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 Reviews

  • Ben Reeve, Co-Founder & CTO at Modern Synthesis
  • James Field, CEO at LabGenius
  • Orr Yakoni, 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

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
  • 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
  • Fatima Kranc, Investment Manager (Life Sciences) at Cambridge Enterprises
  • 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

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 
  • Marta Tous Mohedano, Head of Bioengineering at Biome Bioplastics
  • Jacob Nathan, Founder and CEO of Epoch Biodesign
  • Joe Healy, Co-founder and CEO of Nanosyrinx
  • Will Milligan, Founder and CEO of Extracellular
  • Tom Simmons, Founder and CEO at The Supplant Company
  • James McDonald, 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)
  • James Phillips, Policy Consultant (EU)

Tea Break

Synbio Unplugged: Fireside chat with Richard Kitney and Paul Freemont