Speakers

 

Fiona Marston

Fiona Marston is co-founder and Chief Executive of Novacta Biosystems. With a track record of 25 years in the biotechnology industry, Fiona was previously Chief Executive of Metris Therapeutics. She worked in venture capital, founding and managing Healthcare Ventures Limited for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit and J&J Development Corporation and was Deputy Director of CRC Technology Limited. A Ph D biochemist, with an MBA from London Business School, Fiona’s industrial career began at Celltech, during the company’s formative years. As a research group leader she published extensively on the recovery of insoluble recombinant proteins from E.coli before starting her commercial career in Celltech’s international business development group.

Sunil Shah

Sunil Shah is the CEO and co-founder of O2H. He was recently Director of Business Development at Cambridge Biotechnology. He has consulted into a range of Cambridge based biotechnology companies via O2H and major pharmaceuticals (Pfizer, BASF) via the Life Sciences group of PA-Consulting. He is also a non-executive of a two further biotechnology companies that he has recently co-founded. He holds an MBA from Cambridge University and a BSc in Biochemistry and is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Beatrice Leigh

After 24 years, Beatrice Leigh left GSK in 2004 to become Chief Executive Officer for Cresset-Biomolecular Discovery Ltd. She is a Non-Executive Director of BioPark Hertfordshire Ltd. and a non-voting member of the ERBI Board. She also runs a consultancy business to provide support for high tech companies and academic start-ups. As a research biochemist, Bea working at Harvard, Cambridge and the MRC before moving to SmithKline&French 1980. From 1984 to 1999 she was worldwide academic liaison officer until the GSK merger in 2000, after which she was appointed Director Operations for Technology Development mandated to build new platform technologies.

Stuart Travers

Stuart Travers is a co-founder and executive Director of Sentinel Oncology which was founded in 2005 with the aim of discovering new technologies and therapies to treat cancer. He has more than eighteen years industrial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors focusing on drug discovery and has previously held positions in Paradigm Therapeutics, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry and Glaxo Wellcome.

Tom Weaver

Thomas Weaver is the CEO of Geneservice Ltd, a Cambridge based products and contract research company specializing in genomics. GSL has recently announced that it is to be acquired by Medical Solutions, a fully listed UK based diagnostics and healthcare business specializing in Cancer, and the provision of pathology and cytology services and products to the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Following completion of the acquisition Dr. Weaver will join the Board of Medical Solutions as Commercial Director. Before Geneservice Tom was Director of Technology Development for Incyte Genomics, was part of a University of Cambridge genetics spin-out called Hexagen, and carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge and UK MRC Lab of Molecular Biology. He received his PhD in Oncology from the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School.

Geoff Thomas

Geoff Thomas was a “footballer's footballer” playing 550 games for seven clubs including 9 games for England. Since he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003 Geoff has been deploying his hallmark determination in his battle against leukaemia. Geoff shares his personal experiences of life as a footballer, as a patient, and as the founder of The Geoff Thomas Foundation.

Frederick Chen

Dr Chen is currently Consultant Haematologist and Senior Lecturer in Immunotherapy and Stem Cell Transplantation at the National Blood Service, the Institute of Cancer Studies of the University of Birmingham and at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospital Birmingham Trust since October 2006. He was trained in clinical haematology at the Hammersmith Hospital and at King's College London. He did his Research in immunology at the Anthony Nolan Research Institute at the Royal Free Hospital, and N.I.H, Bethesda, USA. Previous positions include Assistant Professor in Medicine at University of Hong Kong and Clinical Lecturer in Haematology at Kings College London.

David Brown

David Brown has a distinguished track record of over 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry, and is perhaps best known as one of the named co-inventors on the patent for Viagra. Most recently he was Global Head of Drug Discovery for Roche and CEO of Cellzome. In his capacity as a member of the Executive Team of the Institute for OneWorld Health, David tells us about the role of this non-profit company in helping to improve world health by developing safe, effective and affordable new medicines.

Roger Bootle

Roger Bootle, Economic Adviser to Deloitte and one of the City of London’s best known economists, is renowned for his ability to successfully forecast major events and market movements, including the collapse of the dotcom boom. Roger gives us his “global economic forecast” and sets the scene for the bio-pharma industry in the future.

Hamish Cameron

Hamish Cameron joined Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) as Chief Executive in 2006 following AstraZeneca’s acquisition of CAT. Hamish, a physician by training, previously held a number of senior R&D appointments in AstraZeneca spanning 20 years. In his presentation Hamish describes the journey taken by CAT and AZ along the alliance and acquisition trail, highlighting some of the issues and challenges they faced in the past, as well as the opportunities for the future. After his presentation Hamish will be joined by CAT’s former CEO Peter Chambre for Q&A.

Ian Tomlinson

Ian Tomlinson is VP, GSK-Domantis Group and heads up Domantis Limited, a wholely owned subsidiary of GSK based in Cambridge, UK. Domantis was established in 2000 by Dr Tomlinson and Sir Gregory Winter, in partnership with the UK Medical Research Council and MVM Limited to develop Domain Antibodies for human therapy. As an independent company, Domantis raised $83 million from a range of investors, including Peptech Limited, 3i, Novo Nordisk and MVM, hired 80 employees and established a state-of-the-art R&D facility in Cambridge, UK. In January 2007 Domantis was acquired by GSK for $454M. A graduate and research fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, Dr Tomlinson was a Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. He was at the LMB for 11 years, where he initially worked on the completion of the sequencing and mapping of all human antibody genes. His later work at the MRC-LMB focused on engineering recombinant antibodies.

David Phillips

Mr. Phillips joined BioFocus in 2004 from The Automation Partnership where he held the position of VP, Sales and Marketing. Prior to this he has worked for Argenta Discovery Ltd. and has extensive experience in biotechnology start-up companies. Mr. Phillips graduated from London University with a degree in Pharmacology and spent 15 years in Sales & Marketing with Glaxo. He has developed global experience in business development dealing with pharmaceutical companies in the USA, Europe and Japan.

Susan Lowther

Susan Lowther is the Chief Financial Officer of BioWisdom Limited. Prior to joining BioWisdom, Susan was Finance Director of RiboTargets from start up until its acquisition by British Biotech in 2003. She joined RiboTargets from Lonza Biologics where she was Head of Finance when the company was acquired by Alusuisse Lonza Group AG in 1996. Susan previously held senior financial management roles at Celltech Group plc and GD Searle (part of Monsanto Group).

Steve Burton

Dr Burton is the Chief Executive Officer of Prometic Biosciences Ltd (PBL), a wholly owned subsidiary of ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. PBL is focused on the development of materials and technology used in a variety of bio-pharmaceutical applications, most notably the manufacture of therapeutic proteins (from native and recombinant sources) and bio-contaminant removal. Dr Burton gained his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, U.K. researching novel affinity ligands for use in protein purification and as artificial coenzymes. He joined Delta Biotechnology Ltd (now NovozymesDelta) in 1986 as a research scientist and moved to Affinity Chromatography Ltd in 1988 as Research Manager prior to his appointment as R&D Director in 1993 following the establishment of a successful R&D group which developed many new separation products and processes. Affinity Chromatography Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary of Prometic Life Sciences in 1999 subsequent to which Dr Burton held the positions of Vice President

Julian Attfield

Julian Attfield has been CFO at GeneMedix plc for seven years and CEO for the last two. During this period the Company floated on the London and Singapore Stock Exchanges, acquired and divested a business in China, and set up manufacturing and joint ventures in Ireland and Spain. Julian recently led the company into an acquisition by Reliance Life Sciences, part of the large Reliance Industries Group of India. Previously he was Director of Finance and Administration with Sigma-Genosys Ltd, a manufacturer of biomolecules. He trained as chartered accountant with Andersens (now Deloitte) in the Cambridge Office.

Duncan Purvis

Duncan was a senior consultant at Scientific Generics in the Life Science Group for 10 years. Duncan was contracted to assist Sensor Tech with the development and commercialisation of their technology early 2000. He eventually joined Universal Sensors Ltd in September 2003 where he led the technical development and commercialisation of the first system and biosensors. His expertise covers a wide range of disciplines covering the interface of biology physics and engineering. Development of emerging medical diagnostic technologies, such as Lab-on-a-chip and various biosensors and analysis of their potential markets. He has also been involved with electrobiology including inter alia electrical DNA denaturation technology, dielectrophoresis (DEP) and travelling wave field migration (TWFM).

Phil Teale

Phil Teale is Chief Scientist of HFL Ltd, a laboratory service company providing forensic quality drug surveillance services across human and animal sports and contract research on behalf of pharma and biotech clients. Phil has over 25 years experience in the application of mass spectrometry to trace analysis in biological samples. His current interests are biomarker detection, characterisation and quantification, the development of near subject monitoring systems and the potential application of biomarkers in sports.

Brian Burke

Brian has First Class BSc (hons) from the University of Glasgow and a PhD from the University of Leeds. He joined Cogenics in early 2006 after 18 months as a Post Doctoral Enterprise Fellow at the University of Leeds. Cogenics is a Division of Clinical Data, providing pharmacogenomics services on a global basis. In addition to this, Cogenics works closely with it’s sister division, PGx Health to produce Therapeutic Diagnostics™. These biomarker-based products help determine the safest and most efficacious treatments for patients and a number of products have been launched on the US market earlier this year. Brian works with the European Sales Team to develop and manage business across Northern Europe and has been very active in the development of the Cogenics brand.

Derek Jones

Originally medicinal chemist at Merck Terlings Park; 7 years at Chiroscience in business development - outlicensed MMPI programme to BMS and Chirocaine; co-Founder BioWisdom; COO DanioLabs: grew company from 4 to 34 raised ~£7M and trade sale to Vastox for £15M; MBA from Judge Institute Cambridge; Chartered Director ( CDir).

Roland Kozlowski

Roland Kozlowski is a bioentrepreneur with 13 years' experience. He has a reputation for creative solutions, having negotiated and executed many types of deal. Roland is CEO (and founder) of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd., and is on the Board of the BIA. Previously he was CEO of Sense Proteomic Ltd and worked with Oxford Molecular, notably on a key deal he negotiated with Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Corp. His academic experience is in pharmacology and, after a PhD at Cambridge, he ran research groups at Oxford and Bristol Universities. Roland has an extensive publication record and is an inventor on several granted patents.

John Aston

John Aston joined Astex in January 2007 as Chief Financial Officer. John was formerly chief financial officer and a member of the board of directors of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) having joined CAT in September 1996, 6 months before the company’s Initial Public Offering. As CFO and a senior member of its executive management, he played a central role over a period of more than 10 years in the development of CAT into one of Europe's most important biotechnology companies, including the successful listing of CAT on the London Stock Exchange and subsequently on NASDAQ, and its sale to AstraZeneca in June 2006. John has a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse subsequently joining British Technology Group (BTG) before gaining extensive experience in corporate finance during 14 years at Schroders, where he was appointed a director in 1989.

Nick Higgins

Nick joined Intercytex as Chief Executive Officer in January 2005 having been a Non-Executive Director of the Company since its foundation and brings over 20 years of experience in commercialising biotechnology products. He was previously Chief Business Officer and a Board Director of Acambis plc (vaccines) which he joined in 1994. He was responsible for all commercial activities including intellectual property management, licensing, corporate development, mergers/acquisitions and sales and marketing. In addition, he played a key role in the Company’s flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 1995.

Julie Kerby

Ms Kerby joined SCS in March 2006 to set up the Cambridge facility and develop the SCServices business unit. Julie obtained her Biology BSc. (Hons.) from Southampton University and held two academic research posts in stem cell and developmental biology before joining Merck Sharpe and Dohme UK Ltd. to manage their cell culture facility at The Neuroscience Research Centre. During her 12 years at Merck Julie was responsible for the generation of new cell lines and provision of cells for all assays from electrophysiology through to HTS. Julie championed the use of automation in cell culture within Merck for both large and small scale and was the first owner of a SelecT system.

Conrad Lichtenstein

Professor Conrad Lichtenstein is Chief Operating Officer of Population Genetics Technologies Ltd –developing novel technology, conceived by Nobel laureate Professor Sydney Brenner, to sample large populations to identify the genetic variation responsible for human disease and drug response. Conrad obtained his PhD from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Washington, Seattle, he returned in 1983 to a faculty position at Imperial College. Then after a sabbatical year at the National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, USA, he returned to London as Chair of Molecular Biology at Queen Mary, University of London from 1996-2005.

Andrew Lynn

Dr. Andrew Lynn received his PhD in Materials Science from the University of Cambridge. His experience in the field of orthopaedics and regenerative medicine spans seven years and four countries; it includes the initiation, management, and implementation of product-focused programmes involving artificial prostheses for joint replacement and tissue regeneration scaffolds for orthopaedic, neurosurgical, and thoracic applications. He has worked extensively with world-renowned surgeons on initiatives to develop regenerative medical treatments for hard and soft tissues, including a preclinical development programme for a nerve-regeneration product currently in use for over 500 patients in Japan. Dr. Lynn founded OrthoMimetics on the basis of his doctoral research conducted in conjunction with a team of colleagues from the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University.

Julian Gilbert

Dr Julian Gilbert is co-founder and CEO of Acacia Pharma. Previously he was co-founder and Commercial Director of Arakis. Arakis raised a total of £49 million before being acquired by Sosei for £106 million in 2005. Arakis’ two lead products AD 237 and AD 923 were successfully out-licensed to Novartis and Mundipharma respectively. Julian was formerly Executive Director responsible for Commercial Development at PolyMASC plc, Head of Licensing at Chiroscience plc and was responsible for drug delivery business development at both Mundipharma International Ltd and BTG plc. He is a pharmacist with a PhD in controlled drug delivery and worked within in Formulation Development at Smith Kline & French.

Ramin Pirzad

Ramin Pirzad has provided consultancy services to Cranfield Health, Cranfield University, since April 2006 and became Acting CEO of VapTEC in March 2007. He has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences sector, latterly as the Managing Director of Acaris Healthcare Solution plc. At Acaris he led the company to secure equity funding in order to commercialise and market products for allergy management to Unilever and Proctor & Gamble through strategic partnership with City Technology, a subsidiary of Honeywell Inc. He has worked in the industries in research and development, commercial and general management roles as well as providing consultancy services to private equity organisations for AIM listing of portfolio companies.

Berwyn Clarke

Berwyn Clarke was founder and CEO of Oneida TheraDiagnostics Ltd and has been involved in the pharmaceutical industry for the past 24 years. Dr Clarke was Head of the hepatitis C virus therapeutic area at GlaxoWellcome between 1990 and 2000 and was previously with Wellcome Biotechnology and the Wellcome Foundation. In 2000 he moved into the molecular diagnostic industry with Virco UK and, following a series of M&A activities became Vice President for Research at Visible Genetics Inc. (VGI) a pioneering company in the use of molecular diagnostics for viral and cancer disease management. In 2002 VGI was acquired by Bayer Diagnostics and he decided to launch his own company, Oneida, in May 2003 with VC investment which resulted in the formation of Lab21. Dr Clarke joined the Board of the Company in April 2005 and is currently Chief Scientific Officer with additional responsibility for Business Development.