The Team
CellAura's management team combines world-renowned expertise in the fields of synthetic chemistry, photochemistry and molecular pharmacology and is experienced in the production of high quality fluorescent ligands with full pharmacological characterisation for use across a wide range of high throughput and high content screening platforms.
Dr. Trevor Farren
Chairman
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Trevor has extensive experience in the development and management of early stage companies in the chemical and bioscience industries.
In 1999 Trevor and his team won the Acordis / Akzo-Nobel company prize for commercial innovation. Currently, Trevor is Business Development Manager within the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham. He is responsible for the strategic and day-to-day operation of the Business Partnership Unit.
Trevor's business development expertise and contacts are used to promote CellAura to prospective clients, whilst his industrial experience contributes substantially in the development of CellAura's business strategy.
Dai Hayward
Chief Executive
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Dai has an international reputation, developed over 25 years, in the growth of chemistry related businesses and the application of a number of frontier technologies. In 2003 he won the prestigious Golden C award from the Commercial Marketing & Development Association of the USA for business development across a wide variety of new technologies. As well as managing successful growth businesses, both large and small, he has been called upon for advice by the DTi in the formulation of a sectoral competitiveness strategy based on innovation.
Dr Richard J Middleton
Operations Manager
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During a post-doctoral position with Dr Kellam and Prof Hill, Richard developed an international reputation in the design and synthesis of fluorescently labelled receptor ligands as pharmacological tools.
As an original member of the CellAura scientific team Richard's participation extends beyond the role of primary chemist. His experience in the synthesis of an extensive range of biologically relevant molecules, an extensive life-science history and recent collaboration with the team's pharmacologists and physical chemists place him at the centre of CellAura's manufacturing and research efforts.
Richard is responsible for the everyday management of CellAura's scientific efforts whilst assisting in the promotion of the company to prospective clients.
Dr Barrie Kellam
Director - Medicinal Chemist
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Barrie, a company founder, is a lecturer in Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham.
He has over 10 years experience in the field of synthetic medicinal chemistry, currently heads a thriving research group dedicated to the design, synthesis and exploitation of new chemical entities in numerous areas of chemical biology, and has published over 20 papers and reviews. He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and also a member of the RSC carbohydrate committee.
The collaborative research with Profs Hill and George has generated a platform of expertise in the design, synthesis and purification of bioactive fluorescent molecules targeted at G-protein coupled receptors, forming the academic basis for the establishment of CellAura Technologies Ltd in 2003.
Barrie actively promotes CellAura Technologies to academia and industry through showcasing CellAura's unique and proprietary science and expertise at scientific meetings and in presentations to industry.
Professor Stephen J Hill
Director - Pharmacology & Cell Signalling
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Stephen Hill is Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and the Director of the Institute of Cell Signalling at the University of Nottingham, and heads one of the leading laboratories in the UK studying G protein-coupled receptors at the molecular level. At CellAura, he oversees the characterisation of our bespoke and catalogue ligands for G protein-coupled receptors.
Dr Kevin Thompson
Business Development Manager
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Kevin is an experienced neuroscientist, with over 10 years drug discovery, contract research and business development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has joined CellAura to support and expand our Sales and Marketing activities.
As a neuroscientist, Kevin has a broad understanding of cell biology and cell signalling processes, and an in-depth knowledge of GPCR pharmacology. He has sat on both sides of the drug discovery 'fence' - as a GPCR screening product consumer, and as a technology and screening service provider - and has a reputation for successful collaborations with pharma partners. These attributes make him ideally suited to understand and find solutions to customer and research partner's needs.
Kevin is responsible for management of CellAura's Product and Custom Synthesis sales and marketing activities.
Steve Jones (FCMA)
Finance Director
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Steve has over 20 years board level experience in a variety of finance, commercial and general management roles. His background was originally in the automotive, logistics and business service sectors. He now specialises in working with early stage businesses to enable growth and development. He is also a director of Food and Drug Analytical Services Ltd, Monica Healthcare Ltd and RegenTec Ltd.
Dr Mike Brown
Business Development Manager
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Mike is an experienced biochemical pharmacologist; with over 19 years drug discovery and business development experience in the life science marketplace. He has joined CellAura to support and expand our Sales and Marketing activities.
In his 9 years experience of frontline drug discovery, Mike developed automation and assay strategies to improve efficiency and throughput for SAR and SDM studies on many GPCR targets. He subsequently used his experience of the drug discovery process as a technology provider in various Life Science corporations. During more than 10 years Mike has built a reputation for successful introduction of new drug discovery technologies, migrating away from the use of radioisotopes towards luminescence and fluorescence and enabling assay miniaturisation. This balance of experience and knowledge enable him to comprehend and propose solutions to customer and research partner's requirements.
Kevin & Mike are responsible for the management of CellAura's Product and Custom Synthesis sales and marketing activities.
David George
Chairman
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David George has a wealth of experience in all levels and functions of international business and has a proven successful track record in leadership, origination and implementation of complex corporate strategies with a speciality of building and motivating people and teams at all levels within any size of company. His experience and skills translate to virtually any business and situation but with particular emphasis on marketing, sales, business development and all operational matters. He trained as a Biochemist and Pharmacologist and worked on the pathology of trauma at the Medical Research Council before moving into commerce. His initial sales, marketing, financial and management training was with Boehringer Mannheim where he first gained the experience and reputation for successfully starting new ventures or turning around failing businesses or product ranges. This subsequently led to his recruitment to establish the European operation for American Monitor and re-structure the European business for Flow Laboratories.
David built the international medical/biotech/laboratory service and instrument business for Corning Medical/Ciba Corning/Chiron Diagnostics including spending 5 years running the global chemistry and critical care businesses from the US headquarters. With total profit responsibility for over $500 million and some 3,000 employees he established and operated entities throughout the world including Central Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, the Middle East, Japan and the USA. He has first-hand experience of high budget R&D, product development, manufacturing and all aspects of sales, marketing and exemplary customer service in fiercely competitive markets. David was part of the team and two year project that successfully sold Chiron Diagnostics to Bayer in 1998/9 in a deal worth some $2.3 billion.
Since leaving Bayer, following transition of the business and people, he became a cofounder of Stratagem CFS the corporate finance arm of the Stratagem IPM group. He has successfully worked with private and institutional investors and management teams to fund and build or turn-around businesses in all aspects of health care services, veterinary, software, insurance and many other industries including wholesale, business to business and direct to user product ranges. He has undertaken various longer term assignments most recently developing a unique service for diabetics and other direct to patient services. He is a director of AMS Advanced Medical Services a full service pan-European Clinical Trials Organisation and investor director of L3T Technologies which is developing a novel diagnostic system. He is chairman of Cellaura Technologies a Nottingham University spin-out with novel systems for high content screening for major pharmaceutical and research institutions and executive chairman of Probe Scientific which has a unique device allowing constant monitoring of blood constituents from any in-dwelling venous cannula.
Dr Fiona Marshall
Director
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Fiona Marshall has a BSc in Biochemistry from Bath University and a PhD in Neuroscience from Cambridge. She has 15 years experience in genomic based Drug Discovery with particular expertise on G protein coupled receptors. She led the first group to show that GPCRs could form heterodimers and has published over 40 papers in the area of GPCRs. She spent 12 years at GlaxoSmithKline where she held a number of senior positions including Head of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Head of G-Protein coupled receptor research. She was Director of Discovery Pharmacology, Europe for Millennium Pharmaceuticals and then spent several years as an independent consultant to a variety of Venture capital and biotech companies including Inpharmatica, Merlion, Galapagos, Paradigm, CRT, Shire, Bioimage, Chroma, Ablynx and Sentinel. She has recently co-founded and is Chief Scientific Officer of Heptares Therapeutics Ltd a new company working on GPCR structure based drug discovery.
David Gough
Director - Lachesis Fund
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David Gough is an entrepreneur specialising in biomedical and other technology-based businesses. In the last ten years he has been the founder or co-founder of six companies one of which (Vectura Group plc) is now a FTSE 250 company. Companies with which David has been involved have raised at least £100m.
David's successful and broadly based career as a senior manager, consultant, entrepreneur and investor has spanned more than thirty five years. In 1996 he founded First Instar Limited a consulting firm specialising in the life sciences and biomedical industries, and high technology. Prior to this he headed up healthcare and life sciences in the technology division of PA Consulting Group. He has worked for and consulted with many of the world's leading pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnology companies. David also has in depth mentoring experience involving companies from many of the UK's leading Universities
As well as general management roles with five companies including Equinox Pharma Limited (drug discovery & bioinformatics), Avlar BioVentures (a specialist biotechnology seed investor) and Vectura (a drug delivery company), David has held board level executive positions in marketing, R&D, business development, finance and operations. He has extensive non-executive board experience involving some 15 companies including chairing the boards of four companies.
David is presently Chief Executive of Equinox Pharma, non-executive Chairman of BioAstral and Critical Pharmaceuticals and a director of Monica Healthcare and CellAura Technologies.. He is an advisor to three investors - NetScientific Limited, the Lachesis Fund and ETCapital Limited, and represents the Lachesis Fund on the board.