Terri Gaskell

Rinri Therapeutics Ltd

Chief Technical Officer

Terri has over 20 years of life sciences R&D experience in both academic and industry roles with a focus on the development and translation of cell- and gene-based therapies. Before joining Rinri, Terri worked at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult for over seven years on the translation of a broad range of candidate therapies, including stem cell derived, alongside underpinning technologies and infrastructure. Her role at CGT Catapult also included advising academics and small companies on the development of advanced therapies.

Prior to this, Terri held senior roles in industry focussed on the development of processes for the expansion and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic use and drug discovery. Terri received her BSc. (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee and holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh.

Harry Kwong

Complement Therapeutics

Founding member & Director Portfolio Management

Harry has a biochemistry and biochemical engineering background from Imperial College and UCL. He has diverse experience working in cross-functional and founding teams to build early-stage biotech developing ATMP. He has previously led process development at LIfT Biosciences and later supported the company in fundraising, strategies & operations and orchestrating timely milestone deliveries. Harry completed his MBA in 2021.

Lucy Foley

eXmoor Pharma Concepts

Chief Technology Officer

Emily Howard

J A Kemp

Partner, European and UK Patent Attorney

Emily advises on patent matters across a range of biological fields, including cancer biology, vaccines, induced pluripotent stem cells, regenerative medicine and molecular biology. She has particular expertise in gene therapy, with substantial experience developing intellectual property strategies in this area. Emily has considerable experience in drafting, including multi-disciplinary inventions such as those involving both DNA constructs and lipid assemblies. She works closely with scientists to ensure inventions are accurately captured and clearly presented in patent applications.

James Fry

Mills & Reeve

Partner and Head of Life Sciences

James heads Mills & Reeve’s multi-disciplinary life sciences practice. He supports businesses across the full product lifecycle, from start-up to commercialisation.

A key focus of his work is supporting clients on strategic contracting covering technology / IP in and out- licensing transactions, research collaborations, clinical trial agreements and long term partnering agreements. James also advises on sector regulation including pharma and medical device regulation, market access, borderline products, advertising and clinical trials.

Antoine Espinet

MFX

Co Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Antoine is the CEO and co-founder at MFX. He has 5 years of experience in cell therapy tools. Prior to MFX, Antoine was a management consultant at McKinsey for 5 years. He holds a PhD in Engineering from Cornell University.

Lindsay Fraser

Cytomos

Chief Scientific Officer

I have extensive knowledge in the field of regenerative medicine and cellular therapy by working across clinical, academic and commercial sectors. I am an innovative and strategic thinker with the ability to combine novel scientific concepts with commercial awareness to generate successful therapies of the future.

We welcome novel technologies, methodologies or resources in order to improve the manufacture of clinical therapies. Please contact us with your innovations!

Kwok Pang

adthera Bio

Chief Digital Officer

Kwok Pang is a seasoned executive with over two decades of impactful experience in the cell and gene therapy sector. He holds a Master of Science in Immunology from Imperial College London. Kwok’s career spans academia, NHS, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, showcasing his versatile expertise across these domains.

As Chief Digital Officer at Adthera Bio Ltd, Kwok leads the digital strategy and solution implementation of Adthera’s cell therapy-focused, digital-first CDMO offering. He excels in building partnerships with best-in-class innovators to address the challenges of delivering cell and gene therapies to more patients.

Prior to Adthera Bio, Kwok co-founded and held the post of Chief Operating Officer at Autolomous Ltd. He was instrumental in securing £2.5 million in funding and driving three significant UK government grant-funded projects worth £3 million. His strategic vision and leadership led to Autolomous being recognized as a global leader in the digital transformation of cell and gene therapy delivery, securing prestigious clientele from academic institutions like UCL and Stanford, NASDAQ-listed corporations, and CDMOs.

Kwok also served as a Collaborator Project Manager at the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, where he played a pivotal role in establishing a state-of-the-art manufacturing centre. His tenure at GSK Pharmaceuticals as Informatics Lead involved orchestrating key projects aligned with the company’s CGT informatics strategy. At Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Kwok managed all information systems for the CCGTT group and significantly expanded the repository’s clientele and sample deposits.

Kwok’s early career included roles at University College London and Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, where he developed and implemented biobanking platforms and GMP manufacturing processes. His extensive experience, strategic acumen, and innovative approach have made him a respected figure in the cell and gene therapy industry.

Alessandra De Riva

Advent Bioservices

Head of Process Development and R&D

Alessandra brings over 20 years of experience in R&D, PD, CMC and regulatory affairs gained in the private and academic sectors in cell and gene therapy, immune-oncology and immunology. Alessandra holds a PhD in Molecular Immunology obtained at the National institute for Medical Research and sponsored by UCL (UK), and studied Biological Sciences at the University of Padova (Italy).

Tom Smith

Labman Automation

Head of Bioprocess Automation

Over 12 years of experience within automation and robotics, currently specialising in the delivery of GAMP category 5 systems for GMP manufacturing environments.

Simon Chandler

Rinri Therapeutics

Chief Executive Officer

Simon has been Rinri’s CEO from its inception, working closely with Rinri’s founder and responsible for the strategic direction and operation of the company.

Having spent most of his career within blue-chip biotechnology and pharmaceutic companies, Simon has developed deep sector knowledge and experience in the biotech sector. He joined Rinri from IP Group, a specialist deep-tech venture capital fund, where he worked in early-stage investment and venture building, creating companies from world-class science. This exposed him to the innovative life science market across medical diagnostics, devices, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, novel antimicrobials, and the advanced therapeutics landscape.

Simon believes that Rinri’s strong preclinical data and clinical development progress puts it at the forefront of hearing loss therapeutic development with enormous potential to make a real-world impact on patients and healthcare systems to realise a world where hearing loss can be restored, reconnecting people with the world around them.

He holds a 1^st class BSc (Hons.) in Biology from the University of Leeds and a PhD. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of York.

Kerstin Papenfuss

Deep Science Ventures

Associate Director Therapeutics

Kerstin started her PhD at German Cancer Research Centre and then moved to a lab at Imperial College to work on novel treatment options within the field of tumour immunology. She has since spent almost ten years in leadership roles at impact-driven organisations advancing medicine and therapeutics, while also securing an executive MBA and a women in business award. Before joining Deep Science Ventures to design novel therapeutics companies using DSV’s outcome focussed company creation process, Kerstin was transforming ideas for cutting edge cell and gene therapies into investable propositions at UK’s Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.

Anji Miller

LifeArc

Programme Director Translational Fellowships Skills Lead, Innovation hubs for Gene Therapies Senior Business Manager, LifeArc

Anji is a TT professional with more than 19 years’ experience of working with early-stage translational research. Anji has extensive experience of IP and contract management, licensing, business development of healthcare technologies, and development of knowledge transfer policies.  Her current role at LifeArc involves working with academic and charitable establishments to identify, cultivate, fund, and commercialise early-stage healthcare technologies, focusing on rare diseases and the advanced therapies.

A proponent for professional advancement in STEM careers, Anji is active in many initiatives missioned to address the current UK skills gap and training shortage. These include leadership of the LifeArc-AUTM TT Training Fellowship and LifeArc TTO Fellowship programmes, designed to train, and assist scientists to become TT professionals; directing LifeArc’s translational placement and training programmes, and working with external partners to improve STEM learning and development in education.  As the Skills Lead for recently launched Innovation Hubs for Gene Therapy, Anji works with the Innovation Hubs to address the identified skills needs in the advanced therapy sector.

An advocate of equality diversity and Inclusion, Anji cofounded Global Equality, Diversity and Equality in Technology Transfer (GEDITT), an initiative missioned to raise awareness and promote EDI in the TT sector.

Anji holds an M.Sc. in Human Molecular Genetics and Ph.D in Cancer Genetics from Imperial College, and M.Sc. and Certificate in IP Law from QMUL. She is a certified project manager, Registered Technology Transfer Professional and Certified Licensing Professional.

Anji is a board member of AUTM, The Alliance of Technology Transfer Practitioners (ATTP), ASTP, Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) and, a member of the BioIndustry Association (BIA) Cell & Gene Therapy Advisory Committee, and the AUTM Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity Committee.

Michael Baker

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies

Senior Director, Viral Gene Therapy

Michael is responsible for overseeing FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’ (FDB) Viral Gene Therapy operations in the UK. Prior to this he spent 4 years at FDB’s College Station location in Texas USA where he was Head of Process Development, and was responsible for leading a rapidly expanding process development team. He has previously served in a number of technical roles at FDB’s sites in Texas and the UK and before joining FDB, worked for MSD Biologics and Avecia Biotechnology. Michael gained a BSc in Medical Microbiology and Immunology and an MPhil in Developmental Biology from Newcastle University.

Katy Newton

Achilles Therapeutics

Senior Vice President immunology and Process Development

Mustafa Munye

Complement Therapeutics

Vice President Operations

Mustafa is currently Director of R&D Operations at Complement Therapeutics where he is responsible for driving discovery and development efforts. He has significant industry experience in the translation of cell and gene therapies gained at GSK and CGTC. Mustafa has led process and analytical development for AAV, CAR-T and PSC derived products to support FIH and late-stage clinical studies. He also serves as a board member of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy working to overcome common barriers to translation and commercialisation of Advanced Therapies.

Abigail Martin

ImmuONE

CEO

Scientist turned entrepreneur in biotech!

Previous winner of INNOVATE UK funding and sponsored programme ICURe 2019! In 2018, I travelled the world talking with the inhalation and allergy industries about standardising In Vitro technologies for safety assessments and toxicology outcomes. With support from INNOVATE UK, UH & Santander, I embarked on the journey from scientist to CEO of a biotech start-up!

For me, it’s about applying research to the outside world, taking science from the bench side and gauging the innovative potential for commercialisation. I dream big because ICURe SETsquared awarded me the opportunity to combine my love of science with my ridiculously good organisation and management skills.

Since June 2020, we have developed and launched multiple human-lung and immune in-vitro products of the lower airway. Our services offer standard testing and advanced assays to assist our clients with questions of uncertainty, ultimately helping them in their decisions to get products to market. We have also grown our team from 2 to 14 brilliant individuals (go and see for yourself!)

Connect with me over LinkedIn!

Specialities: toxicology, biotechnology and innovation

David Venables

Laverock Therapeutics

Chief Executive Officer

Prof David Venables has three decades of experience as a serial biotech entrepreneur having taken companies from creation through to acquisition or IPO, and taken products from development through to commercial launch. Currently Founding CEO of Laverock Therapeutics, Board member of Axol Bioscience and NovelGen, and mentor to a number of start-ups.

David has held CEO or Senior Executive roles in AskBio, Synpromics, Nightstar, Anatara Lifesciences, Ark Therapeutics, Valneva; is Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University, and holds a PhD in Bioprocess Engineering from University of Surrey.