CH-BIOLOGICS

Head of Operations, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

2012-2017

I joined the Sanger Institute as a senior manager to create and lead their proposed stem cell core facility. I was then promoted to a divisional directors post leading all of the cell-biology operations across the institute.

​

• Oversaw the creation of the world’s largest stem cell derivation facility, a  £12M capital build project to create the laboratories as well as the recruitment and training of the team.

• Management of a cell biology division of 75 staff with multi-million pound budgets, this was comprised of the main cell biology core team as well as the  flow cytometry, high throughput gene editing, mouse gene editing,  mass spectrometry, single cell genomics and research and development groups.

• Delivery and contributions to major programs of work across including: HiPSCi (www.hipsci.org); a project to derive stem cells from 1000 individuals, Insignia (www.mutationsignatures.org); identification of mutation signatures in cancer and the Human Cell Atlas (www.humancellatlas.org), a project to single-cell sequence every cell in the body.

• Leadership  transformational projects across the Institute to allow real time reporting of data and project progress, championing 5S and visual working practices to streamline operations.

Head of Immunology, ENVIGO

2007 - 2012

With my background in large molecule drug development from Cambridge University I was asked to join Envigo to lead the Cell Biology and Immunology team. I  developed  the group until it reached a point where it became necessary to divide it into two; one group offering GLP services and another offering GMP.  Following this success I took on a global role, reporting into the CSO, and taking responsibility for the strategic development of services supporting biopharmaceutical development across the entire company.

​

​

• Leadership and development of the Immunology team (30 FTE) and management of multi-million pound P&L sheet in a fast paced commercial environment.

• In-depth exposure to the drug development industry and  involved with around  100 different large molecule drugs (antibodies, vaccines and cell-based therapies)  at all stages of development.

• Promotion to principal scientist with global oversight for ENVIGO’s Immunology and translational science.

• Key collaborations with academia; in particular a BBSCR industrial Ph.D project with Cambridge University (with Dr Mike Clark) to develop cell lines expressing with non-human primate FcR and a NC3Rs project with Southampton University (with Professor Martin Glennie) to develop a bioenergetics assay to determine mAb-induced cytokine release by T-cells.

Senior research associate, University of Cambridge

2002-2007

I joined Dr Mike Clark’s group to run a collaborative project  between the University of Cambridge and BioTie Therapies to develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against VAP-1.  I focussed on the functional interaction of the antibodies with the immune system using in vitro assays.  Subsequently I went on to work on antibodies against HPA-1a.

​

Duties and achievements

• Development of a  function-blocking  IgG2 mAb with attenuated effector function which advanced to Phase 2 gaining BioTie £16.4M of milestone investment.

• Helped to develop a second antibody against HPA-1a as part of a collaboration between our group and Willem Ouwehand at NHSBT.

• Chair of the Cambridge branch of the British Society for Immunology,.

• Lecturer in Immunology on the Natural Sciences degree course

• Supervised a number of Part II students and a Ph.D student in our lab.

• I won a Royal Society short visit fellowship to work with Professor Cris Print at the University of Auckland Medical School using siRNA knock-down technology to target genes that had a potential role in the inflammatory process.