Bio Integrates addresses the needs of innovative companies developing the therapies of the future, providing a distinguished forum to discuss the primary challenges impacting the biotech sector. With a focus on the biotech, start-ups, and emerging pharmaceutical segments, Bio Integrates is an event that offers a unique opportunity to engage with senior executives in biotechnology, contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO), supply chain, and investment sectors.
Cambridge Ahead & ARU Governing Body
Chair & Member
Since January 2024 Harriet enjoys a portfolio career which includes a range of consultancy, pro bono and charitable work. She sits on the Governing Body of ARU, is Chair of Cambridge Ahead and Cambridge Science Centre, and is the Founder Director of HFA Ltd, the latter being her advisory company.
Harriet was a Diplomat for over 20 years with the British Foreign Office. She served in 17 countries, in various roles including Deputy Ambassador 3 times, Head of Press and Public Affairs and Head of Commercial Services. She regularly served in hostile environments, trouble-shooting specific crises including in the Congo, Cambodia and Ethiopia.
Half her diplomatic career was spent in the commercial field, helping SME’s trade internationally. For 5 years she was the Head of the Governments national Life Sciences and Healthcare Trade Team.
Harriet was Chief Executive of One Nucleus from 2009 to 2017, which became the largest life science and healthcare membership body in Europe under her leadership. She was then involved in the thinking behind Cambridge&, the shop window for Cambridge for international companies seeking to set up in Cambridge, from its earliest days in 2018 and led it from incorporation until the end of 2023.
Harriet was the Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador for Life Sciences for 5 years to 2018. She has worked at the heart of the Cambridge business ecosystem since 2003. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2016 for her services to Healthcare and Life Sciences.
In a world where time equals money, a streamlined partnership is often the secret to success. What makes for a strong, effective collaboration between a biotech and a CDMO/CRO, and how do these partnerships adapt as a biotech scales and evolves?
For the last 15 years, Nathalie has held various leadership positions in both tactical and strategic marketing and, more recently, in sales and business development, successfully building/deploying territorial strategies to support revenue growth for companies offering discovery, development, manufacturing, nonclinical/clinical and commercial solutions for Biotech/Pharma innovators in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
She is also a Strategic Advisor Board member at BioNow and a career mentor for young science graduates with the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).
In 2020 and 2021, she was named one of the Northern Powerhouse Export champions for successfully building and deploying export strategies for a UK entity (Arcinova) leading to market penetration in new/unexplored territories.
She holds an executive MBA with Entrepreneurship Specialism from Warwick Business School, BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg (France) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of York.
Custom Pharma Services
Chief Executive Officer
Experienced Technical Director with extensive experience of working a in the pharmaceuticals industry.
I am expert in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing science and technology with a consistent track record of delivering high quality and robust medicines. I am experienced in Quality by Design, regulatory submissions and technology transfer.
I am an accomplished leader of technical functions and matrix teams across both Manufacturing and R&D organisations. I ensure success by setting the vision and develop strategies aligned to the organisations ambition, focusing on internal and external collaboration to deliver value.
As a leader of both line and matrix teams I have a people centric approach, setting high standards and driving delivery, whilst also creating an environment focused on personal development and continuous improvement to ensure everyone fulfils their potential.
Mills & Reeve
Partner
Stephanie is a lawyer in the Mills & Reeve LLP life sciences team, with experience in intellectual property, data protection, commercial contracting and regulatory work. She supports a wide variety of clients in the sector across the full product life cycle.
Her work includes advising on research and development agreements, collaborations and intellectual property licences. A key focus of her work is supporting clients on strategic decisions influenced by the regulatory framework, development and licensing of products, research collaborations and data protection implications in research and clinical trials, including cross-border issues.
Stephanie has supported her clients in connection with their efforts to respond to, and develop treatments for, major epidemic and pandemic threats over the past decade, including collection and transfer of patient samples internationally.
How to stay ahead of the competition, maximize trial value, and keep costs in check—while delivering results that win over investors.
Genomics England
Strategic Partnerships Director
Dr James Duboff is a Strategic Partnerships Director at Genomics England, driving the translational impact of National genomic and clinical data by partnering with global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies working in Cancer and Rare Disease. He has previously worked in Biopharmaceutical R&D at GlaxoSmithKline and consumer health R&D management at Procter & Gamble, as well as executive leadership roles within a number of UK-based life science focussed start-up and scale-up organisations. Dr Duboff has an Undergraduate and Masters degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Genetics from the University of Cambridge.
Neobe Therapeutics
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Tumour microenvironment expert with over 12 years of research experience in top institutions including CRUK Cambridge Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Authored multiple publications in immunooncology and contributed to development of innovative IO cell therapies at Triumvira Immunologics.
NG Bio
Principal
Richard is currently Principal at NG Bio, a specialist venture investor, builder and creator with a focus on therapeutics to treat autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. In his role at NG Bio, Richard leads on technical and commercial due diligence of incoming opportunities. A research scientist by training, Richard spent 10 years in academic institutions, including 6 years at the Francis Crick Institute in London, working on a range of subjects, including small RNA gene regulation, and neuronal circuit development. Before joining NG Bio, Richard was part of the Technology Transfer Fellowship programme with LifeArc and completed a Masters in Finance.
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.
The UK is home to a vibrant network of biotech hubs and innovation hotspots—how do you pick the perfect location to accelerate your growth?
Arise Innovation Hubs, Anglia Ruskin University
Director
Dr Beverley Vaughan joined the Arise Innovation Hubs as Director in June 2021, with over 20 years’ experience in the healthcare and life sciences sector.
Beverley trained as a clinical scientist in Haematology and working at Cambridge and London University Hospitals.
Working in the innovation sector for the last 10 years with roles in Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT) and the University of Oxford in programme manager and director level positions.
Whilst at SBC Beverley supported the development of translational research facilities and raised funding from multiple pharma and biotech companies for the Open Innovation Challenge in Neurodegeneration. At CGT Beverley managed a wide portfolio of project from novel drug discovery spin outs to NHS led delivery of cell therapy products. Most recently she was responsible for the delivery of a drug discovery consortium-UKSPINE- pivoting traditional pathways to meet the demands of healthy aging with partners, Universities of Oxford, Dundee and Birmingham, Medicines Discovery Catapult, The Francis Crick Institute and Sanger Centre Cambridge.
Since joining Arise as Director Beverley has been working on building the life science strategy for their newest hub located on the Harlow Innovation Park, leading on strategy, fund raising and partnering activities to build a cluster of expertise within this synapse of the London-Cambridge corridor. She is also a member of the NC3Rs CRACKIT advisory panel.
Canary Wharf Life Sciences
Associate Director, Science Ecosystem
Mairi leads ecosystem development for Canary Wharf Life Sciences. Canary Wharf is already home to over 40 life science and healthcare businesses and 100,000 sq ft of lab and office space (CL2/CL3). We aspire to become a globally recognised life science ecosystem in East London.
Mairi has a wealth of experience in early-stage tech fundraising, project management and outward facing relationship building (public and private sector). She began her career in major government-sponsored infrastructure projects before moving into the innovation and entrepreneurship landscape. As Head of Operations for a venture capital backed bio-tech start-up, she gained broad business experience bringing a product to market and fundraising both in the U.K. and abroad. Through her roles within the Catapult Network, Smart Specialisation Hub, Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Network and most recently, establishing and leading Kadan’s national ecosystem strategy, Mairi has built a deep understanding of how to link the research, commercial and investment worlds.
Babraham Research Campus
Chief Scientific & Innovation Officer
Louise has almost 30 years’ experience working across the health and life sciences spectrum, working within academia, biotech and medium and large pharmaceutical organisations; from target discovery and R&D through to product launch and lifecycle management. In 2024, she was awarded a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence fellowship to support research translation and commercialisation activities at the Babraham Institute.
Louise is Strategic Advisor to Enhanc3D Genomics, a Babraham Institute spin out company, a long-standing member of the British Society for Immunology and on the Editorial Board for Immunotherapy Advances journal.
The focus of Louise’s role is to continue to strengthen the collaborative culture of the Campus in line with its vision to be one of the best places in the world to start, scale, nurture and grow a life sciences business. The immediate priorities include growing and broadening the Campus’ strategic partnerships with corporates, service providers, investors and trade organisations committed to accelerating and enabling vibrant UK life sciences researchers and companies – both those currently on Campus and new innovators which will be attracted as the Campus grows.
Louise will also oversee and further develop various on-Campus initiatives, including Accelerate@Babraham (pre-seed company support programme created out of a desire to nurture early-stage life science ventures attempting to navigate the tough and fast-moving sector life sciences sector) and LiveLabs (flexible, co-working lab space, providing fully serviced and equipped labs ideal for molecular biology and cell culture work for early-stage life science companies).
Japeto
Chief Executive Officer
Leading Japeto, a forward-thinking and inclusive software development agency specialising in building better AI tools. We make AI useful and safe for the organisations that can’t risk getting it wrong.
We collaborate with healthcare, education, local government, and start-ups to solve problems and deliver impactful solutions.
What’s the blueprint for the biotech workforce of tomorrow? How can we cultivate a diverse culture, develop fresh skills, and welcome varied perspectives to fuel innovation and shape the future of the industry?
Kathryn Simpson Consulting Limited
Business Consultant
Kathryn is a respected and successful change leadership expert, with diverse career experience in Europe and North America. She has over 25 years of consulting and line experience with leading organisations (Unilever, Mars, KPMG and GSK). Since 2007 she has been leading her own independent consulting business, primarily working within the Life Sciences sector. By partnering with leaders at all levels within the sector, growth and sustainable success has resulted for the organisations she has worked with. She has recently published a book – “Leading for Change: How to thrive during uncertain times”.
She provides each organisation the approaches they need to meet their unique situation. Tailored approaches are used to develop a consolidated understanding of their environment and the priority challenges they face. This provides the basis for facilitating customised workshops where leaders not only create a desired future, but are ready to move forward and implement their ideas. Working with individual leaders or teams she advises how to bring other stakeholders with them so they achieve success together. These practical and supportive approaches create focus, accountability and collaboration across organisations and their partners. Organisations are left with an increased leadership capability and tangible business results.
While biotech investment is on the rise, early-stage innovations are still struggling to secure funding. A discussion on the potential ripple effects across the industry.
Cizzle Biotechnology PLC
Chairman
An experienced international technology and life sciences senior executive, with extensive PLC board level and Public Sector Service. In depth background in licensing, corporate financing, IPO’s, M&A and managing strategic change with blue chip companies worldwide
Astellas Europe
Scouting & Transaction Lead, Business Development
Hiro Usuda is Scouting & Transaction Lead, Business Development at Astellas. He moved to Cambridge, UK, in 2021 when Astellas launched a BD office there. He is responsible for introducing European technologies and assets to global Astellas, communicating with external partners, and creating new collaborations, licensing, M&A, and investments (including those in Cell and gene therapy). Hiro started his career at Astellas as a medicinal chemist, developing candidate drugs in immunology and oncology drug candidates as a bench chemist and group leader.
Syncona
Investor
A collaborative and diligent biotech investment executive with experience in company creation, syndicated financing, M&A transactions, and on Wall Street across a range of therapeutic areas and modalities. Extensive experience as a board director. Former investment banker with excellent grasp of capitalisation, financing options, market dynamics, and strategy, and capable of running teams internally and externally.
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.
AI is transforming industries, including biotech, but how can we move beyond the buzz and build a strategy that unlocks its true value while managing risks?
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.
Baseimmune
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Josh has a PhD in Vaccinology and Infectious Diseases from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford where he pioneered computational approaches to design vaccines against various infectious diseases. He’s designed a number of vaccines against diseases such as dengue and chikungunya to human papilloma virus (HPV) and malaria. Two of his vaccine candidates are currently in human clinical trials and licensed to pharma. For the last three years he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Imperial College London, developing new ways to create malaria vaccines. In 2019 he co-founded Baseimmune to generate mutation-proof vaccines through deep learning technology.
Charles River Laboratories
Chief Scientific Officer (Early Discovery)
Justin joined Charles River Laboratories in 2022 as Chief Scientific Officer (Early Discovery) and in this role he works closely with a range of experts to develop CRL’s drug discovery strategy, explore opportunities with existing and prospective clients, evaluate new areas of science and technology and develop new approaches to strengthen the CRL offering. Justin trained as a chemist at the universities of York and Oxford, the latter being as a post-doc under Professor Sir Jack Baldwin. Since then, he has gained over 30 years’ experience in drug discovery at several biotechnology and pharma companies including Parke-Davis and Pfizer. Prior to joining CRL, he spent 16 years as Director of Drug Discovery at LifeArc, a UK based charity and not-for-profit organisation, where he led a team covering chemistry, biology, antibodies and diagnostics. Justin holds an honorary professorship at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and he teaches on various aspects of drug discovery at QMUL, University College London and the Wellcome Trust. He also sits on a range of advisory committees and panels in the UK and Sweden. Justin Bryans
ARU is an innovative global university with students from 185 countries coming to study with us.
We’re proud to have received a Gold award for the quality of our education in the Teaching Excellence Framework, a UK-wide review of university teaching standards
We’re a place where collaboration, research and scholarly activity informs everything we do. Many of our courses are recognised by industry and a large number are professionally accredited, making our students career-ready.
Each year, we also help 2,000 businesses grow with interns, training, research and collaborative programmes.
