Management Team
Ghaith Bakdash
Director Cell Biology
Ghaith Bakdash
Director Cell Biology
Ghaith Bakdash is Director Cell Biology for Microbiotica, responsible for understanding how the microbes interact with and impact the host’s immune system and epithelial barrier, as well as leading the company’s Gut Epithelial Barrier Repair (GEBR) programme.
Ghaith brings more than 10 years’ research experience across academic and industry. As a post-doctoral research fellow at the Tumour Immunology Department of the Radboud University Medical Centre (Nijmegen, the Netherlands), Ghaith contributed to the development of dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines, as well as the identification of a novel myeloid cell populations, associated with poor responses to cancer therapy. Later, he joined GSK as an investigator at the Respiratory Therapy Area, where he was participating in the development of new modalities to induce immune tolerance in the context of allergy and asthma.
Ghaith holds a BSc in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Damascus University (Syria), a MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
Claire Birrell
VP Clinical Development
Claire Birrell
VP Clinical Development
Claire Birrell is VP Clinical Development of Microbiotica, responsible for managing clinical development and operations activities in the company, including the clinical and regulatory oversight and execution of our clinical programmes.
Claire has over 25 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with 16 of these spent in the clinical development of biologics. At the beginning of her career, Claire worked in clinical pharmacology at SmithKline Beecham and subsequently GSK, moving into conducting large observational studies in psychiatric medical genetics. She then gained biologics experience in Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc and MedImmune, leading the clinical development programme for a number of novel antibodies in a variety of indications. This was followed by a move to VHsquared, working on oral antibodies for inflammatory bowel disease.
She holds a BSc in pharmacology and PhD in behavioural neuropharmacology from the University of Dundee, UK.
Ron Carter
CMO
Ron Carter
CMO
Ron Carter is Chief Medical Officer of Microbiotica. He is experienced in global clinical development strategies, with over 30 years’ experience in Europe, the US, Latin America, and Asia. Ron is responsible for progressing the clinical development of the Company’s therapeutics and expanding its clinical footprint beyond the UK.
Ron was previously Chief Medical Officer at Mologen and Indivumed, and earlier, MaaT Pharma, where he progressed full ecosystem microbiome restoration therapy to cancer patients. His most recent role was Interim Senior Medical Director at Seres Therapeutics.
Ron holds an MSc, in Preventive Medicine from Dresden University, Germany, a MD from Hamburg University, and an interdisciplinary Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from UC Berkeley, California.
Elaine Driver
Clinical Programme Director
Elaine Driver
Clinical Programme Director
Elaine Driver is a Clinical Project Director with Microbiotica, overseeing the clinical development of the Company’s ulcerative colitis drug candidate, MB310, and supporting the clinical operations within Microbiotica.
Elaine has over 20 years’ experience in numerous aspects of clinical operations, with expertise gained from global roles across a range of organisations, clinical phases, and therapy areas. Most recently Elaine held global trial and programme leadership roles within Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine’s Portfolio Delivery Operations Vaccine and Global Public Health teams. Prior to that she held roles with Envigo Pharma Consulting, Amgen, Phytopharm and GW Pharmaceuticals.
Elaine holds a Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSci), specialised in Pharmacology, from the University of Birmingham.
Maeve Duffy
Clinical Project Director
Maeve Duffy
Clinical Project Director
Maeve Duffy is a Clinical Project Director with Microbiotica, overseeing the clinical development of the Company’s clinical stage Immuno-Oncology drug candidate, MB097, and supporting the clinical operations within Microbiotica.
Maeve has extensive experience in early clinical development, with over 20 years’ experience gained in both Europe and the US. She was most recently Head of Program Management & Clinical Operations at Syndesi Therapeutics (acquired by Abbvie, Inc) and prior to that was Head of Clinical Development at Proximagen (acquired by Benevolent AI).
Maeve holds an BSc in Pharmacology and a PhD in Biochemistry (focused on Gastroenterology) from University College Dublin, Ireland
Virginia Fairclough
Director Informatics
Virginia Fairclough
Director Informatics
Virginia Fairclough is Director Informatics for Microbiotica, responsible for overseeing the Company’s bioinformatics development and its application to microbiome data. In doing this she understands the diversity of microbial functions encoded within the microbiome and relates those functions to taxonomic signatures, patient disease status, and patient response to medication.
Virginia has over 10 years of bioinformatics and data analysis experience, using network-based approaches to explore microbiome ecology, metabolism, and function. Prior to joining Microbiotica she held positions as a data analyst for MQ, a mental health research funder, and as a Strategic Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London.
Virginia holds a BSc in Biology/Biological Sciences and MSc in Bioinformatics and Theoretical Systems Biology, as well as a PhD in Modelling microbial communities and their impact on disease, all from Imperial College London.
Ro Gardner
VP Operations and Company Secretary
Ro Gardner
VP Operations and Company Secretary
Ro Gardner is VP Operations and Company Secretary for Microbiotica. She has particular expertise in operational management, business administration and marketing/communications, gained from working with organisations of varying sizes and across a range of industry sectors, including life sciences, telecommunications and software.
Ro’s most recent roles include 10 years as Head of Operations and Company Secretary for Actigen, four years as a consultant for MedImmune and six years as Chief Operating Officer at the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA), with responsibilities including corporate governance, human resources, finance, legal, insurance and facilities. Previously she spent eight years as Director of Corporate Communications for Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc (AstraZeneca plc), overseeing integrated financial communications through a number of significant corporate events, including NASDAQ listing, re-financing, High Court litigation, merger and acquisition.
Ro has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of York and a Diploma in Marketing. She is a non-Executive Director of One Nucleus, and Trustee of Uttlesford Community Action Network and a Member of the Institute of Directors, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Stuart Gibson
CFO
Stuart Gibson
CFO
Stuart Gibson is Chief Financial Officer of Microbiotica. He is an experienced finance executive with over 25 years’ experience at Board level, managing financial teams, fundraising, M&A and commercial transactions in VC – and Private Equity-backed life sciences and technology companies.
Stuart played a key role in the growth of Arakis from 2001 through to its sale in 2006 to the Japanese pharma company Sosei. Following the sale he was appointed to the Board of Sosei and raised further funding on the Tokyo stock market. His experience includes contract negotiations with customers and business partners globally including North Africa, Middle East and China.
Stuart is a qualified chartered accountant and is a guest lecturer on finance on several MPhil Biosciences courses at Cambridge University. In addition to his role at Microbiotica, Stuart works with small portfolio of early-stage life sciences providing financial and corporate management support.
Emma Hames
Director CMC
Emma Hames
Director CMC
Emma Hames is Director CMC at Microbiotica, responsible for internal CMC process development and technical transfer, plus the oversight of outsourced process development and clinical manufacturing activities at contract development manufacturing organisations (CDMOs).
Emma has over 18 years’ experience in the Biopharmaceutical sector, specifically in fermentation, process development, scale up, technical transfer, manufacturing and regulatory writing. She started her career at Phico Therapeutics on novel bacteriophage production, introduced scale up compliant technologies, completed technical transfer to CDMO and oversaw GMP manufacturing. Latterly Emma led the Expression Group at Crescendo Biologics, implementing the expression platform to produce novel format antibodies and managing outsourced cell line development and process transfer to CMO for clinical manufacturing.
Emma holds a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Surrey and a PhD in Microbial Genetics and Fermentation from the University of Cambridge.
Neal Jolly
Quality Assurance Consultant
Neal Jolly
Quality Assurance Consultant
Neal Jolly is responsible for quality and compliance at Microbiotica; this includes the implementation and management of a Quality Management System (QMS) as well as the provision of quality governance and support to the organisation.
Neal is an experienced quality professional with over 25 years’ experience of senior level roles within the life sciences sector, working at a global level in both Contract Research Organisations and smaller biotech companies. His extensive knowledge and understanding of GxP guidelines, requirements, governance and compliance extends widely into many aspects of company operations. His experience includes the implementation of Quality Management Systems, the acquisition of GLP accreditation and the embedding a value adding Quality Culture within companies that he has worked.
Neal holds a BSc in Environmental Toxicology from Anglia Polytechnic University and is a Member of Research Quality Assurance (MQRA).
Trevor Lawley
Co-founder and CSO
Trevor Lawley
Co-founder and CSO
Trevor Lawley is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Microbiotica. He is also Faculty Group Leader of the Host-Microbiota Interactions Team at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), where his research uses advanced metagenomic sequencing and deep culturing to investigate the microbial communities contained on and within host organisms that are associated with health and a range of diseases and syndromes such as infections, autoimmunity, irritable bowel syndromes and cancer. He has pioneered many aspects of the bacteriotherapy concept where defined mixtures of bacteria are used to cure intestinal diseases linked to pathological imbalances in the intestinal microbiota.
Trevor began his research at WTSI in 2007 as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Microbial Pathogenesis group, having received a Royal Society Fellowship to start a new research programme in C. difficile epidemiology and pathogenesis. During this time, he has worked with a global consortium from over 25 institutes to assemble a comprehensive C. difficile culture collection, now housed within the Sanger Institute.
Prior to joining WTSI, Trevor held a Canadian Institutes of Health Research post-doctoral fellowship, working in the Laboratory of Professor Stanley Falkow and Dr Denise Monack at Stanford University, USA, where he studied the impact of antibiotic treatment on Salmonella disease and transmission.
Trevor gained his first degree from Acadia University, Canada and his PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada, where he pioneered the use of genomics to study the origins and spread of antibiotic resistance in infectious diseases. He received the Canadian Society of Microbiologists Graduate Student of the Year Award for this work. More recently, Trevor was recognised by the Peggy Lillis Foundation with their Innovator Award 2015 for his ground-breaking work on developing bacteriotherapy for C. difficile infections.
Seánín McCluskey
Director Microbiology
Seánín McCluskey
Director Microbiology
Seánín McCluskey is Director Microbiology at Microbiotica, responsible for characterising programme strains, as well as manufacturing QC and clinical assay development.
Seánín has 10 years’ experience in the biotech and biopharma industry, covering strain isolation and characterisation as well as assay development and project management for the development of live microbial therapeutics. She has extensive experience overseeing assay transfer and qualification with GxP CDMO/CROs, microbiome derived therapeutic discovery and development (4D Pharma), and oversight of toxicology studies (Phico Therapeutics).
Seánín holds a BSc in Biochemistry and Microbiology, and a PhD in Antimicrobial Resistance from University of Strathclyde.
Mat Robinson
SVP Research
Mat Robinson
SVP Research
Mat Robinson is SVP Research for Microbiotica, responsible for understanding how the microbes interact with and impact the host, as well as the company’s immuno-oncology programme.
Mat brings more than 20 years’ research experience across academic and industry. Mat previously led pre-clinical programmes and teams in many disease areas in the Oncology and RIA (Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmune) departments at MedImmune/AstraZeneca. This included strategic roles in inflammatory bowel disease and immuno-oncology. In addition, he was part of the clinical develop teams for abrilumab, brakinumab and olcelumab, which delivered successful studies in ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and a number of oncology indications.
Mat holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bath and PhD in Immunology from the University College London. His postdoctoral research at Cancer Research UK and National Institute of Medical Research focused on how the sensing of microbes by the innate immune cells triggered inflammation and instructed the adaptive immune response.
Tim Sharpington
CEO
Tim Sharpington
CEO
Tim Sharpington is Chief Executive Officer of Microbiotica. He has established a track record of leading, developing and executing company strategy, with experience in product development, fundraising, M&A and licensing.
Tim brings over 30 years’ experience in leadership roles in pharma, biotech and CROs across Europe and the US. Prior companies include Vectura; Arakis, where Tim led the development of AD237 before its successful out license to Novartis; ICON and Sequus, where he led the development of DOXIL, an oncology product which was granted accelerated approval for ovarian cancer. His most recent role was COO of Open Orphan (formerly hVIVO) from 2018-2020.
Tim started his career as a postgraduate researcher at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before working as Clinical Programme Manager at Pfizer. He has previously held Non-Executive Director positions at Ixico and Clinical Force.
Anne Six
Clinical Project Manager
Anne Six
Clinical Project Manager
Anne Six is Clinical Project Manager at Microbiotica where she is responsible for project managing GMP contract manufacturing activities.
Anne has over 13 years of experience in Microbiology, during which she gained experience in bacteriology, in vivo models of infection, host-pathogen interactions and microbiome research. Prior to joining Microbiotica, she undertook post-doctoral research at the Cochin Institute in Paris on the molecular and functional characterisation of Streptococcus agalactiae virulence factors and at the University of Glasgow, working on the therapeutic development of bacteriocins as narrow-spectrum protein antibiotics for bacterial infections. Previously Anne managed the Microbiotica team characterising bacteria being developed into drug candidates.
Anne holds a degree in Microbiology from the Pasteur Institute/Paris Diderot University in Paris and a PhD in Microbiology from the Paris Descartes University, Paris France.
Adam Wilkinson
VP Pre-Clinical Development
Adam Wilkinson
VP Pre-Clinical Development
Adam Wilkinson is VP Pre-Clinical Development at Microbiotica. Adam is responsible for managing Pre-Clinical Development activities in the company including novel manufacturing and analytical technologies for Microbiotica’s pipeline of live bacterial products. He has more than 16 years’ experience within the biotech and biopharmaceutical industry, including developing microbial engineering technologies, manufacturing process development and transfer, toxicology, project management and regulatory submissions.
Adam was previously Head of R&D at Phico Therapeutics and oversaw all activities from Discovery through to Clinical Development, including all aspects of CMC, PK/PD, regulatory submissions and established an extensive IP portfolio for novel live bacteriophage anti-bacterial products. He has latterly worked as a consultant supporting biotech start-ups and academic groups in establishing their pre-clinical development programmes and in overseeing GMP manufacturing.
Adam holds a degree in Microbiology from the University of Reading and a PhD in Bacterial Quorum Sensing from the John Innes Centre, Norwich UK. He undertook post-doctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in yeast mRNA splicing mechanisms, and at University of East Anglia in DNA ligases.
