RINRI THERAPEUTICS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research Technician
- Rivolta Laboratory in 2021 As a Research Technician
Adam joined the Rivolta Laboratory in 2021 as a research technician, where he has worked across multiple aspects of our research pipeline. He has previously studied in cancer biology laboratories focusing on colorectal and haematological cancers such as multiple myeloma and its associated bone disease. Throughout these studies, he has gained a broad range of practical skills working with both academics and clinicians, assisting with active research projects and working with patient samples. In doing so he has developed a great enthusiasm for working at the interface between the laboratory and the clinic, which he carries forward with his work today.
Adam received his integrated master's degree with first class (hons) in Biochemistry from Sheffield Hallam University in 2021.
Alejandra brings a valuable combination of research and industry expertise to the team. She has held positions as a Research Scientist at Paraytec and as a Business Excellence Engineer at Abbott, gaining extensive experience in both fields.
She holds a degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology of Higher Education in Mexico, an MSc in Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. During her PhD, she focused on studying the regenerative properties of adult stem cells in treating chronic skin injuries, aligning with her passion for regenerative medicine.
Alejandra joined the Rivolta Laboratory in September 2021, where she continues to contribute her expertise and further pursues her research interests..
Ben has 25 years' experience at board level finance and operational roles in the Pharma and Industrial sectors. For the last 10 years, Ben has worked in Pharma, drug development and licensing and then more recently in early-stage Biotech businesses. These include University spin outs from the UK's leading institutions, with companies' initial formation through to Clinical trial stages. Ben brings a range of Financial and Operational skill sets to Rinri, along with a passion for making new drug development succeed.
Bronte has 7 years of experience in academic research, working across a range of subjects within the biomedical sciences, though with particular focus on cell culture and neuroscience. Bronte graduated with a First class (Hons) MSci in Biomedical Science from Newcastle University in 2018, and took a post as a Laboratory Technician at the University of Sheffield shortly after; working with Drosophila melanogaster as a developmental biology model. In 2019, she joined the Rivolta lab as a Research Technician, where she is overseeing the maintenance of human pluripotent stem cell cultures and leading one of the work packages in the lab. For Bronte's previous work within the lab, she was nominated and ultimately shortlisted for a national technician's award, the Papin Prize in 2021.
Professor Dan Jiang PhD FRCSI FRCS(ORL-HNS) is a Professor of Otology and Auditory Implant Surgery at King's College London and a Consultant Otologist and Skull Base Surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital and King's College Hospital. He is the lead clinician at St. Thomas' Hearing Implant Centre in London. Dan was trained in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, King's College Hospital and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (Queen Square). He completed a prestigious fellowship in Skull Base Surgery and Advanced Neuro-Otology in Cambridge. Dan was one of the surgeons in Europe who pioneered hearing preservation techniques in cochlear implant surgery. His research interest is focused on the field of optimising cochlear implant outcomes and the regeneration of damaged inner ear structures. He works closely with the NIHR and has been the principal investigator and chief investigator of NIHR funded clinical trials. Dan is a board member of the European Academy of Otology and Neurotology and a Trustee of the British Cochlear Implant Group. He served the council of the Otology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine for seven years and was its Honorary Secretary and Vice President.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate and University Teacher
Daniela is an Academic from the University of Sheffield that brings to Rinri over 20 years of experience of working in the auditory field, with a wealth of surgical expertise on mammalian models of hearing research. She qualified as a Dental Surgeon at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina, and holds an MSc from the University of Bristol Medical School. She did postgraduate surgical training in different hospitals in the UK. As a University Teacher, she is Anatomy Lead for the School of Biosciences where she lectures on human anatomy and the principles of forensic identification of human remains. She is a full member of the British Association for Forensic Odontology (BAFO), the Anatomical Society and the British Association of Human Identification (BAHID). She joined the Rivolta Lab in 2014, and has contributed to Rinri since its inception.
Aurelien has 10 years life science R&D experience gained from both academic and industry positions with a particular focus on stem cells and neuroscience. Aurelien graduated with a First class (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds in 2013 and subsequently was awarded a Wellcome Trust PhD studentship at Cardiff University, where he pursued his interests in stem cell modelling and neuroscience, helping establish a protocol for the differentiation of iPSCs into microglia to study immune dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases. He completed his PhD in 2018 and subsequently joined Charles River Laboratories as a neuroimmunologist, taking a leading role on assay development and a broad range of client studies. Having gained valuable CRO industry experience, Aurelien joined Rinri as a scientist in December 2021.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Investor
- Head of UCB Ventures
Erica is Head of UCB Ventures, a strategic corporate venture fund. She also serves on the Boards of StrideBio (Durham, North Carolina) and Ally Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts). She joined UCB in 2010 as VP Strategy & Partnering, New Medicines (discovery to clinical proof of concept), developing and leading the UCB-Harvard Research Alliance. In 2012, she joined the internal strategy team shaping UCB's current Patient Value Strategy. As Head of Market Access EMEA 2013-2017, Erica was instrumental in developing regional patient access and pricing strategies and was Chair of the Healthcare Systems Working Group of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Association (EFPIA). Prior to UCB, Erica spent 10 years as a top-ranked biotechnology equity analyst for Merrill Lynch in London, where she conducted analyses for publicly listed European biotechnology and mid-cap pharmaceutical companies. Erica attended Brown University (Rhode Island, USA) receiving BA degrees in Biology and Comparative Literature. She moved to the UK on a Marshall Scholarship obtaining a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University Business School in Edinburgh.
Faizah is a clinically qualified audiologist who has previously provided hearing care to patients within both NHS and private settings. Subsequent completion of an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience and a PhD in translational hearing research facilitated her transition from a clinician into a researcher.
Faizah's interests are embedded in research that addresses clinical needs, as demonstrated by her previous work, which aimed to develop an objective clinical measure of paediatric cochlear implant outcomes. As part of this project, Faizah led a national multi-centre study involving cochlear implant recipients.
At Rinri, Faizah focuses on working with our clinical partners to refine our clinical strategy, including the development of objective safety and efficacy measures and the surgical approach for Rinri's upcoming clinical trial. She is also involved in Rinri's patient and public involvement and engagement activities.
Dr. Hans E. Mülder studied nuclear physics at the Free University in Amsterdam and medical physics and audiology at the University Hospital Utrecht. He practised audiology in the Netherlands, fitted the first multichannel cochlear implants, kickstarted the usage of oto-acoustic emissions as a hearing screening tool for newborns and was a teacher of audiology, politician, and researcher.
Hans joined Phonak, the global leading manufacturer of hearing aids, in 1999 as Marketing Director. There he oversaw the successful launch of Roger, the global standard for wireless communication for people with hearing loss, and several generations of the power hearing aid line Naída by Phonak.
In 2018 he joined Advanced Bionics, a US-based manufacturer of cochlear implants and like Phonak, part of the Sonova Group. He served as Director of Strategic Marketing until his early retirement in 2021. Hans has extensive experience in global marketing, scientific research, branding and communication strategy. He holds several patents in wireless microphones, hearing protection and sound . His prime interest is currently to help companies in the hearing health care field find their right strategy.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Otolaryngology
Dr. John Greinwald is a Professor of Otolaryngology and Paediatrics with over 20 years of experience in the genetic causes and treatment of deafness. Dr. Greinwald co-founded the Ear and Hearing Centre at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre . He has pioneered the establishment of diagnostic evaluation algorithms for children with sensorineural hearing loss and developed a next-generation sequencing platform to determine the genetic causes of hearing loss in children.
Leila has been working as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of auditory development and hearing restoration for nearly 20 years. She has a broad and in-depth knowledge of the auditory system and has published research in high-impact, well-renowned journals.
Leila is passionate about the journey from ‘bench to bedside' and joined Rinri on secondment from the University of Sheffield in 2021 as Pre-Clinical Manager. She has worked in the Rivolta lab for over 12 years and is highly skilled in the in vitro and in vivo processes underlying the development of the therapies Rinri has to offer. She manages the pre-clinical programme and liaises with our manufacturing partners.
Leila holds an MA in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Developmental Neuroscience from University College London.
Maryam has over 15 years of translational research experience including 5 years within commercial projects on advanced therapies. These projects focused on the development of scalable manufacturing processes for T cell, stem cell and hPSC based technology, gaining expertise in the differentiation and expansion of cells, their scale up and transfer back to CDMO's.
She worked as a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Biomechanics groups at University of Sheffield and held roles as Senior Researcher and Project lead on various projects at Centre for Biological Engineering (Loughborough University), collaborating with several academic and industrial partners including I-Stem institute, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering FhG-IBMT and NIBSC on development and optimisation of scalable bio-processes for the manufacturing of pluripotent stem cell products, product and process release criteria and cost-effective scalable banking and assessment of the comparability of these processes when executed at multiple sites.
Maryam received her PharmD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and a Master's degree in Biotechnology form University of Manchester and holds a PhD in Tissue Engineering and Biopharmaceutical Science from University of Sheffield.
Job Titles:
- Non Executive Director
- CEO of Adaptate Biotherapeutics Ltd
Natalie is currently the CEO of Adaptate Biotherapeutics Ltd. focused on developing therapeutic antibodies to drug targets to modulate the activity of gamma delta T cells. Previously, Natalie was Chief Scientific Officer of GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd. which targeted gamma delta T-cell therapies for use in immunotherapy and was one of the founding team at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult serving as its Chief Clinical Officer advising academics and small companies developing advanced therapies. Natalie's prior experience also includes 16 years at Pfizer, leading development activities across various therapeutic areas, including cell-based therapies in the Regenerative Medicine Unit. Natalie has a first-class degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from University College, London.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
Simon has been involved with Rinri since its inception, working closely with Rinri's Fonder and responsible for the strategic direction and operation of the company.
Having spent most of his career within blue-chip biotechnology and pharmaceutic companies, Simon has developed deep sector knowledge and experience in the biotech sector. He joined Rinri from IP Group, a specialist deep-tech venture capital fund, where he worked in early-stage investment and venture building, creating companies from world-class science. This exposed him to the life science market across medical diagnostics, devices, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, novel antimicrobials, and the advanced therapeutics landscape.
Simon believes that through its strong preclinical data, Rinri's technology is at the forefront of hearing loss therapeutic development with enormous potential to make a real-world impact on patients and healthcare systems. He holds a 1st class BSc (Hons.) in Biology from the University of Leeds and a PhD. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of York.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
Terri has over 20 years of research and development experience within life sciences, in both academic and industry roles, with a focus on the development and translation of cell and gene-based therapies.
Terri joined Rinri from the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult where she worked for over seven years on the translation of a broad range of candidate therapies, alongside underpinning technologies and infrastructure. Her role at CGT Catapult also included advising academics and small companies on the development of advanced therapies.
Prior to this, Terri held senior roles in industry, focussed on the development of processes for the expansion and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells for therapeutic use and drug discovery. Terri received her BSc. (Hons) in Biochemistry from the University of Dundee and holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Investor
- Global Head of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
Frank is the Global Head of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. He served as board member of STAT Diagnostica (acquired by Qiagen in 2018), Hookipa Biotech (IPO at NASDAQ in 2019) and Amal Therapeutics (acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2019). Currently, he is on the Boards of Rinri Therapeutics, T3 Pharma, eTheRNA, Aelin Therapeutics, Acousia Therapeutics, and Brainomix. A physician by training, with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and a Pharmacology and Toxicology specialitism. He spent more than 10 years in academic research in the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics and in the Institute of Pharmacology of the Freie Universität in Berlin. He began his industrial career at Schering AG and moved in 1999 to Boehringer Ingelheim joining Pulmonary Research. In 2005, he took over the responsibility for the Licensing Department. In this function, he was responsible for the licensing activities of the German Boehringer Ingelheim organisation in various indication areas. He also built up the Biological Research unit at the German Research site in Biberach. Shortly after its initiation in 2010, Frank joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Gerry is Professor of Otology and Neurotology, and the Research Lead for Cochlear implantation at the University of Nottingham.
He is a Council Member of the British Association of Otolaryngologists and President-Elect of the Section of Otology at The Royal Society of Medicine, London. He has held a Hunterian Professorship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is founder member of the European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. He has delivered the Joseph Toynbee Memorial Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine and was awarded an Honorary Professorship by the European Society of Paediatric Cochlear Implantation for outstanding contributions to the field.
Gerry's principal interests lie in the field of cochlear implantation in children and adults. He has been involved in many outcomes studies and has written and lectured extensively in the field. He pioneered the development of minimally invasive surgery for paediatric cochlear implantation. Following the NICE approval of bilateral cochlear implantation for children, he has been actively involved in the national audit of the service. His work with the NIHR Nottingham Hearing BRU involves a multicentre pilot study which sets out to determine whether adults with profound hearing loss in one ear (and normal hearing in the other) can derive benefit from cochlear implantation. His interests also extend to the field of skull base surgery where he is currently exploring the concept of computer-aided shared decision making in acoustic neuroma management.
Job Titles:
- Medical Director of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Tübingen University
Prof. Dr. med Hubert Löwenheim is Medical Director of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Tübingen University in Germany and Principal Investigator of Translational Research Group. Hubert studied human medicine at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and Harvard University in Boston. After completing his doctorate in hearing research, he continued his training as a specialist in Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery - and continued his scientific work at the University of Tübingen. After research posts at the Universities of Virginia and Washington, he completed his residence at the University of Tübingen in the field of regenerative medicine of hearing. The focus of his clinical work lies in otology and neurotology including the supply of hearing implants and cochlear implants, oncological head and neck surgery and plastic reconstruction, as well as interdisciplinary skull base surgery.
James has over 20 years Clinical Research experience in Pharma, CRO & Biotech industry and has a background in Biological Sciences. He has significant experience in set up and monitoring early phase clinical trials, including ATIMPs and was part of a team that has dosed the first patient in a clonal neoantigen T cell therapy Trial. He also has Project Management and Quality Assurance experience and is familiar with the Audit & Inspection processes. He has worked in the NHS, streamlining the clinical trial set up process and has worked for the Northern Alliance - Advanced Therapies Treatment Centre, part of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult where his role was to identify, understand, and mitigate obstacles of adopting new Advanced Therapy Products into Clinical Practice. James joined Rinri in March 2023 as Study Delivery Manager.
Jenna joined the Rivolta lab in 2020 as a Research Technician, after graduating from the University of Nottingham with an MSci in Neuroscience. Her interest in working at the translation edge of neuroscience developed after completing both a lab-based project on fructose metabolism in peripheral nerves, and a more clinical, industrial placement year at P1vital Ltd during her degree. During her time at P1vital, she played a crucial role in the management of the international IMI PRISM (Psychiatric Ratings using Intermediate Stratified Markers) project where she was in charge of recruitment tracking and patient/control matching across PRISM's five European study sites. She found that while she enjoyed working at the lab bench, she also valued being close to the clinic and being able to see the direct impact that her work may have. She now leads one of the work packages in the lab and works as part of the technical team.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Sensory Stem Cell Biology
Marcelo is a globally recognised Professor of Sensory Stem Cell Biology. He has been based at the University of Sheffield (UK) since 2001 and has written over 40 papers on the subject, many of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The Rivolta laboratory is dedicated to studying the biology and behaviour of auditory stem cells, and to exploring their potential to regenerate the damaged inner ear.
Marcelo has made key advances in the development of stem cell technologies to treat hearing loss and his programme of research has been supported by the MRC, the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, the EU, the Wellcome Trust and charities such as the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. He has also led several UK and international collaborations with industry and academia.
Marcelo qualified in Medicine and Surgery in 1989 at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina, gained his Ph.D. at the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders in Maryland, USA.
Job Titles:
- Director of Lizard BioConsulting
- Independent Chair
- Life Sciences Executive
Nick is an experienced life sciences executive with significant business and corporate development achievements. He has over 35 years in the life sciences industry with extensive knowledge of UK and US markets in both private and public sectors. With a special interest in advanced therapies he has worked actively in the field of cell and gene therapies for many years.
Nick is a Director of Lizard BioConsulting, an independent consultancy specialising in business development for life science companies, which he founded in 2013. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult and Chairman of Avvinity Therapeutics, a private company focused on immuno-oncology.
Oula is passionate about advancing scientific knowledge and making groundbreaking contributions to the field of regenerative medicine.
Oula completed her doctoral studies in Biomedical Sciences, specializing in Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth, where she investigated the effect of mesenchymal stem cell therapy on wound healing. Driven by her desire to translate fundamental research into real-world applications, Oula was appointed as a Research Associate at the Rivolta Lab in November 2021. Her project focuses on the in-depth study of otic differentiation utilizing human pluripotent stem cells.
Oula had previously received her BSc in Biology and MSc in Genomics and Health from the Lebanese University.
Job Titles:
- Director of Clinical Operations
Rachel Haines joined Rinri Therapeutics as Director of Clinical Operations in October 2022. She is a hearing scientist by training and has worked in translational research and clinical trials within both the domestic and international markets and public and private sectors since 2007.
Rachel specialises in audiology and otology and has a track record of leading clinical operations in this area. She has extensive experience managing large cross-functional teams and has organised multi-centre, multi-national, randomised, controlled drug, interventional and surgical trials. Rachel has also taught on internationally attended good clinical practice (GCP) and trials methodology courses, and published trial results in high-impact journals, leading to guideline changes.
She joins Rinri with an already broad portfolio of trials for hearing devices and traditional interventions and is passionate about the potential for stem cell technology for this therapeutic area. Successfully delivering the clinical operations strategy for Rinri, and contributing to the future of hearing therapeutics, will be the full-circle realisation of her early career ambitions.
Sophie joined the Rinri theraputics as a Clinical Trial Associate in March 2023. She comes from a clinical research background within the NHS focusing on lymphoma, this research involved complexities such as cellular therapy and first in human trials.
Before joining Rinri, Sophie was working in the NHS as a registered physician associate, this is healthcare professional with a broad scope of practice. This gives Sophie a perspective on how the NHS runs and the practicality of clinical research within the public sector.
Sophie has a BSc. (Hons) in Biomedical Science and a MSc. in Physician Associate studies from the University of Manchester - this combines a background of laboratory science with clinical medicine in the NHS. For Rinri, Sophie will be assisting in the set-up and running of the first in human trial.
Tom has around 5 years of life science R&D experience gained through academic positions focused on stem cell biology and oncology. Having graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in genetics in 2016, he went on to study for an MRes at the University of Newcastle in Medical Genetics graduating in 2017.
After spending a brief amount of time working in a QC laboratory for a chemical manufacturing company, he was awarded an MVLS DTP PhD studentship at the University of Glasgow during which he investigated stem cell biology in conjunction with oncology, helping to establish a dormant breast cancer cell model for high throughput testing. After completing his PhD in March 2023, he joined the Rivolta Lab as a Research Associate in May 2023.
Will has previously worked at several MHRA and HTA licensed cell therapy manufacturing facilities where he contributed to the development and manufacture of different cell therapies for administration on the UK Specials programme. He has extensive experience with the use of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells in a GMP environment and has supported the establishment of a new GMP manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire.
Before moving into the cell and gene therapy sector, Will held academic positions at University College London where his research focused on the development of the cerebral cortex and the transcriptional control of neuronal differentiation and migration. He holds a BSc in Genetics from University College Cork in Ireland, an MRes in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology from University College London and a PhD from the Wellcome Trust Programme in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology at University College London.
Zoi joined the University of Sheffield in 2015, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences. There she examined the importance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis in tanycytic regulation. Afterward, she continued her postgraduate studies at Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience (SITRaN), where she obtained an MSc in Advanced Cell and Gene Therapies. Her Dissertation focussed on optimizing 3D spheroids as non-animal drug screening models for three breast cancer cell lines. Furthermore, she used these models to examine the potential of immune checkpoint inhibitors (Tim-3) in combination with oncolytic viruses as a potential treatment. She joined the Rivolta Laboratory in 2023 as a Research Technician, where she is supporting the processing for histology and immunohistochemical analysis.