There are trials and tribulations ahead, but honestly, could there be anything more exciting than grabbing the reigns of your own translation and driving it forward? In this episode we get to grips with the specifics of forming a start-up company, we speak to some successful academic founders, figure out what you need to think about as you pull the trigger and form your own company and get some behind-the-scenes gems from a biotech investor.

Appearing in this episode:

Simon Boulton

Principal Group Leader, The Francis Crick Institute

Co-founder & VP Science Strategy, Artios Pharma Ltd

Chief Translation Advisor, Cancer Research UK

Simon’s lab has discovered new DNA repair genes and provided novel insights into cancer. In 2016, Simon helped to establish Artios Pharma Ltd - he is Vice President of Science Strategy alongside his academic roles at the Francis Crick Institute and Cancer Research UK.

Phil Masterson

Associate Director, Ventures, Cancer Research Horizons

Phil leads a team focussed on the creation of innovative and transformative oncology ventures, from ideation to launch.

Professor Steven Pollard

Founder & CSO, Trogenix

Professor of Stem Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Edinburgh

Trogenix is uniting cutting-edge technologies in genomics, oncology, immunotherapy, and gene therapy to create a revolutionary therapeutic approach. Steve's laboratory studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate stem cell identity and differentiation and how these operate in the context of human cancer.

Professor Sophia Karagiannis

Co-founder, Epsilogen

Professor of Translational Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, Kings Collage London

Sophia heads up a cancer antibody discovery team focused on immune cells and cancer and on the design of novel agents for solid tumours. She is also a founder of Epsilogen Ltd the first immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing IgE therapeutic agents for cancer.

Jonathan Tobin

Partner, Brandon Capital

Investor-in-residence, Cancer Research Horizons

Jonathan is a Partner with Brandon Capital where he heads the London office, and serves on the boards of Brandon portfolio companies Astronautx, Pheon Therapeutics, Myricx Bio, NRG Therapeutics, and Catalym.

Professor Ed Tate

GSK Chair in Chemical Biology, Imperial College London

Satellite Group Leader, Francis Crick Institute

Co-founder, Myricxbio

Ed's research focusses on chemical biology and chemical proteomics. Myricxbio which is focused on discovering and developing novel payloads for antibody drug conjugates, based on inhibitors of the enzymes, N-myristoyltransferases (NMT) for the treatment of cancer.

Useful links:

Cancer Research Horizons Seed fund

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The special mini-series of Cancer Research Matters takes a deep dive into all things science entrepreneurship.

Right, so initial contact has been made… time to take those first steps in an entrepreneurial adventure. However, it’s clear that the many skills you have gathered as an academic – and they are considerable – you’ll need a few more to help you be successful in translating your research. So, what are they? What’s the best way to sharpen up? And how – exactly – can they help? Its all in this episode… plus: Do you know your design rights from your copyright? Me either... luckily we have a patent attorney to give us a vital primer on intellectual property protection.

Appearing in this episode:

Alessia Erico

Associate Director, Search and Evaluation, and Entrepreneurial Programmes Lead at Cancer Research Horizons

Alessia leads a team responsible for sourcing new opportunities arising from Cancer Research UK-funded science, in the UK and internationally, that have the potential of translating to the clinic.

Faith Howard

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield

Co-Founder at NANOncolytics

Faith is cofounder of NANOncolytics, a company developing nanoparticle technology to provide a less invasive strategy for treating inaccessible and aggressive tumours.

Matt de Vries

PhD student at the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College London,

co-founder of Sentinal 4D

Matt's work focuses on biomedical applications of 3D computer vision. In 2022, Matt was shortlisted for the Cancer Research Horizons Early Career Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work on co-founding Sentinal 4D.

Camille Terfve

Partner, Patent Attorney at Mewburn Ellis

Camille has expertise in bioinformatics/computational biology, digital health, AI in the life sciences, and advanced bioprocessing.

Useful links:

Entrepreneurship training from Cancer Research Horizons

Venture Builder Incubator

Cancer Tech Accelerator

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The special mini-series of Cancer Research Matters takes a deep dive into all things science entrepreneurship.

This first episode asks: why should entrepreneurship and translation interest researchers from an academic background? Isn’t this a tricky thing to navigate? What support is available? What kinds of research can be translated and what should researchers do if they think their work could lead to an intervention. It’s all in here – so get stuck in.

Appearing in this episode:

Simon Boulton

Principal Group Leader, The Francis Crick Institute

Co-founder & VP Science Strategy, Artios Pharma Ltd

Chief Translation Advisor, Cancer Research UK

Simon’s lab has discovered new DNA repair genes and provided novel insights into cancer. In 2016, Simon helped to establish Artios Pharma Ltd where he functions as Vice President of Science Strategy alongside his academic roles at the Francis Crick Institute and Cancer Research UK. Artios are developing new treatments that target DNA repair pathway vulnerabilities to selectively kill cancer cells. Simon is also Chief Translation Advisor at Cancer Research UK, with the remit to guide translation and commercialisation of novel cancer therapeutics.

Tony Hickson

Chief business officer, Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons

Tony leads the Commercial Partnerships team responsible for the commercialisation of IP from Cancer Research UK-funded projects, new start-up creation, licences and corporate alliances.

Faith Howard

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield

Co-Founder at NANOncolytics

Faith’s research interests are focused on delivery of therapeutics to disseminated tumours. This includes nanoenabled formulations and the development of appropriate models for studying immunotherapies. She is cofounder of NANOncolytics, a company developing nanoparticle technology to provide a less invasive strategy for treating inaccessible and aggressive tumours.

Tommy Rennison

Regional Translation Lead, Cancer Research Horizons

Tommy is responsible for sourcing and evaluating potential new projects for Cancer Research Horizons.

Phil Berry

Translation Executive at Cancer Research Horizons

Phil is responsible for sourcing and evaluating potential new projects for Cancer Research Horizons.

Useful links

Cancer Research Horizons

Cancer Research Horizons entrepreneurial training

The Venture Builder Incubator

ICURe Programme

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.