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The effectiveness of government initiatives to stimulate the Life Science sector (CIMR debates in Public Policy)

When: —
Venue: Online

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Join the Centre for Innovation Management Research on Wednesday 18 January for our online lunchtime seminar: The effectiveness of government initiatives to stimulate the Life Science sector. The online debate is part of the CIMR Debates and Workshops in Public Policy series.

In this hour we will look at the building blocks we have in place for creating competitiveness within the Life Sciences sector, with a specific focus at translational medical research and to discuss whether our existing infrastructure is optimal. We will focus on the supply of talent and the ability to  bridge the gap between research and industry looming at the role of the Doctoral Training Partnerships (the DTPs) and also at the Catapult Network – in our case, the Cell and Gene Therapy and Medicines Discovery Catapults.

Panel: 

  • Thane Campbell, Deep Science Ventures
  • Jo Pisani, MedCity London
  • Dr Renos Savva, Birkbeck, University of London
  • Nick Johnson, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
  • Chair: Paul Edwards MBE, IsomAb Ltd

Biographies

Dr Renos Savva is a Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, where he is programme director for MSc Bio-business and leads a lab based biomolecular research team. Renos is active in outreach, due to his deep interest in translational research, student entrepreneurship, and postgraduate employability. Renos is an expert mentor and strategic board member of organisations external to Birkbeck and board/ scientific advisor to student led startups. The backdrop to these activities is: Within 5-years of his industrial CASE PhD studentship, as a junior research fellow, Renos had invented the Combinatorial Domain Hunting technology, patented and commercially developed via the startup Domainex Ltd., incubated in Renos’s lab from 2002 until spin-out in 2007. As Research Director he was awarded LondonFirst’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. Renos’s research involves protein engineering via synthetic, computational, and structural biology with diverse industry partner collaborations.

Thane Campbell of Deep Science Ventures is creating a future where humanity and the planet thrive, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Deep Science Ventures operates in 4 sectors: Agriculture, Climate, Computation and Pharmaceuticals, tackling the challenges defining those areas by taking a first-principles approach and partnering with leading institutions. Deep Science Ventures are launching a new PhD program - the Venture Science Doctorate (VSD) - tackling the critical bottleneck in science commercialisation: Talent. Thane is Project Leader for the VSD, a venture-focused, truly inclusive PhD program. His doctoral research combined novel biomarkers and neural networks to predict immune responses, with GSK. He went on to launch Scotland’s first venture builder. Thane works with government agencies, leading universities and venture builders on the VSD. His work is supported by the Schmidt Futures Innovation Fellows program.

Jo Pisani has a 30-year career in industry and consulting. Jo is now focused on supporting charities, universities and business start-ups. Jo chairs London’s MedCity and Birmingham’s PHTA, and is on the board of LifeArc, UK Dementia Research Institute, The RSA Group and Beacon. Jo is also supports biotech companies as a NED, strategic advisor and angel investor. Prior to this she led PwC’s UK Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences practice and started her career with BP and GSK. Jo is a passionate supporter of critical public health issues, such as tackling dementia and addressing anti-microbial resistance.

Paul Edwards has over 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and life science arena. A graduate chemist, he initially worked for Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme Corporation. In 2000, he joined the UK based biosimilars’ organisation, GeneMedix plc as Chief Executive Officer, and successfully led a major funding round taking the company to a dual listing on the London and Singapore Stock Exchanges. More recently, Paul has acted as a NED to Goldshield Group plc and BioProducts Laboratories and oversaw the sale of both organisations to Private Equity Groups. He is currently the Chair of IsomAb Ltd, a Board member of OBN Ltd  and recently acted as interim CEO to NanoMab Technology Ltd as well as serving as Managing Partner of the global Executive Search Group, SCi Partners. In 1997 he received an MBE for services to biotechnology.

Nick Johnson is the Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and ensures the CGTC remains at the forefront of driving innovation in the field of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). Building on the existing strong collaborations with academia and industry, Dr Johnson focuses on our continued alignment against the Government goal to grow the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry.

Prior to this role, Nick was the Commercial Director at CPI, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC), where his responsibilities included business development, strategic marketing, marketing communications, grant proposals and reporting of impact to government and other stakeholder groups. Earlier in his career he has held senior strategic and commercial roles at Catalent, Johnson Matthey, Sigma Aldrich and Dr Reddys.

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