Our team

Owen is world expert in the application of machine learning and complex systems in cell reprogramming. He was a career development fellow at the Medical Research Council, UK and was the recipient of a Japan Society for Promotion of Science fellowship to work at the RIKEN Omics Science Centre in Yokohama. He is now an Assistant Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

Jose has worked at the cutting-edge of cell reprogramming for over a decade. He graduated his PhD at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York before becoming a research fellow at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He was awarded a NHMRC career development fellowship, a Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research fellowship as well as an ARC future fellowship and is now a Professor at Monash University.

Jane has over 30 years of experience in biologics discovery and development. Most recently, she was Vice President for R&D and Site Leader at MedImmune (AstraZeneca), formerly Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), where she contributed to the development of phage display technology.

Jane is a scientific leader in the field of antibody engineering and has made a significant contribution to the discovery and development of eight marketed drugs and over 40 clinical candidates. Jane is passionate about science education and the development of the UK biotech sector and served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the BioIndustry Association for four years before taking on a Corporate Board Member role earlier this year. She is currently a Director of Babraham Bioscience Technologies, and also a Director of Cambridge Enterprise. She was awarded Scrip’s Lifetime Achievement Award and an OBE in 2019 for services to drug discovery, development and biotechnology.

Graziella is a Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Cell Therapy Program Coordinator at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine “Stefano Ferrari”. She is also co-founder and R&D Director at Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l.

Graziella is known for her work in translational medicine, and has developed epithelial stem cell-mediated cell and gene therapies. She has used epithelial stem cells for the treatment of severe eye and skin disease, establishing the first successful clinical trial to treat junctional epidermolysis bullosa and developed a culture system that creates limbal stem cells for the regeneration of corneas, able to restore vision to patients with ocular burns. This system, Holoclar®, was recognized by the European Medicines Agency in 2008, and is the first stem cell based medicinal product to be approved by the European Commission. Between 2018 and 2020, Graziella shared the ISSCR and Louis-Jeantet Prize, with Michele De Luca, as well as winning the TERMIS and European Tech Women Award amongst others, for the development of epithelial stem cell-based regenerative therapy in patients with severe eye and skin disease.

Graziella has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, nine patents, and is a founding member of the International Ocular Surface Society. She is also a member, speaker, or chair of numerous scientific societies, international committees and meetings covering stem cells and regenerative medicine.

Christine is Professor of Developmental Biology in the department of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University Medical Center. In 2011, she founded the first iPSC core facility in the Netherlands. In 2015, she also became guest professor at the Technical University of Twente to develop organ-on-chip models based on stem cells, is founding chair of the European Organ-on-Chip Society and heads a multimillion-euro research program focused on implementing these models in human stem cell research. She is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science, past board member of the Netherlands Medical Research Council and holds European Research Council (Advanced Proof-of-Concept) Grants to study cardiac development and disease in humans based on stem cell models. Christine is a former Editor-in-Chief of Stem Cell Reports, the journal of the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), for which she became president in 2020.

Nicole has more than 20 years of management experience in the biotechnology sector. Her current role is General Manager Cell Line Development within the Viral Vector Business Unit of Cytiva. Within CEVEC (now part of Cytiva) she has held the role of CSO and later CEO and has focused the company´s work on AAV viral vector production. In former roles, she held scientific leadership positions with Lonza and Taconic Biosciences. She has a scientific background in stem cell biology and gene regulation and holds a PhD in cell and molecular biology from University of Freiburg and an MBA from Educatis University, Switzerland. Nicole is a member of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy and of the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM).

James is Professor of Regenerative Medicine for Diabetes, Director of the Transplant Regenerative Medicine Laboratories and clinician scientist Lead for the Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Transplantation Research Theme at Newcastle University. He chairs the UK Islet Transplant Consortium Research Steering Group and the UK Beta Cell Replacement and Regeneration Consortium, representing Diabetes UK on the NHS Blood and Transplant Pancreas Advisory Board. He is chair of the Northern Alliance Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre Clinical Advisory Group and Trials Coordination Forum.

James is a consultant diabetologist in Newcastle with a focus on type 1 diabetes complicated by highly variable glucose levels and hypoglycaemia due to absolute pancreatic insulin-deficiency. He leads a clinical pancreatic islet transplant programme and is supporting development of a highly specialized service for those with diabetes secondary to other pancreatic pathologies.

He completed his PhD through an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship and he was a Glaxo-Smith-Kline Senior Fellow. Through MRC funding he has established the Quality in Organ Donation whole pancreas tissue bank in Newcastle. He is chief investigator for two CF Trust-funded Strategic Research Centres bringing together international investigators to study mechanisms underlying cystic fibrosis-related diabetes. He is co-investigator on an MRC Multimodal Grant exploring amyloid in the diabetic pancreas and an EFSD grant characterizing autophagy in the pancreatic beta-cell.