Senior Executives & Management

Dr Alastair J. Riddell - Chief Executive Officer

Dr Riddell was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Stem Cell Sciences in November 2007. As a longstanding bioentrepreneur with more than 24 years experience in the industry, Dr Riddell spent considerable time at Board level building companies, raising money and negotiating corporate deals. From 2006 to 2007 he held the position of Non Executive Chairman at Surface Therapeutics prior to its sale to Serentis in September 2007. From 2005, he was Chief Executive Officer of Paradigm Therapeutics where he achieved a successful trade sale to Takeda Pharmaceutical Corporation in March 2007. Prior to Paradigm, Dr Riddell was Chief Executive Officer of Pharmagene for 7 years, during which time he successfully listed the company on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. He has also held senior positions with Celltech, Centocor and Amersham International in clinical development before moving to sales and marketing. Dr Riddell began his professional career as a medical doctor with six years experience in a variety of hospital specialties and in general practice. He is an active Board member of the BIA, a position he has held from 2000 to 2006 and recently re-elected to serve for the 2008 term. In November 2007 Dr Riddell joined the Board of Sareum Holdings plc as Non Executive Director.

Timothy Allsopp Ph D - Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Allsopp joined Stem Cell Sciences as Chief Scientific Officer in 2000. Dr. Allsopp has led the design of research programs for Stem Cell Sciences' engagement in a number of high profile grant applications including a UK Government DTI Technology Program and two Sixth EU Framework programmes. As chief scientist for SCS plc, he is a member of the Stem Cell Sciences global alliance Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Allsopp received his Ph.D from the Cell and Molecular Biology Department of Kings College London as a Medical Research Council student in the Cell Biophysics research unit. After research posts at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and St. George's Hospital Medical School, Dr. Allsopp joined the University of Edinburgh Institute for Neuroscience in 1994 on industry sponsorship from the Fujisawa Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. Dr. Allsopp acts on the editorial advisory panel of the Regenerative Medicine journal.

George Schlich - Senior Associate, Intellectual Property (In-House Patent Attorney)

Mr. Schlich is a patent attorney specializing in the chemical and biochemical fields and has been appointed as Senior Associate, Intellectual Property of SCS. He is responsible for development, management and prosecution of SCS patent and trade mark portfolio, as well as monitoring and offence against third party intellectual property. Before joining the Company, Mr Schlich was an equity partner of the London firm of Mathys & Squire. George has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, qualified as a patent attorney and registered trade mark attorney in 1993 and is a member of the Council and of the Biotechnology Committee of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

David Newton - General Manager & Director, SCS Australia

David Newton became a Director of Stem Cell Sciences Ltd in 2001 and is also a Director of Stem Cell Sciences KK. Mr Newton has been General Manager for SCS in Australia since 2003. Previously Mr Newton was CEO for Rhône-Poulenc in Australia, Commercial Director for Coopers Animal Health UK (Wellcome and ICI plc) and General Manager Biologicals for ICI Australia Limited. David helped co-ordinate the Victorian Government's first Biotechnology Strategy and has served on the Boards of the Monash Institute of Reproduction, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, the French Australian Industrial Research Committee and Boron Molecular Pty Ltd. He is a Director of the Australasian public company Nuplex Industries Limited (a global resin business).

Prof Austin Smith - Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board

Prof Smith obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1986 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. After completing a postdoctoral research fellowship in the University of Oxford, he joined the Institute for Stem Cell Research (formerly Centre for Genome Research) at the University of Edinburgh in 1990 as a group leader and in 1996 appointed Director of the Centre. He was appointed MRC Research Professor in 2003 and Director of the MRC Centre Development in Stem Cell Biology in May 2004. In 2006, Prof Smith was appointed as Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at Cambridge University. The goal of his laboratory is to characterise the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the formation, self-renewal and differentiation of pluripotent and tissue-restricted stem cells. Prof Smith has expertise in the field of mouse developmental biology and has pioneered key advances in the field of Embryonic Stem Cell research, including the identification of factors that control self-renewal and the development of culturing systems. Prof Smith is the leading expert in the field of stem cell biology and has published prolifically in this field.

Lilian Hook Ph D - Scientific Programme Manager - Europe

Dr Hook obtained her Ph D in development of haematopoietic stem cells from the Institute for Stem Cell Research, University of Edinburgh. After finishing her terms as a post doctorial scientist (post doc) at Edinburgh University and later MRC Technology in Edinburgh UK, Dr Hook travelled to Melbourne Australia to join SCS in 2003 as a post doc and later manager of collaborative and contract research projects. In 2004, Dr Hook returned to Edinburgh to SCS headquarters and in the last year has become Scientific Program Manager, managing research effort in Edinburgh. This includes SCS core research projects and SCS' contribution to several EU and UK government funded consortia including EuroStemCell and ES Tools.

Paul Bello Ph D - Scientific Programme Manager - Australia

Dr Bello manages SCS's Melbourne Research laboratory and is responsible for assessment of future research development and collaborations in Australia. Dr Bello contributes to the international research programmes undertaken by the SCS group and is a member of the Technology Action Group. Dr Bello completed his PhD at the Centre for Animal Biotechnology at Melbourne University followed by a post-doc position at the Ludwig Institute, Melbourne. He obtained a fellowship at Centre de Recherche de Biochimie Macromoléculaire in France and then as an Aventis/Hoechst-Marion-Roussel funded senior research scientist. Prior to joining SCS, Dr Bello was a senior scientist with BresaGen's Cell Cycle group and then the Human Stem Cell Studies Group Leader where he initiated projects investigating transcription factors known to be essential in maintaining ES cell "stemness" and their differentiation into embryoid bodies. During this time he was also involved with research into human stem cell-based therapies for Parkinson's disease.

Joe Mee Ph D - Business Unit Manager SC Proven & Senior Scientist

BSc., Warwick University UK 1985; MPhil., CRC Beatson Laboratories Glasgow 1992 and PhD., National Institute for Medical Research 1998. After four years Post Doctoral training at the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Edinburgh with Prof. Austin Smith from 1999, Dr Mee joined Stem Cell Sciences in the Edinburgh laboratories in 2003 as a Senior Scientist and currently as a Business Unit Manager. Dr Mee has authored 21 publications in scientific journals and has 15 years experience in the area of stem cell research from the creation of “knockout” mice to understanding the basic biology of stem cells. Dr Mee’s major scientific focus is in the self renewal of embryonic stem cells as a means of understanding the pluripotent state with the hope of harnessing this understanding for therapeutic benefit.

Julie Kerby - Business Unit Manager SC Services

Ms Kerby joined SCS in March 2006 to set up the Cambridge facility and develop the SC Services business unit. Julie obtained her Biology BSc. (Hons.) from Southampton University and held two academic research posts in stem cell and developmental biology before joining Merck Sharpe and Dohme UK Ltd. to manage their cell culture facility at The Neuroscience Research Centre. During her 12 years at Merck Julie was responsible for the generation of new cell lines and provision of cells for all assays from electrophysiology through to HTS. Julie championed the use of automation in cell culture within Merck for both large and small scale and was the first owner of a SelecT system.

George Murphy - Vice President & General Manager of Stem Cell Sciences LLC, the North American subsidiary of SCS PLC.

Mr. Murphy facilitated the founding and initial financing of Stem Cell Sciences in 1993. In the fall of 2006, he was asked to help establish a North American presence for SCS PLC. In his capacity as general manager, he is responsible for day-to-day operations in North America, including corporate and business development. Mr. Murphy is also the President of Taraval Associates LLC and the general partner of the Taraval Associates Seed Capital and Annex Funds. He has extensive experience in the management of early-stage ventures and in technology transfer both as a founder and manager of technology-driven companies and as a technology licensing professional. As the founding general manager of EndoTherapeutics and EP Technologies, he established a successful track record in commercialization of innovative medical devices. He has since helped start several life science companies, including AviGenics, CathRx, EndoVx, ProLinia, and SteriFx. Stanford University's Office of Technology Licensing retained Mr. Murphy as a Licensing Associate earlier in his career. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Rob Burgess, Ph.D. - Vice President, Business Development,
North America for Stem Cell Sciences, LLC.

Dr. Burgess brings a strong Life Sciences background with a particular focus in functional genomics and embryonic stem cell culture to Stem Cell Sciences. He recently held the position of Vice President, Research and Development for Zyvex Corporation and is currently serving as Co-founder and Chairman of the Board for Medical Nanotechnologies, Inc. Prior to his appointment at Zyvex he was employed with Serologicals Corporation as Director of Scientific Sourcing and New Technologies. Burgess' other roles in the biotechnology industry include Co-founder, Board Member and President of Genome BioSciences and Co-founding Scientist for Lexicon Genetics. Burgess holds a B.A. in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.