TechBio UK 2024

Ramesh Durvasula

Senior Vice President, Information Officer, R&D IT, Eli Lilly and Company

Sergei Yakneen

Chief Technology Officer, Isomorphic Labs

Kristen Albright

CEO, Prokarium

Kristen Albright is the CEO of Prokarium, a privately held London-based biotech with the vision of creating living cures for difficult-to-treat cancers. Prior to Prokarium, Kristen was an investor at Osage University Partners, where she led several early-stage investments into life sciences companies. Earlier in her career, she worked within business development and M&A at Emergent BioSolutions and Cangene Corporation. Kristen started her industry career at Centocor and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and MBA from Saint Joseph’s University. 

Leigh Brody

Investment Manager, AlbionVC

Leigh, who holds a PhD in biochemistry and boasts over a decade of experience as a startup founder and operator, is an investor on the UCL Technology Fund life sciences team. The fund is a partnership between AlbionVC and UCL Business. It sees unique IP created at the London university spun out, helping to ensure that academic innovations are given the chance to transform lives. Leigh joined the team in 2021 after pursuing her own startup career. The investment manager initially led a spin-out based around her own novel technology, before helping to build several early-stage life science companies. These include Desktop Genetics and Quell Therapeutics. Today Leigh focuses on transformative technologies and therapeutics opportunities emerging from UCL. The investor deploys her experience as an academic and founder to select innovators with potential. Leigh knows what specific support spin-outs require, and delivers this for the fund. Leigh gained her PhD from Imperial College London, and also holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Simmons University. She has also been awarded of 50 Movers & Shakers in BioBusiness, 35 under 35: Tech Entrepreneurs. Whenever Boston-born Leigh isn’t running after her two children, she is most likely to be found racing around a running track – ideally with a finish line near somewhere offering good food and wine. The investor dedicates her free moments to pursuing her side hustles, which include formulating a skincare line and writing a children’s book. She also finds time to mentor STEM programs for young people.

Rasa Elmentaite

Staff Scientist, Teichmann group, Wellcome Sanger Institute

Past affiliations: - Fellow with company creation and venture group Foresite Capital - PhD with Dr Sarah Teichmann at Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge - BSc and MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology with Biotechnology, University of Glasgow Research interests: During her doctoral research at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Rasa focused on building a human gut cell atlas using state-of-the-art computational single-cell analysis approaches. In her latest work, first author publication in Nature, Rasa dissect the cellular mechanisms dictating gastrointestinal immune tissue development, highlighting their adaptation as a key event in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease. Rasa is interested in applying single-cell sequencing technologies and in silico methods for drug target prioritisation and validation. Currently, she is spearheading the translation of her and Human Cell Atlas research into a startup company on cell-focused drug target discovery.

Davide Gianni

Senior Director Functional Genomics in Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca

Dr. Davide Gianni is Senior Director Functional Genomics in Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca and is responsible for leading a department comprising of scientists whose aim is to deliver new therapeutic opportunities for Astrazeneca’s therapy areas of interest. Davide joined AZ from Boehringer-Ingelheim in 2015 where, acting as a Research Laboratory Head, he has led a team of scientists aimed at identifying and validating novel target opportunities for Oncology. Earlier in his career, he conducted his postdoctoral studies at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla (California) where he focused his research activities on deciphering the contribution of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in mechanisms underlying human diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration and cardiovascular disease. Davide has authored >25 publications and has co-edited the first dedicated Special Issue on Functional Genomics for SLAS Discovery journal. He has played a key role in initiating the partnership with MRC and University of Cambridge for the creation of the Functional Genomics Screening Laboratory (FGSL). He is a member on the MRC advisory board for the UK Functional Genomics Initiative, a JMC member for the Joint AZ/CRUK Functional Genomics Centre and now a member of the JSC for the FGSL. Finally, Davide has been recognized multiple times in his career for his strong scientific contributions to advance biomedical research (2009 Young Scholar Award from the Alzheimer’s association San Diego, the 2013 Boehringer-Ingelheim Golden Award for the discovery of innovative drugs for cancer patients and the 2020 SLAS Discovery Excellence Award).

Julian Gough

Scientist & Entrepreneur; Founder, OutSee and Mogrify

Julian is a techbio entrepreneur and world authority on bioinformatics. He graduated his PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge and was a research fellow at Stanford. Until recently a programme leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Honorary Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bristol. Founder of Mogrify, founder and CEO of OutSee.

Elin Haf Davies

Founder & CEO, Aparito

Dr Elin Haf Davies has 25 years of experience in life science, the majority of which in clinical trials. Clinically at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, academically at University College London and as a regulator at both the MHRA and the EMA. She was part of the paediatric team responsible for implementing the Paediatric Regulation in Europe in 2007. She founded Aparito in 2014 to change the patient experience of clinical trials through digital tools and to develop innovative eCOA and digital biomarker solutions. Aparito was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company in May 2024. Elin Haf is passionate about promoting opportunities for female founders.

Hazel Jones

CEO, Enhanc3D Genomics

Hazel has significant oncology research experience, both in pharma/biotech and academic/charity sectors. She has a focus on long term strategic planning, both of logistics and scientific deliverables, as well as driving operational change. Hazel brings with her a broad understanding of all stages of drug development. In her capacity as Interim CEO Hazel will lead, scale, and grow the Company’s global business operations. She will also be crucial in delivering the Company’s strategy to commercial and academic partners. Prior to joining Enhanc3D Genomics, Hazel held various roles within AstraZeneca, including Executive Product Director of Clinical Data, and Head of Business Planning and Operations in Oncology R&D. She was also previously Head of Combination Therapies at Cancer Research UK.

David Venables

CEO , Laverock Therapeutics

Dr David Venables is CEO of Laverock Therapeutics, a gene-silencing company with a uniquely powerful technology which harnesses the cell’s natural gene regulatory mechanisms to develop a new generation of programmable advanced therapies. Prior to this he was President, AskBio Europe, following the acquisition of Synpromics Ltd, where he was CEO. Synpromics was a market leader in gene control and synthetic promoter development. He previously has served as: VP – CMC for NightstaRx, an ophthalmology focused gene therapy company acquired by Biogen; CEO of Anatara Therapeutics which he took through to IPO in Australia; CEO of Ark Therapeutics with responsibility for leading the company through a transition to a viral contract development and manufacturing service model and sale.

He also serves on the Boards of NovalGen, Concinnity Genetics, and Axol Biosciences, and is Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University.

Jason Yip

CEO & Co-Founder, Tailor.Bio

Jason Yip is CEO and Co-Founder of Tailor Bio, a pioneering startup that's redefining precision medicine for deadly cancers. Tailor Bio's innovative technology decodes Chromosomal Instability (CIN), a genomic phenomenon found in 80% of cancers, yet often overlooked by current precision oncology approaches. By leveraging cutting-edge computational and AI-enabled techniques, Tailor Bio is pushing the frontiers of precision medicine to create new possibilities for patients in need.