Event Programme
Registration and Coffee
Welcome
Introduced by Professors Richard Kitney and Paul Freemont, Co-directors of SynbiCITE
Patrick Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation
As Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, Patrick Vallance is responsible for overseeing government policies, funding, and strategic initiatives related to science, research, technology, and innovation.
Keynote
Christina Smolke, CEO of Antheia & Professor at Stanford University
Dr. Smolke, a pioneer in the fields of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, founded Antheia in 2015 to push the boundaries of synthetic biology. Antheia is building more effective solutions to sustainably and responsibly produce medicines and drive more equitable health outcomes around the world by enabling fermentation-based manufacturing of some of the most complex small molecule on a large scale.
Panel Discussion: Scale Up
- Jen Vanderhoven, Chief Operating Officer at the BBIA
- Richard Lock, COO and Managing Director at Holiferm
- Mark Corbett, Director of the Biorenewables Development Centre, University of York
- Reuben Carr, Head of Chemical Biology at Ingenza
Coffee Break
Company Presentations: Scaling Success, the Journey from Proof of Concept to Current Challenges
- Ben Reeve, Co-founder & CTO at Modern Synthesis
- James Field, CEO at LabGenius
- Orr Yarkoni, CEO at Colorifix
- Cai Linton, CEO at Multus
Review of the IP landscape in Synthetic Biology
Devanand Crease, Partner Chartered Patent Attorney at Keltie
Lunch
Mission Hubs
- Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, UKRI Engineering Biology Mission Hub on Microbial Food
- Susan Rosser, Professor of Synthetic Biology and Director of the UK Centre for Mammalian (Topic: Synthetic Biology Engineered Genetic Control Systems for Advanced Therapeutics)
- John Heap, Principal Investigator of the GlycoCell UKRI Engineering Biology Mission Hub (Topic: Transforming glycan biomanufacture for health)
- Frederic Coulon, Director of the Environmental Biotechnology Innovation Centre
- Martin Warren, Chief Scientific Officer of the Quadram Institute Bioscience, Lead of The Engineering Biology Mission Hub for Environmental Processing and Recovery of Metals (ELEMENTAL)
- Andrew Pickford, Preventing Plastic Pollution with Engineering Biology (P3EB) Mission Hub
Plenary Talk by CapGemini
Company Presentations
- Will Milligan, CEO and founder of Extracellular
- Joe Healey, Co-founder and CEO at Nanosyrinx
- Craig Woods, CEO at Forge Genetics
- Giovanni Stracquadanio, Co-founder of Zythera
- Alex Speakman, Founder of E.V.A Biosystems
- Yuan Li, Research Lead at Green Bioactives
- Daniel de la Torre, Head of R&D at Constructive Bio
- Tom Simmons, Founder & CEO of The Supplant Company
- Adam Glen, Founder of Unicorn Biotechnologies
Tea Break
Modelling in Engineering Biology
Chue Loo Poh, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore
The role of Standards and Metrology as an Enabler of EngBio Powered Technologies
Jeffrey Anthony, EngBio Partnerships Lead, National Physical Laboratory
Panel Discussion: Standards to enable Engineering Biology
- Jeffrey Anthony, EngBio Partnerships Lead at the National Physical Laboratory
- Prithvi Kodialbail , CTO at Extracellular
- Scott Allen, Head of Engineering Biology at DSIT
Synbio Unplugged: Fireside chat with George Freeman
George Freeman MP, Elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of Mid Norfolk.
Drinks and Networking
Arrival and Coffee
Keynote
Jens Nielsen, CEO of the BioInnovation Institute
Jens Nielsen is an internationally respected scientist and entrepreneur who leads the BioInnovation Institute in Denmark that foster translational research and support new spin-out companies in life sciences.
Plenary
Johann Partridge, Operations Director at MiAlgea
With over 30 years’ experience across the biotech and life sciences sector, Johann now works as Operations Director at MiAlgae, a Scottish SME aiming to eliminate reliance on wild-caught fish as the primary source of omega-3 by producing a sustainable microalgal alternative from food and drink sector coproducts.
Plenary
Rosa Cuellar-Franca, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester
Recognised as an outstanding early career leader in the field, Rosa’s research focuses on the sustainability assessment of novel technologies for climate change mitigation on a life cycle basis.
Coffee Break
Panel Discussion: Regulations
- Rick Mumford, Deputy Chief Science Advisory (dCSA) and Deputy Director of Science & Research, Food Standards Agency
- Francesca Dawson-Pell, Senior Science and Tech Policy Advisor, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Zoe Wright, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Adrian Charlton, Principal Scientist, Fera Science
- Louise Ball, Team Leader, DEFRA
Plenary
Sophie Peresson, expert in biosecurity, anticipatory governance, and responsible innovation
Sophie is a strong advocate for international cooperation in biotechnology policy. She is a member of the OECD Global Forum SynBio Focus Group and has served as the French representative to the ISO TC 276 Biotechnology working group.
Company Reviews
- Chiara Board, CEO and Founder of P.Happi
- Jacob Nathan, Founder and CEO of Epoch Biodesign
- Marta Tous Mohedano, Head of Bioengineering at Biome Bioplastics
- James MacDonald, Co-founder and CEO of Solena
- Stacey Vincent, Head of Biological Research and Development at Concert Bio
- Manuel Rios Krauss, Co-founder & CEO at Deep Blue BioTech
- Ioannis Stasinopoulos, CEO and Co-founder at Prozmyi Biolabs
- Dei Drasutyte, Founder and CEO of HERLAB
- James Allen, Co-founder & CSO of Twig Bio
- Rory Ryan, CEO & Co-founder at PentaBind
- Stuart Hassard, CSO at deltaDOT
Writing the Future of Biologics: Enabling discovery in synthetic biology, driving biological innovations and helping to revolutionise biotechnology through protein design
Radha Parmar, Science and Technology Specialist at Twist Bioscience
Utilising its proprietary technology to write DNA, Twist Bioscience provides DNA-based tools to enable discovery and to drive biological innovations aimed at making the world safer, healthier and more sustainable.
Lunch
Panel Discussion: Finance and investment
Moderated by Richard Kitney
- Joško Bobanović, Partner at Sofinnova Partners
- Nadav Rosenberg, Partner at Saras Capital
- Karolina Zapadka, Life Science Investor at Parkwalk Advisors
- Ben Reeve, Co-founder and CTO of Modern Synthesis
Plenary Session: Policy Presentations
Moderated by Lord David Willetts
- Chueh Loo Poh, Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (Singapore)
- Hannah Boardman, Director, Emerging Technologies and Regulatory Innovation at the DSIT (UK)
- Jim Philp, Policy Consultant (EU)
- India Hook-Barnard, Executive Director at the Engineering Biology Research Consortium
- Jen Vanderhoven, Chief Operating Officer at the BBIA