A University of Cambridge startup has recruited a number of industry leaders to its team.
Bit Bio, based near the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, has hired four individuals to join the company’s work in cell coding.
Founded in 2016 by Dr Mark Kotter, Bit Bio’s work aims to “reprogramme” human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy by applying an engineering approach to synthetic and stem cell biology.
The company is currently working on commercialising Opti-OX, a technology platform capable of producing any human cell to lower the cost and extend the application of cell therapies.
Dr Paul Morrill joins the company as chief business officer.
He is an entrepreneur and scientist with more than 30 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.
Most recently, he was the commercial founder and president of gene editing company Horizon Discovery Group, and founder of CellRx Limited, a manufacturer and supplier serving the biopharmaceutical, stem cell and research sectors.
Dr Morrill holds a PhD in biotechnology from the University of Cambridge.
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Florian Schuster joins as chief finance officer (CFO) and chief operating officer. He is an entrepreneur and investor.
Previously, he was CFO and head of strategic partnerships for Tessa Therapeutics, a clinical-stage cell therapy company.
Mr Schuster is a former investment banker, a graduate of the Stanford School of Engineering, and an alumnus of Harvard Business School.
Dr Ramy Ibrahim joins as a member of the scientific advisory board.
He is a leading immuno-oncology clinician who has helped to develop some of the breakthrough therapies in this field.
Dr Ibrahim is currently the chief medical officer at the Parker Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy.
He has served as the vice president of clinical development for immuno-oncology at AstraZeneca, and as a member of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Immuno-oncology programme.
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Dr Marius Wernig joins as scientific advisory board member. He is a pioneer in cellular reprogramming.
Dr Wernig’s seminal 2010 paper in Nature demonstrating direct conversion of fibroblasts into neurons has sparked a widespread interest in cell reprogramming.
His lab uses cellular reprogramming to understand how neurons are induced, and how they mature and maintain their identity.
Dr Wernig is professor and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
They join founder and CEO Dr Kotter, a stem cell biologist and neurosurgeon, and chief scientific advisor Dr Roger Pedersen.