the need to translate this research into healthcare benefit, Franzoso was able to raise £3.7M from the MRC for a multi-centre Phase I/IIa trial of DTP3 in multiple myeloma and he has also successfully achieved substantial project funding for both basic and clinical research from the MRC, CRUK and NIH (US). Franzoso owns several patents on intellectual property related to his research. Franzoso holds a medical degree from the University of Padua medical school, Italy and a Ph.D. in microbiological sciences from the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Padua.
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About Imperial College London, Kesios Therapeutics: Kesios Therapeutics, a London, UK-based oncology drug discovery company
Martin Murphy
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Partners LLP
Martin is Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He co-founded Syncona in 2012 with The Wellcome Trust. Since then, Martin has been closely involved in the foundation and development of four Syncona companies: Achilles, Autolus, Blue Earth and OMass Therapeutics and continues to hold Board positions at these companies. Previously, he was a partner at MVM Life Science Partners LLP, a venture capital company focused on life science and healthcare, where he led their European operations. Martin has also held roles with 3i Group plc and McKinsey & Company. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.
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About Syncona Partners LLP: Syncona Partners LLP is a healthcare company focused on investing in and building global leaders in life science.
Chris Torrance
Co-Founder and CEO of PhoreMost
Chris has significant oncology research and development experience, including six years as a senior manager at Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company, Vernalis. His principle expertise lies in cancer cell biology and drug discovery. In this field, he has led project teams taking drug targets from inception through to hit identification, lead optimisation and into preclinical studies. Chris holds a PhD from East Carolina University and completed a Post-Doctoral position in the world renowned oncology laboratory of Professor Bert Vogelstein (Johns Hopkins University) where he pioneered the use of X-MAN™ cancer models in high-throughput screening and drug discovery.
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About PhoreMost: PhoreMost is a new-model drug discovery company based in Cambridge, UK.
Eric Miska
Co-Founder of Storm Therapeutics
Eric is the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Genetics and a Senior Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge. He has an appointment as associated faculty at the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute. Eric was an EMBO Young Investigator and is a full member of EMBO since 2012. Eric is the 2013 recipient of the Hooke Medal awarded by the British Society of Cell Biology. He joined the faculty of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton in 2014 and is a Senior Investigator of the Wellcome Trust. Eric studied mathematics, physics and biology at Heidelberg, Berlin and Mainz and holds a BA in Biochemistry from Trinity College, Dublin. He received his PhD in Pathology from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 2000, working with Professor Tony Kouzarides, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Bob Horvitz at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA from 2000 to 2004. He started his own research group at the Gurdon Institute in 2005.
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About Storm Therapeutics, University of Cambridge: Targeting pathways that modify RNA to deliver novel cancer therapeutics
Paul Cowan
Founder , Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Quotient Biodiagnostics
Paul Cowan is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors. Mr. Cowan founded us through the acquisition of Alba Bioscience in 2007. He has a broad range of healthcare industry experience gained through over 15 years of employment within industry and investment banking. Previously, Mr. Cowan served as the Chief Financial Officer of Inveresk Research Group, a global contract research organization that was acquired by Charles River Laboratories in 2004. Prior to joining Inveresk in 2001, Mr. Cowan was a senior executive within the Investment Banking department of Bear Stearns & Co., where he led the European biotechnology practice. Prior to Bear Stearns, Mr. Cowan was a senior executive within the Investment Banking department of Morgan Grenfell (acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1990). Mr. Cowan received a Bachelor of Business in accounting from Queensland University of Technology.
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About Quotient Biodiagnostics: Quotient Biodiagnostics develops and manufactures products for use in transfusion diagnostics.
George Busby
CSO and Co-Founder of Allelica
George is a geneticist and a writer. He has been a researcher at the University of Oxford for more than 5 years and his scientific work has been published in Nature and Science. He was always fascinated by the possibility of using the information contained in our DNA to reconstruct the evolutionary history of human beings. He now leads the Allelica scientific team, bringing the predictive genomic accuracy of the Polygenic approach to the market for the first time.
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About Allelica: Allelica is a genomics software company driving the transition of Polygenic Risk Score from Genomic research to clinical application.
Vid Stojevic
Co-Founder and CEO of Kuano
Vid has spent the past 10 years working on string theory and tensorial methods in quantum physics and has held postdocs at UCL and the University of Vienna with pioneers in these fields. He has publications in numerous high impact journals.
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About Kuano: Kuano provides innovative quantum and AI solutions for drug discovery and design.
Shankar Balasubramian
Co-Founder and Director of Cambridge Epigenetix
Sir Shankar is Founder of two companies and the principal inventor of the leading next generation human genome sequencing technology core to all Illumina sequencing platforms, estimated to be worth >$30BN. Sir Shankar’s technology has made routine, accurate, low-cost sequencing of human genomes a reality, has revolutionised biology and accelerated the development of genomic personalised medicine. Sir Shankar is the Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. His awards include the Royal Medal (2018), the RoyalSociety Mullard Award (2009), The BBSRC Innovator of the year (2010) and the Tetrahedron Prize (2013). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of EMBO.
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About Ahren Innovation Capital, Cambridge Epigenetix: Cambridge Epigenetix is using epigenetics to reduce several routine & important diagnostic tests for common cancers to a simple blood draw.
David Sibbald
CEO and Co-Founder of Aridhia Informatics
David Sibbald is the co-founder and CEO of Aridhia, a health data science company which develops and runs a cloud-enabled Digital Research Environment for clinical research, precision medicine and healthcare applications. David is the Founder and Trustee of the Kate MacAskill Foundation, a charitable organisation providing education, care and micro-enterprise funding for children and young adults in the developing world and is Chairman of the Johari Foundation. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Glasgow University, Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of Paisley and the University of Strathclyde for services to Scottish science and philanthropy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy of Science and Letters. In the 2010 New Year Honours List, David was awarded an OBE for charitable services in Scotland and overseas.
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About Aridhia Informatics, Kate MacAskill Foundation: Aridhia informatics provides biomedical informatics and analytics services to improve the management of chronic diseases.
Thomas Weaver
Founder & CEO of PetMedix
Tom holds a PhD in Experimental Oncology and has served in a variety of research, technology development and commercial roles. He has a proven track record of creating value in highly successful start-up companies applying genome-based technologies and contract services for fundamental research, clinical, and drug discovery purposes. He has also led large infrastructure programs in genomics and animal model genetics, serving as a Director at the Medical Research Council (Oxford, UK). He trained at the University of Cambridge and MRC Lab for Molecular Biology (Cambridge, UK), and the University of Wisconsin Medical School, (Madison, USA).
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About PetMedix: PetMedix is a pet therapeutics startup.
Johannes Solzbach
CEO & Co-Founder of Clustermarket
Johannes Solzbach has been Chief Executive Officer and Director at Clustermarket LTD.
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About Clustermarket: One lab management platform that brings people, equipment and data together – no matter where they are.
Martin-Immanuel Bittner
Co-Founder & CEO of Arctoris
Martin-Immanuel Bittner MD DPhil is a clinician-scientist and life sciences entrepreneur. He is a Rhodes scholar, an active member of several leading cancer research organisations, and an elected member of the Young Academy of the German National Academy of Sciences. Martin is a Co-Founder & CEO of Arctoris, the world’s first fully automated drug discovery platform.
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About Arctoris: Arctoris is a tech-enabled platform company in biotechnology, combining robotics & data science to accelerate drug discovery.
Thomas Fleming
Co-Founder & COO of Arctoris
Thomas Fleming is an award-winning chemist, cancer researcher, and SME Leader of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Tom is the Co-Founder & COO at Arctoris.
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About Arctoris: Arctoris is a tech-enabled platform company in biotechnology, combining robotics & data science to accelerate drug discovery.
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Kinetic Discovery Ltd.
Dr Iva Navratilova has over 17 years experience in biosensor technology development and is the pioneer of the application of SPR screening methods for membrane proteins.
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About Kinetic Discovery Ltd.: Kinetic Discovery Ltd offers drug discovery services as hit identification, confirmation and validation.
Edward Green
Founder & Chief Executive of CHAIN Biotechnology
Edward is a serial biotech entrepreneur, having founded Green Biologics and built it into a world leader for butanol fermentation. He is a microbiologist with over 25 years’ experience with anaerobic bacteria, obtaining a PhD in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He has pioneered technical improvements in microbial strain improvement and fermentation process development for industrial biotechnology applications contributing to numerous scientific publications and patents. He recently founded CHAIN Biotech, a microbiome Company focused on development and commercialisation of microbial technology for the production and delivery of biotherapeutics. Edward participates in the IB Leadership Forum, several NIBB management boards; C1NET and LBNET and BBSRC advisory panels for Bioenergy and Industrial Biotechnology.
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About CHAIN Biotechnology, Green Biologics: CHAIN Biotechnology is a microbiome therapeutics company with a novel drug development platform targeting chronic gut-related diseases.
Basil Omar
Founder & Chief Commercial Officer of CHAIN Biotechnology
Basil has a PhD in Physics from Loughborough University and MBA from Warwick Business School. He has held senior technical management roles in semiconductors, electronic displays and advanced materials with Philips Electronics and Sharp Corporation. Basil also has a background in Management Consultancy with PRTM (now PwC) and Grant Thornton, and has held senior business development and marketing roles at Transco/National Grid and Green Biologics. Basil via Woodbridge Innovation has supported numerous early stage companies in a range of high tech fields including clean energy and industrial biotech. Basil launched and ran the University of Gloucestershire’s business incubation hubs and is co-founder of the Gloucestershire Angel Investment Network. Basil is a farming and classic car enthusiast.
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About Bristol Business School, CHAIN Biotechnology: CHAIN Biotechnology is a microbiome therapeutics company with a novel drug development platform targeting chronic gut-related diseases.
Julian Shapley
Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of CellNovo
Dr. Shapley has a cross-functional engineering and scientific background, specialising in Microsystems for drug discovery. Dr Shapley worked with the International Space School at NASA in Houston, Texas. He is also the inventor of Cellnovo’s unique pump technology which serves as the cornerstone of the Cellnovo Mobile Diabetes Management System.
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About CellNovo: CellNovo is a medical device company developing a wireless therapeutic system for diabetic patients.
Victor Dillard
Founder , COO & CEO of Desktop Genetics
A former chemical engineer keen on seeing personalized treatment realized, Victor has spent the past three years leading Desktop Genetics’ business development and CRISPR genome-editing initiatives. He has closed several partnerships with leading life science companies, placing Desktop Genetics at the forefront of CRISPR therapeutics research. Informed by his previous experience at P&G, GlaxoSmithKline, Flagship Ventures, Victor believes that software will be the key to unlocking the full potential of biotech R&D. He holds MEng, Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.
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About Desktop Genetics: Desktop Genetics is an international company to help researchers discover and treat the root genetic causes of human disease.
Timothy Brownstone
Founder & CEO of KYMIRA Sport
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About KYMIRA Sport: KYMIRA Sport is developing a range of performance and recovery enhancing sportswear.
Tariq Sethi
Co-Founder of Galecto
Professor Sethi is Head of Respiratory Medicine Kings Health Partners / Kings College London and was previously Professor of Respiratory and Lung Cancer Biology at the University of Edinburgh. He was educated at Cambridge and London Universities followed by junior hospital jobs in London. He gained a PhD at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund London and was subsequently appointed lecturer in Medicine at Edinburgh University. As an MRC Travelling Fellow, he worked at the Scripps Research Insitute California, returning to Edinburgh as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Leave Fellow. His research interests are on the interaction between inflammation and lung cancer, focusing on the regulation of proliferation and apoptosis by growth factor and integrin mediated signalling. He is an author of numerous scientific papers and has edited books on lung cancer. Professor Sethi is also on the editorial board of THORAX.
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About AstraZeneca, Galecto, King’s College London: Galecto is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for fibrosis and cancer.
Sacha Carton
Co-Founder & COO of Airfinity
Sacha is co-founder & COO at Airfinity – a science information and analytics company. He is a data, tech and media entrepreneur who previously co-founded ad pepper media (FRA: APM), Adbrain (sold to NSDQ: TTD), Scala Ventures and advisory firm Ogmenta and has been an investor, advisor and director in multiple media, data, adtech, PE and M&A companies in Europe and the US.
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About Airfinity, Scala Ventures: Airfinity is a science information and analytics company
Julian Melchiorri
Founder and CEO of Arborea
Julian Melchiorri is an inventor, engineer, and entrepreneur recognized by Forbes as a leading EU social entrepreneur under 30 years of age. Julian is the Founder and CEO of Arborea, a food-tech start-up that applies break-through proprietary biological and chemical engineering technology platforms to produce healthy food ingredients at low-cost and massive scale to help food producers build a food system where everyone eats well. Earlier in his career, Melchiorri designed and engineered both products and manufacturing processes for major Italian lighting production company and for the London high-tech collective ‘’Random International’’, making technology-driven interactive experiments and large scale installations, utilizing a multitude of technologies such as robotic, sensing and hydraulic technologies.
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About Arborea: Arborea is industrialising photosynthesis to expand the world’s food supply
Pravin Badhe
Founder & CEO of SwaLife Biotech
Pravin Badhe has over 12 years of experience in Pharmaceutical field. He has expertise in target discovery and lead identification and has experience in drug repurposing in rare disease such as progeria. He is a Pharmacist and has PhD in life science. In PhD he has discover five novel small molecules from plants. He is an experience scientist and has got expertise in pharma wholesale, retail sales, marketing and general management. He has held number of positions with both research and development. As research assistant, he led cross-functional teams in the delivery of standardise plant extracts and fractions for cosmetic purpose. He is founder and CEO of Swalife Biotech and is responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies. He is responsible in recruiting, communicating values and developing education opportunities. He will represent the company in strategic meetings and will be responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization. He is advisor in Shree Om Medico pharma distributor company in India. He brings extensive experience of growing organisations across all aspects of the biotech environment.
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About SwaLife Biotech: SwaLife Biotech discovers small molecules from plants for cosmetics and synthesizes novel anticancer plant alkaloids.
Benjamin Swerner
Co-Founder of Relation Therapeutics
Casey Benjamin Swerner is the co-founder and COO of Relation Therapeutics.
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About Relation Therapeutics: Relation Therapeutics engages in humanizing drug discovery and development.
Kev Dhaliwal
Co Founder of Edinburgh Molecular Imaging
Dr Dhaliwal trained as an MRC Clinical Training Fellow working in both Professors Haslett and Bradley’s groups, and was responsible for catalyzing the interaction between the two groups. He has significant experience of animal models and human experimental clinical trials. He has established direct links to all of the current OMI providers of hardware and reagents and also Pharma. He currently is a member of the SAB for Mauna Kea and is also one of two UK clinicians on the EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Strategic Advisory Team. He is the Chief Investigator on the group’s clinical trials and has forged links with the MHRA, technology consultancies and international networks in optical imaging.
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About Edinburgh Molecular Imaging, NHS Lothian, PROTEUS, University of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh Molecular Imaging is a developer of optical molecular imaging technology.
