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Programme
Day 1 - Welcome
- 10 mins
Speaker:
Peter Coleman FCMA, MBA
Peter joined Roslin in March 2022, prior to that he was the CEO of Cobra Biologics a position he held from 2011 to Mar 2021 up to when the business was sold. He has over 20 years of ATMP CDMO experience as both CFO and CEO and he is a qualified accountant with an MBA from Manchester Business School. He joined Cobra as the CFO on its IPO in 2002, overseeing multiple acquisitions and fundraising activities. During his tenure as CEO of Cobra, he oversaw a rapid growth in both revenue and EBITDA as the business focussed on Advanced Therapies. He is an active member of the UK life science infrastructure as an MMIP representative. He is also a multiple award winner, with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2018 and joint winner of the BIA Richard Wilson Impact Award in 2020 for his involvement in the BIA’s UK COVID Vaccine Taskforce.
Chair:
Steve Bates OBE
Steve Bates FMed Sci OBE has been leading the UK Bioindustry Association as CEO since 2012. He currently chairs the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of Europabio since 2015. He sits on the UK’s Life Sciences Council. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMES. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.
UK Strategy update
- 10 mins
Speaker:
Steve Bates OBE
Steve Bates FMed Sci OBE has been leading the UK Bioindustry Association as CEO since 2012. He currently chairs the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of Europabio since 2015. He sits on the UK’s Life Sciences Council. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMES. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.
UK Biomanufacturing Perspective
- 10 mins
A snapshot of the UK’s biomanufacturing landscape.
Speaker:
Dr Kit Erlebach
Kit is responsible for strategy development and implementation of major site projects at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in the UK. Kit has also worked as a Biochemical Engineer for 15 years and holds a Lean Six Sigma leader Master Black Belt qualification. He has applied LSS to quality, engineering and manufacturing in the course of leading laboratory refurbishment and transformational office construction projects totalling more than £80M. Kit has a first degree from Nottingham University in Chemical Engineering and a PhD from Cambridge University in Chemical Engineering and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is studying for a MBA with the Open University as part of the ATAC programme.
Growing the UK Manufacturing footprint
- 60 mins
Chair:
Lucy Foley
Lucy joined eXmoor after eight years at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) with her final position as Director of Biologics and COVID response. She recently led the establishment of the UK’s RNA Centre of excellence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a member of the UK Vaccines Taskforce. In 2013, as the Lead Biopharmaceutical Engineer at CPI, Lucy collaborated with eXmoor on the concept design of the organisation’s Darlington-based National Biologics Manufacturing Centre. Previously, she was an academic at Newcastle University in both the Business School and Chemical Engineering Departments where she worked with Professors Lyddiatt and Whitaker to understand the route to widespread adoption and process industrialisation of advanced therapies.
MaruX™: Redefining Biomanufacturing in the UK Through Novel Continuous Processing
FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies (FDB) provide Contract Development and Manufacturing services across mammalian, microbial and advanced therapy technology platforms. FDB are committed to growing their global biomanufacturing capabilities and capacity within the U.K. bioeconomy, including over £0.5 Billion capital investments in new facilities, capabilities, CDMO services and technologies. This presentation will describe these investments and capabilities, including novel and disruptive technologies enabling GMP continuous biomanufacturing (MaruX™).
Speaker:
Jonathan Haigh
Jonathan Haigh has been active in the biopharmaceutical industry for over fifteen years working in both the bioprocess technology vendor and end-user sectors, holding positions in both the US and UK. He completed a Ph.D. in antibody purification from the University of Cambridge, and an MBA from Durham University Business School. Jonathan has fulfilled a number of technical, management and leadership roles encompassing biopharmaceutical innovation, process development, early-phase GMP operations, and novel technology evaluation to support merge & acquisitions. Having previously worked in Pall Corporation, he is currently Vice President, Process Development at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, leading a team of over 350 process development scientists and engineers across Mammalian, Microbial and Advanced Therapy technology platforms, and drives a number of technology and strategy development programmes towards advancing biomanufacturing. He has a number of patents and publications pertinent to the bioprocessing field.
Experience of a Rapid growth of a Cell therapy CDMO in the UK
Emerging from Roslin Cells in 2015, Edinburgh based RoslinCT has recently undergone a phase of rapid growth, obtained investment for the first time and established a new facility for manufacture of cell based therapies. In this presentation, they share their story and show how the UK ecosystem has provided the company with all the requisite environmental factors to make this a success.
Speaker:
Kevin Bruce
Kevin joined the team in 2019 as our Chief Operating Officer. He has more than 20 years working within a regulated scientific environment for small biotech, large CROs and SMEs. With a background in quality control and engineering, Kevin has held positions in Operations, Quality, R&D and commercial development. He was previously responsible for Roslin Cells’ collaborative projects for the development, GMP translation and manufacture of cell therapies for both pre-clinical and clinical development. More recently, as COO at Censo Biotechnologies, he established the operational capability for the European Bank for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and was responsible for Censo’s stem cell generation, genome editing and assay development operations for drug discovery. Since joining RoslinCT Kevin has supported the growth of the business from around 45 staff to around 220 today along with licensing and operation of their new BioCube manufacturing facility.
Growing The UK Skills Pipeline in Biomanufacturing: The UCL East Manufacturing Futures Lab
This talk will outline activities to be carried out within the new Manufacturing Futures Lab (MFL) based at the UCL East campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which opens in 2023. It will highlight the facilities available within the MFL and the biomanufacturing research of the new academic staff that will be based there. It will also describe new academic programmes in the areas of advanced therapies, sustainability and digitalisation that will support growth of the skills pipeline in life sciences and manufacturing.
Speaker:
Professor Gary Lye
Gary Lye, is Professor of Biochemical Engineering at University College London (UCL). He is Head of the UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering, Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Bioprocess Engineering Leadership and the academic lead of the department’s MBI Modular Training for Industry programme. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and was awarded the IChemE Donald Medal in 2020 for his services to the field. For the last six years he has been involved in development of the new UCL East campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and has co-led creation of new research and educational activities to be delivered within the multidisciplinary Manufacturing Futures Lab (MFL)
New frontiers
- 75 mins
The UK is a global leader in science and innovation, and this session celebrates the translation of scientific advances into new treatment modalities, including mRNA, exosomes and microbiome therapeutics to improve health and save lives.
Chair:
Andy Jones
Andy has been responsible for the development of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) aspects of several multibillion-dollar products in the fields of Oncology, Neuroscience and Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease. Latterly while leading Pharmaceutical Innovation and Manufacturing Science & Technology in AstraZeneca he has driven advances in Modelling & Simulation, Digital Therapeutics and Advanced Manufacturing technologies. Andy has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Wales Institute of Science & Technology and joined the pharmaceutical industry following a period of postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado.
CPI's RNA Centre of Excellence
Our journey to create an end-to-end RNA and LNP research, development, and industrialisation capability to support the UK and global RNA pipeline.
Speaker:
Brendan Fish
Brendan is Director of Biologics and the RNA Centre of Excellence at CPI Darlington. He is responsible for the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre and the dedicated RNA & LNP GMP Manufacturing Facility. His team has technical accountability for supporting UK pharma innovation through acceleration of development and optimisation of bioprocesses, formulation and analytical methods. This includes all aspects of process development for multiple types of biopharmaceutical products, including proteins, oligonucleotides, mRNA, saRNA and viral vectors. Prior to joining CPI Brendan has held multiple senior leadership roles in the pharma industry spanning a 30 year career in R&D and commercial manufacturing at GSK, AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Cambridge Antibody Technology and Delta Biotechnology giving him a multi-layered understanding of biopharma chemistry, manufacturing and controls from discovery through to launch.
Engineered exosomes: a transformative therapeutic modality
The therapeutic use of exosomes could revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry, by addressing major challenges such as enabling successful drug delivery to multiple cells or tissues in a way that has a low immunogenicity profile and allows repeat dosing. Exosomes are small, lipid-bound vesicles released by most if not all cell types and as ‘nature’s delivery vehicle’ they can be precision engineered to carry a variety of therapeutic drug cargoes (antisense oligos, proteins, siRNA, mRNA, viral vectors, and gene editing). At Evox, we have developed a proprietary platform enabling engineering of exosome payloads and surface proteins to address many of these challenges, consisting of an analytical toolbox, a scalable consistent manufacturing process and tailored targeting technology to specifically target recipient cells or tissues and surmount normally restricted biological and physiological barriers.
Speaker:
Peter Jones
Peter Jones has over 30 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and is currently Vice President of CMC at Evox Therapeutics. Prior to this, he was Executive Director, Process Development at Autolus Therapeutics, and held several positions of responsibility at Oxford Biomedica, including Senior Director, Head of Operational Strategy, Head of Technical Operations, and Head of Manufacturing Development. Peter also served in multiple senior roles at GlaxoSmithkline and Genzyme in bioprocess development and manufacturing. Peter has a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biology from the University of Hertfordshire and a MSc (Eng) in Biochemical Engineering from University College, London. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Manufacturing of Advanced Therapies at Aston University.
Microbiome-based Therapies as a New Modality: A Precision Medicine Approach
The gut microbiome plays a central role in human health by modulating the immune system, metabolism, and neurological function. Microbiome therapies have been shown to impact disease and drug response in clinical studies and model systems. The precision of Microbiotica’s leading microbiome analysis platform enables a clinic-first approach to discover a new generation of defined microbiome therapies comprised of clinically relevant bacteria.
Speaker:
Adam Wilkinson
Adam has been involved in the development of novel live biological medicines for over 20 years, including both live bacterial therapeutics and phage-based therapies across IBD, oncology and infectious disease areas. He took the first engineered phage-based therapy into clinical development, targeting multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. At Microbiotica he leads all aspects of CMC, manufacturing “bugs as drugs” and taking their defined live bacterial therapeutics into the clinic, including a combination therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs, to improve response, and a candidate for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
Richard Wilson Impact Award
- 15 mins
Presented by:
Dr Kit Erlebach
Kit is responsible for strategy development and implementation of major site projects at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies in the UK. Kit has also worked as a Biochemical Engineer for 15 years and holds a Lean Six Sigma leader Master Black Belt qualification. He has applied LSS to quality, engineering and manufacturing in the course of leading laboratory refurbishment and transformational office construction projects totalling more than £80M. Kit has a first degree from Nottingham University in Chemical Engineering and a PhD from Cambridge University in Chemical Engineering and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is studying for a MBA with the Open University as part of the ATAC programme.
Awarded to:
ATAC
Early Career Researcher Poster flashes
- 60 mins
Chair:
John Welsh
20 years’ experience in the Biopharm industry. I joined Pall Corporation in 2011 as a Principal Scientist working on process analytics. I became senior manager in 2013 and lead teams involved in the evaluation of new products during development including filtration devices, bioreactors and other processing skids. My current role is as a senior principal scientist leading a team involved in external collaborations in gene therapy and continuous biomanufacturing. Prior this I worked with Cobra Biologics on diverse projects including the development of processes to manufacture delivery systems for non-viral gene therapy, biopharmaceutical QC and biotherapeutic process development. I completed First degree in Industrial Chemistry at UWIST in Cardiff UK in 1987 and followed this with PhD from the University of Southampton in Bioorganic Chemistry investigating the structure of peptidomimetic and a Post Doc at F. Hoffmann La-Roche in Basel investigating the use of peptidomimetics as drugs.
Kidney disease - a view of today's reality and the progress towards novel therapies. A snapshot of the difference we can make to patients.
- 75 mins
This session will explore how the progress in research and technology impacts the lives of patients living with kidney disease. In a presentation and panel format, we will gain a unique perspective with inputs from experts in clinical medicine, product development and patient advocacy. Come along and see how what you do changes lives
Chair:
Sharon Grimster
Sharon is a consultant at Redownes Ltd, having previously held leadership roles at Avacta, VaxEquity, ReNeuron, F-Star, Antisoma and Celltech. During her career she has had responsibility for a range of development functions, including CMC, project management, medical devices, regulatory affairs, preclinical, business operations and quality. Sharon is the Vice Chair of the Manufacturing Advisory Committee for the BIA, and was the 2019 winner of the Peter Dunnill award.
Accelerating discoveries to transform kidney health
Dale, a kidney transplant patient told us, “I just want to live a normal life but that’s the difficult part – I know that’s not going to happen without further developments, better drugs, better technologies better research and better understanding.”
At Kidney Research UK we are working together with many others to drive change for kidney patients. 22 people are diagnosed with kidney failure in the UK every day, and the disease is predicted to be the fifth largest cause of death world-wide by 2040. The reality behind these stark statistics is catastrophic for many people, meaning our work is more urgent now than ever. For decades Kidney Research UK has funded work that has made improvements and increased prospects for some. We now have the potential for major change in tackling the devastation of kidney diseases but that is dependent on collaboration, innovation, and determination.
Speaker:
Sandra Currie
Sandra joined Kidney Research as Chief Executive in 2012 and her career in the voluntary sector spans almost 32 years to date. Her first career was in mental health nursing, and she was ward sister in a secure Mental Health Unit in Glasgow, her home city. Her work in the voluntary sector includes many years spent developing a fundraising career, including work for a major cancer charity, latterly as a Director of Fundraising. She has also served on various sector wide advisory boards and was a Trustee of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA). She has led the growth and development of the charity for ten years now and has overseen a significant increase in research spend and greater collaborative working across the renal community. Sandra enjoys the challenges of working in a charity that needs to widen its influence and significantly increase income, enabling more research and innovation to improve the prospects for kidney patients. She is a keen advocate of reducing both inequality and inequity, particularly in the health and social care setting, and advancing progress in public health.
A Journey Without Cure - New strategies on the Horizon
A diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves adherence to multiple medications and dietary restrictions to manage serious and even life-threatening complications. Even after kidney transplantation, life-long immunosuppression is required to avoid rejection, which is associated with increased susceptibility to malignancy and infection.
A genetic basis underlies a significant proportion of CKD for which there is no cure and therefore an unmet need exists for early intervention with effective transformational therapies such as gene therapy.
Speaker:
Dr Aoife Waters
Dr Aoife Waters is a specialist in children’s kidney disease with 20 years of working in tertiary paediatric centres in Ireland, UK and Canada and within Nephrology, for 15 years. The scope of her practice includes acute inpatient Nephrology consultations, outpatient clinics for General Nephrology and specialist expertise in children’s glomerular disorders such as nephrotic syndrome. Dr Aoife Waters is a principal investigator on clinical trials for new therapies for glomerular diseases and work collaboratively with colleagues for rare renal diseases. The latter includes delineating the cause, understanding the mechanism through collaboration with scientists within UCL, nationally and internationally. Aoife also holds the post of Medical Director Consultant at Purespring Therapeutics
Building A Gene Therapy Platform to Address Chronic Kidney Diseases
The Future – At Purespring, we are leading a revolution in the treatment of kidney diseases. More than 8 million people in the UK and 840 million people globally suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), many without satisfactory treatment options. Purespring exists to change this and provide transformative gene therapy treatments for a range of kidney diseases.
The Purespring Solution – by targeting the podocyte, a terminally differentiated and specialised cell pivotal to normal kidney function, which is implicated in many kidney diseases and their progression, we aim to prevent or arrest disease progression towards CKD and renal failure. Our technologies combine local administration with targeted gene therapies (at the vector capsid and gene promoter levels) to achieve therapeutic expression in the right cell at the right time to achieve lasting therapeutic benefit.
Speaker:
Julian Hanak
Julian has worked in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sector for more than 25 years, holding senior leadership positions in small biotech, CDMO and large pharma companies. Graduating as a Biochemist from University College London he completed his Master’s at Bangor University before working in research at the Nation Institute for Medical Research (MRC), Bioproducts Laboratories and Astra Zeneca. He gained extensive Gene Therapy drug development, manufacturing and business development experience at Cobra Biologics, NightStar Therapeutics and Biogen, where he was SVP and the global head of Gene Therapy Product and Process Development. He is currently the Chief Development Officer at Purespring Therapeutics Ltd and is an honorary lecturer for UCL Biochemical Engineering.
Living with Renal failure and the Life Changing Impact of a Kidney Transplant
Janet talks about her husband’s challenges of living with renal failure and going through haemodialysis treatment three times a week.
Janet donated a kidney to her husband in 2010 and shares their experience of life before and after the transplant. Having worked within the life sciences community and cell and gene therapies for many years Janet brings her perspective and shares her story.
Dr Janet Downie
Janet holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences and has been an active member of the Life Science community in Scotland and the UK for many years. Janet has over 25 years of experience in cell & gene therapies and biologics and was the Napier University Alumnus of the year for 2021. Janet recently retired as CEO of RoslinCT, a leading cell and gene therapy CDMO, having established and grown the business over many years. Janet donated a kidney to her husband in 2010 and supported her husband through haemodialysis for 5 years before that. Janet has a real understanding of the challenges of living with renal failure and the value of medical progress within the field.
Boom or Bust?
- 75 mins
The UK sector has enjoyed record-levels of investment in recent years and a post-pandemic push for increased manufacturing capacity and real estate. But the global economic climate is changing and the UK’s political landscape is shifting. In this panel we will explore the current environment for R&D and manufacturing investment, discuss what the future might hold and give you expert advice on how to position your company for success.
Chair:
Dr Martin Turner
What does your role at BIA involve?
Martin is responsible for all the BIA's policy outputs and public affairs activities and leads on finance and tax policy as well as the BIA’s engagement with the investment community. He authors the BIA’s investment analysis reports and is a regular commentator on the life sciences sector in the national press. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge University Science Policy Exchange (CUSPE).
Previous experience & achievements
Martin has over ten years experience in policy and public affairs and has worked at the Royal Society, the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and the Association of Medical Research Charities. Before embarking on a career in policy, he completed a PhD in molecular biology at the University of Sheffield, where he also co-founded and was director of an award-winning science communication charity called Science Brainwaves. He has a BSc in molecular biology from the University of Manchester.
Panel Members:
Sarah Goulding
Sarah Goulding is one of the Challenge Directors within UKRI for the Medicines Manufacturing challenge. Sarah was previously Head of Relationship Management and a specialist in medicines manufacturing at the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) with 15 years of experience working with industry, academia and policy makers in cell and gene therapies, biologics and medicines manufacturing. Throughout her career to date, she has driven the formation of initiatives to enable collaboration and commercialisation that work across business, academia and policy makers in government and associated bodies such as bioProcessUK, the BioIndustry Association’s Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership. Sarah has also been Acting Director at the BioIndustry Association Scotland, and has a PhD in developmental biology.
Olivia Drew
Olivia Drew is the portfolio manager for the UK Life Sciences strategy, and is the lead investment manager across the vehicle. She was previously a Transactions Manager for Real Estate UK (RE-UK), a business which forms part of Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) business within UBS Asset Management (UBS-AM). Olivia also had responsibilities across the REPM business on ESG strategies, supporting the growth of the sustainable product shelf and integrating ESG policies across the platform. She joined UBS-AM in December 2017 as a member of the RE-UK team, providing support to several Funds and segregated mandates within the UK platform. Prior to joining UBS-AM, Olivia worked at M&G Investments (2014-2017), first as a graduate trainee, and then as an analyst specializing in long lease property funds. Olivia is a CFA charterholder, and also holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).
Michael Kyriakides
Michael Kyriakides is an Investment Partner at Syncona, a life sciences investor focused on founding, building and funding companies. He works closely portfolio companies Freeline Therapeutics, Purespring Therapeutics and Clade Therapeutics. He is also a non-executive director of the board of Purespring Therapeutics and an observer to the board of Clade Therapeutics. Previously, Michael was a member of the Life Sciences team at L.E.K. Consulting and was involved in projects for pharmaceutical, biotech and private equity clients. Prior to joining L.E.K. Consulting, he was a clinical project and NMR manager in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. Michael obtained his doctorate degree in toxicology and metabolic profiling at Imperial College London.
Peter Dunnill Award Presentation and lecture
- 45 mins
Presented by:
Dr Stephen Ward
Stephen has held the position of CMO of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult since 2018, leading the strategic manufacturing, supply chain, skills and industrial growth programmes, and was CGT Catapult’s founding COO. As CMO, Stephen has led on the design, build and GMP licensing of the Stevenage CGT Catapult facility, making the facility central to the development of the largest cell and gene therapy cluster outside the US. He also leads set-up of the new CGT Catapult site in Braintree, which supports the national COVID-19 vaccine portfolio, plus the development of large scale manufacturing of cell and gene therapies. Stephen also works closely with industry stakeholders to develop and deliver impactful and first-of-their-kind national skill programmes, such as the Advanced Therapy Skills Training Network (ATSTN) and the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community (ATAC). He brings to the organisation almost two decades of specialised cell and gene therapy expertise from his career in biological medicine research, development, and manufacturing. Stephen thrives on bringing cutting edge technologies to patients by developing commercially viable products and is passionate about expanding the UK’s cell and gene therapy manufacturing and development supply chain. He is a current member of the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership leadership team, actively promoting and supporting biomanufacturing in Government as well as at a grass-roots level.
Reflections on a Career in Biotechnology - Success Based on Opportunism, Networking and Good Fortune!!
One key element of the development of your team is to consider their personal career paths and trajectories to achieve their goals. This is an area that I strongly support and advocate. Did I have such a plan in place when I embarked on my career the year before I completed my A levels? Not really! Did I have a career plan on graduation? Not really! Have I ever had a career plan? The answer is yes but sort of!! I would not change my career path even were I able to with the benefit of hindsight. I will take you through a personal reflection of how my career progressed, the power of networking and the benefits that brought as my career developed and the opportunities I gained to travel globally and create long-standing collaborations and friendships internationally.
Awarded to:
Dr Peter R. Levison
Peter Levison has a career spanning over 30 years within the Biotechnology Industry. His background is Process Chromatography and spent many years within various R&D leadership roles responsible for the development and technical support of chromatography resins and membranes as well as columns and related chromatography hardware at both Whatman International and Pall Corporation. During the latter stages of his career, Peter moved into a Marketing Leadership role initially leading the Product Management team for Downstream Processing and introducing an end-to-end scalable Continuous Bioprocessing platform. Finally, he was responsible for developing strategic partnerships and collaborations within the Biotech community through the management of a network of Global Thought Leaders and collaborative partners by working with key industrialists and academics around the world, Peter retired in May 2022 and now spends time enjoying life and having the ability to do the activities that full-time work impedes. Peter has always been an advocate of networking and mentoring and continues to maintain relationships with the academic community, the research councils and the BIA to support the development of early career researchers. Peter holds a BSc (Hons) Class I in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK and a PhD gained in the Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Manchester. He has an MBA awarded through the Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, UK
Day 1 - Close
- 30 mins
Speaker:
Steve Bates OBE
Steve Bates FMed Sci OBE has been leading the UK Bioindustry Association as CEO since 2012. He currently chairs the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of Europabio since 2015. He sits on the UK’s Life Sciences Council. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMES. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.
Where next for medicines manufacture in the UK?
- 30 mins
An overview will be given of the ongoing Medicines Manufacturing Industrial Partnership (MMIP) initiatives and progress towards developing a 10 year vision for the future of Medicines Manufacture in the UK.
Speaker:
Brian Henry
Pharmaceutical Science is responsible for all small molecule development activities from molecular design in research through to global registration and commercial launch. I currently chair the Medicines Manufacturing Industrial Partnership, Pfizer lead on ABPI’s New Medicines and Data Strategic Leadership Group and a Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Nottingham. After my first degree in Pharmacy at the University of Manchester, I worked in community Pharmacy and then completed a drug delivery based PhD at the University of Nottingham. I worked at GSK in the discovery drug metabolism group before moving to Pfizer to set up a new Pharmaceutical Sciences Discovery support function. I have led the Global Drug Product Design group, also been the Pharmaceutical Sciences Research leader for the A&R, Pain and GI/GU Research units and a member of the Global Clinical Research leadership team. In addition, I have led Pharmaceutical Science’s intellectual property activities and due diligence for merger and acquisitions.
Dragon's Den - Sustainable Biotechnologies
- 90 mins
The potential of biotechnology goes far beyond healthcare, with new innovations in food, plastics, fuels. This session will hear from companies helping to deliver a more sustainable future using synthetic biology and sustainable biotechnology.
Chair:
Will Milligan
Will is Founder and CEO of Extracellular. Will is a bioprocess specialist focusing on advancing cellular agriculture as a sustainable, ethical alternative to traditional agriculture. Will has 10 years of experience in stem cell and gene therapy process development and scale-up, having formerly led Upstream Development at eXmoor Pharma. Will has an engineering doctorate in Biopharmaceutical Process Development and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Will also chairs the BIA LeaP Alumni group.
Production of High Value Biorenewables Using Nature’s Single-Use Bioreactors
Plants can express large and complex biomolecules, and the processes are rapid, flexible and easily scalable. Until recently R&D focused on the production of biologics in plants has lacked the investment that has been directed at “conventional” mammalian and bacterial expression systems. Regulatory approval by Health Canada of the Medicago / GSK COVIFENZ® COVID vaccine in February ’22 was a significant milestone, and the recent launch of Leaf’s SupraVec® expression technology is further evidence that plant-based biologics are finally coming of age.
Speaker:
Simon Saxby
My international career in life sciences spans 40 years, beginning with two years at LMB in Cambridge before moving into biotech with Murex Diagnostics. I am a highly experienced CEO of both private and public companies, and have led M&A activities in a number of these roles. I have led the growth and establishment of Leaf Expression Systems from start-up to an established contract research and development business within 4 years, despite the challenges associated with winning business with a disruptive plant-based expression technology in a highly regulated, competitive market. I have been a co-founder and held senior management and board positions in biotech companies since 1987. I have led the design, build and operation of GMP biologics manufacturing facilities in the UK, United States and Malaysia, including my role as Project Director for the design and build of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre in Stevenage. I have served as Visiting Lecturer in Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna Medical and Technical University, Advisor at The Boston University School of Management, USA, and I am a lecturer for the Cambridge University Masters in Biotechnology Enterprise programme and for the Swansea University MBA programme, I believe my experience would enable me to add significant value to the continued growth of the UK PLC life sciences industry and I would welcome the opportunity to make that contribution through membership of the BIA Board.
Reimagining scalable bioprocessing; a breakthrough in adherent cell culture
At CellRev, we don't believe in the mantra of build bigger or build more; we believe you can build better. Incumbent batch technologies occupy a larger footprint, use more valuable resources, and cost more to operate than a continuous industrial process at scale. CellRev will introduce their industry first continuous adherent cell cultivation technology and its ability to scale an entirely new sustainable food system and advancing cell therapy treatments.
Speaker:
Dr Ajay Tharakan
Ajay is a chemical engineer who is passionate about the commercialisation of new technology: particularly the scale-up of novel processes. With approximately 20 years of experience in large multinational and early-stage companies from a broad range of industries including: food; speciality chemicals; nanotechnology and petrochemicals. At CellRev Ajay is responsible for the design and operation of the bioprocess technology and the scale-up to commercial production systems. Ajay has a Masters in Chemical and Process Engineering from Newcastle University and a postgraduate qualification in Design, Manufacturing & Management from Cambridge University. He holds an Engineering Doctorate from Birmingham University obtained while working at Unilever on functional food formulation.
Innovative Tools for Cultivated Meat
Roslin Technologies Limited is an ambitious food and agriculture technology company which creates disruptive biotechnologies to improve how proteins are made. Our core capabilities lie in developing and commercialising a suite of unique animal stem cells and resources for the nascent global cultivated meat industry. Roslin Tech was the first company to commercialise pluripotent stem cells which continually self-renew and are able differentiate into fat and muscle cells required in the cultivated meat industry. We are now focussing our R&D on addressing key challenges in the sector including production cost reduction and process scale-up.
Speaker:
Karen Fairlie-Clarke
After a 20-year career in academia, Dr Karen Fairlie-Clarke, Innovation & Engagement Manager at Roslin Tech has responsibility for delivering externally funded research projects with academic and commercial partners. Managing these projects is a key deliverable in supporting the commercialisation and establishment of Roslin Tech as the leading supplier of induced pluripotent stem cells. Passionate about the translation of innovative science to real world impacts, Karen’s career has focused on valorising scientific outputs through developing strong collaborative partnerships, cross-functional workstreams, and the evaluation of new technologies and partnerships to deliver commercial goals
Green to scale - Sustainable and scalable adherent cell expansion solutions
Scale-up of manufacturing processes with adherent cells is limited by many factors. A novel bioreactor design facilitates adherent cell expansion and scale-up, and new materials make single-use consumables more sustainable.
Speaker:
Joel Eichmann
Joel Eichmann is a life scientist with a background in bioprocess engineering, manufacturing, and synthetic biology. Before founding Green Elephant Biotech, he worked several years in the pharmaceutical industry in vaccine manufacturing and tech transfer projects. Now at Green Elephant Biotech he is leading the development of new products and act as a linker between business development and R&D. He is passionate about building a greener future of the pharmaceutical industry and helping manufacturers and researchers to reduce their environmental impact.
Feeding the Future of Food
How Multus is redesigning growth media to make large-scale cultivated meat production affordable and profitable using novel ingredient design and high-dimensional formulation optimisation
Speaker:
Cai Linton
Cai Linton (CEO/Founder) has a master’s degree in bioengineering from Imperial College London and founded Multus to make cultivated meat the affordable and sustainable choice, for everyone. Multus is enabling the cultivated meat industry to realise its disruptive potential, creating the key ingredients to make cultivated meat production scalable, affordable and profitable. Their first product, Proliferum M, grows muscle, fat and connective tissue using a unique formulation and ingredient design process.
Collagen Type 0 – A next generation collagen innovation towards better healing and tissue repair
Collagen Type 0 represents an ancient collagen chemical lineage isolated from jellyfish. This blue innovation in biomaterials is providing Jellagen with exciting advances for tissue engineering in the development of new medical device treatments for unmet clinical needs in soft tissue healing.
Speaker:
Andrew Mearns Spragg
Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg is a marine biotechnology pioneer and entrepreneur with >20 years experience in the creation of companies involved with the commercial exploitation of marine biotechnology innovation Andrew holds a first-class BSc degree in Microbiology and PhD in Marine Biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship at St. Andrews University in 2000 to support the creation of his first marine biotechnology enterprise, Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd to bio-prospect and develop novel biologically active natural products from marine micro-organisms. Andrew has successfully raised to date over >£16M in equity finance from VCs and Angels and has secured competitive grant funding from EU and UK sources worth >£3M. He was the recipient of the 2007 Gannochy Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest award for Innovation and his entrepreneurial achievements were further recognised through winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2008 in Health Care for Scotland. Andrew founded Jellagen Ltd in 2013, where he has helped raised more than £6M in private financing, established in-house collagen standards and first data sets. He also built the first ISO13485:2016 certified manufacturing plant of Jellyfish Collagen. Andrew is dedicated and focused to developing the scientific potential of the company and is a member of the Executive Committee, responsible for Scientific and Technology strategy, Product Development and Business Development activities. Andrew was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy from 2011 – 2015 and holds Honorary Professorships from the University of Stirling (2012-2016) and University of the Highlands and Islands (2012 – Present). He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology.
Being Digital...Are we seeing the impact yet?
- 75 mins
Digital solutions in the development and manufacturing arenas will transform speed to market, productivity, compliance performance and reduce environmental impact. Our key speakers will give there views on this critical topic, sharing innovative solutions and responding to the question …. Are we seeing the Impact yet?
Chair:
Dave Tudor
Dave joined CPI in January 2019 as Managing Director for the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC). The MMIC is a collaboration between industry, academia and government. CPI is working together with the University of Strathclyde, AstraZeneca and GSK. With government support from Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK, the MMIC will be located in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The MMIC is a unique facility to enable new and disruptive pharmaceutical manufacturing technologies to be proven at scale in a GMP-capable environment. This will speed next-generation process adoption with reduced risk, cost and time, and provide a unique environment for the training of personnel in the techniques of future manufacturing processes. Prior to this Dave worked for GSK, joining in 1992 as a PhD Chemist from Glasgow University. He has over 20 years’ experience with the company carrying out a number of Technical, Compliance and Manufacturing leadership roles, before becoming VP Head of GMS Strategy in 2017, with responsibility for manufacturing strategy, deployment of strategic programmes, performance management and advocacy. He plays an active role with a number of Governments and is currently co-chair of the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group. Dave is married with 4 children and lives in Ayrshire. He enjoys all sports, particularly football, is a keen reader of Scottish history and cooks to relax.
Accelerating CMC: the future of process development is in silico
Simulation for in silico process development is becoming a viable option to reduce the time needed for chemicals, manufacturing, and control (CMC) activities and increase process understanding. Advances in analytics and modeling and their application to biopharmaceutical products are driving efforts to transform process development. In this session, you’ll gain insight on how to apply simulation in your CMC activities, including case studies of the successful use of simulation in biopharmaceutical process development.
Speaker:
Nick Whitelock
Nick is a commercial modelling specialist for GoSilico™ Chromatography Modeling Software at Cytiva. He uses his extensive background in DSP development and operations, from microscale to pilot-scale processing of mAbs, Fabs, and viral vectors, to understand the issues facing our industry. His wide expertise in simulating biopharmaceuticals includes developing structural, economic, statistical and mechanistic models, helping him bring sophisticated mathematical solutions to bioprocesses. He has studied for a BSc in chemistry with pharmacology, a scholarship-funded MRes in structural biology and an EngD in biopharmaceutical process development. Nick lives to accelerate the adoption of mechanistic model-based process development to enable more efficient, robust, and scalable processes across a broad selection of molecule formats, and therefore more accessible medicines
All data great and small
As we steer Oxford Biomedica towards its digital future, the foundational concept of good data management underpins all our aspirations. But how do you build that integrated vision and keep the business running at the same time?
Speaker:
Simon Simpkins
Simon was appointed VP, Head of Operational Strategy for Oxford Biomedica in April 2021, where his principal focus has been defining the manufacturing digital strategy - key to this is will be the introduction of a Manufacturing Execution System to facilitate faster batch review time and improved data integrity. Simon joined OXB in August 2013, leading the Manufacturing team through three previous capacity expansions and overseeing the growth of the team by over 20-fold. His achievements include OXB being approved as the world’s first commercial lentiviral vector manufacturer, significantly reducing the cost of goods by improving process robustness and implementing the manufacture of the AZ/Oxford University vaccine in less than 4 months. Simon takes an active participation in training and development at Oxford Biomedica. He helped introduced apprenticeships into OXB in conjunction with the ATAC and is the first senior leader sponsor of two OXB Management Development Programme cohorts.
Skills training in VR and AR; an exploration of what the technology can bring
The AMRC, The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, and Miltenyi Biotec collaborated together on a demonstration of high-end VR and AR technologies for skills and training. We would like to share with you our findings from this investigation. We will discuss the technologies and methods used; the positives and negatives of the technologies trialled; and how sharing this with the wider community is raising awareness and interest. We will also explore how we are measuring impact and what direction we are looking for the next phase of the project.
Speaker:
Sam Hyde
My background is in Mechanical Engineering. I started with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre back in 2013 as a Design Project Engineer within the Design and Prototyping Group. Over the years I have specialised and diversified my area of expertise into Digital tools, with a very strong emphasis on VR and AR in engineering. I am now currently Technical Lead at the AMRC for Software and Immersive Technologies. I lead a small team who develop and test novel new immersive technologies, new software tools, and embedded systems. Our team has a strong background in engineering, design, and immersive technologies for the medically focused sectors. We have delivered a number of interesting products and demonstrators, ranging from haptic simulator devices for immersive medical training, through to our ‘Digital Theatre’ project which demonstrated a wide range of Industry 4.0 technologies and immersive tools for the medical sector. Our specialism is in creating one-off proof of concepts to de risk innovation. We also explore horizontal innovation from different sectors.
Closing summary and awards
- 15 mins
Speaker:
Steve Bates OBE
Steve Bates FMed Sci OBE has been leading the UK Bioindustry Association as CEO since 2012. He currently chairs the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of Europabio since 2015. He sits on the UK’s Life Sciences Council. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMES. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.