IET London: Savoy Place London, WC2R 0BL | 3rd-4th December 2024
Building a multibillion-dollar synthetic biology industry with positive impact
Speakers
SynbiTECH 2024 speakers
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Patrick Vallance
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation of the United Kingdom
Patrick Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Science) on 5 July 2024.Patrick Vallance
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation of the United Kingdom
Bio
Lord Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Science) on 5 July 2024.
He was previously Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) from April 2018 to April 2023. He was also National Technology Adviser (NTA) and Head of the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) Profession.
Lord Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng was President, R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from 2012 until 2017. Prior to this, he was Senior Vice President, Medicines Discovery and Development. He joined the company in May 2006 as Head of Drug Discovery. He was a member of the GSK Board and the Corporate Executive Team. During his period as head of R&D, many new medicines were approved for use worldwide, for diseases ranging from cancer and rare diseases in children, to asthma and HIV.
Prior to joining GSK, he was a clinical academic, Professor of Medicine and led the Division of Medicine at UCL. He has many years’ experience of basic science and clinical research, and was a consultant physician in the NHS. His research spanned from work on medicinal chemistry and structural biology, through to cellular work, studies in humans and use of large electronic health record databases.
He was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999 and to the Royal Society in 2017. He was on the Board of the UK Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR) from 2009 to 2016. He is an Honorary Fellow at UCL and holds honorary degrees from Imperial College London, Glasgow University, University of York and St George’s, University of London. He was a non-executive director and board member for UK Biobank and a non-executive board member for Genome Research Limited but stepped down in taking up the GCSA role.
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Jens Nielsen
BioInnovation Institute
Jens is the CEO of the BioInnovation Institute.Jens Nielsen
BioInnovation Institute
Bio
MSc in Chemical Engineering, PhD (1989) in Biochemical Engineering and dr.techn. (1995) from the Danish Technical University (DTU). Honorable dr.med. from University of Gothenburg. Fulbright visiting professor at MIT in 1995-1996. Professor at DTU in 1998. In 2008 he was recruited as Professor to Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. In 2015 he was founding Head of the Department of Life Sciences, which now encompass more than 250 people. Jens Nielsen was also a Co-founder of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability that now has more than 300 people affiliated, for which he served as CSO 2013-2018. From 2019 CEO of the BioInnovation Institute in Denmark, which is a new institute financed by USD500M that fosters translational research and support new spin-out companies in life sciences. He has trained more than 280 scientists in his research group and published >850 publications that have been cited more than 126,000 times (current H-factor 162). Inventor of >50 patents and founder of six biotech companies. Has received numerous awards, including the ENI Award, the Eric and Sheila Samson Prime Minister Prize for Transportation Fuels, the Novozymes Prize, and the Gold Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Member of 13 academies, including NAS, NAE, NAM, Chinese Academy of Engineering, EMBO and Royal Swedish Academy of Science.
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Christina Smolke
Antheia, Inc
Christina Smolke is CEO and Co-founder of Antheia, Inc. and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University.Christina Smolke
Antheia, Inc
Bio
Dr. Smolke, a pioneer in the fields of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, joined Caltech’s faculty in 2003 as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and joined Stanford’s faculty in 2009, where she was Professor of Bioengineering. Dr. Smolke’s early work pioneered the design and application of a broad class of RNA molecules, RNA switches, that detect chemical signals and regulate targeted protein activities, providing programmable platforms for building biological sensors and control systems. At Stanford, her team led the breakthrough research to engineer baker’s yeast to produce some of the most complex and valuable plant-based essential medicines known to humankind. At Antheia, her vision and leadership has enabled a synthetic biology platform that dramatically expands the diversity and complexity of molecules that can be reconstructed, enabling new possibilities for drug discovery as well as efficient, sustainable, transparent, on-demand drug manufacturing at scale.
Dr. Smolke’s impact in advancing the frontiers of biotechnology has been recognized with numerous awards, including Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, Nature’s 10, AIMBE College of Fellows, NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, NSF Career Award, Novozymes Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering, WTN Award in Biotechnology, and TR35 Award.
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Lord David Willetts
Foundation for Science and Technology, UK Space Agency
Lord Willetts is Chair of the Foundation for Science and Technology and of the UK Space Agency.Lord David Willetts
Foundation for Science and Technology, UK Space Agency
Bio
The Rt Hon Lord Willetts FRS, HonFREng is Chair of the Foundation for Science and Technology and of the UK Space Agency. Lord Willetts served as Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014). He has held a range of Board positions across the Space and Science sector. He was a Board member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), and Chair of the British Science Association.
Lord Willetts is a visiting Professor at King’s College London and an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford.
Europe’s Number One Synthetic Biology Conference
Why attend SynbiTECH 2024?
SynbiTECH is the UK’s leading synthetic biology conference. We are dedicated to fostering innovation in synbio, bringing together visionary leaders and industry experts. Our focus is on delivering a content-rich programme featuring speakers who can provide transformative insights.
Don’t miss your chance to join the event and post your questions to our global synthetic biology leaders. With the fast-growing global population, our rapid use of the world’s finite resources and the damaging impacts of climate change on the environment.
Forge connections with peers, potential clients, policy experts, investors and collaborators while enjoying the spectacular views of London’s iconic architecture from the stunning IET London in Savoy Place.
About Us
About SynbiTECH
SynbiTECH is the UK’s leading international forum for people engaged in engineering biology (synthetic biology) business, investment, policymaking, science and research.
Running for the fifth time, this major UK synthetic biology business conference will attract more than 400 delegates and speakers, bringing together the best and brightest minds in SynBio, sustainability and business innovation.
The Venue
IET London: Savoy Place
IET London: Savoy Place – the home of cutting-edge engineering and technology. This historic central London event venue on the River Thames offers cutting edge technology, improved capacity and outside space in a location that’s easily accessible by rail, tube and river.
Join 400+ Delegates
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