BioSolutions UK

Chris McDonald

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade

Chris McDonald MP was appointed Minister for Industry in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on 11 September 2025. His responsibilities include advanced manufacturing, chemicals and plastics, infrastructure, green jobs and skills,green growth sectors and industrial decarbonisation. He was elected as the MP for Stockton North in July 2024. 

Chris studied Chemical Engineering at Cambridge, graduating with BA and MEng degrees. He also completed an MBA at the University of Warwick. Before becoming an MP, Chris spent 20 years working in the steel industry, with a focus on research. In 2008, he became a laboratory manager within the research division of Tata Steel. In 2014 he led the divestment of the Materials Processing Institute from Tata Steel UK, becoming CEO. Chris is also a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

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Tina Sejersgård Fanø

Executive Vice President, Novonesis

Tina Sejersgård Fanø is responsible for the Planetary Health Biosolutions division in Novonesis. The division enable innovative biosolutions that improve the health of the planet through reduced use of energy, chemicals and water, help get more output from fewer raw materials and reduce waste and emissions. Tina has worked her way through the organization holding a number of positions in applied research, production, marketing, sales and business development. Tina has significant experience in developing and managing global partnerships and has been instrumental in negotiating several major business deals for Novozymes over the years.

Since 2016 she has been part of the executive management team and is currently leading the Planetary Health Biosolutions division as Executive Vice President.

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Jeffrey Anthony

Engineering Biology Partnerships Lead, National Physical Laboratory

Jeffrey Anthony joined NPL in 2019 and works as part of NPL’s Life Sciences & Health Partnerships Team. With a focus on the building collaborations across the Life science sector Jeffrey works with collaborators across industry, academic and public sector to identify the ways in which NPL’s metrology expertise and capability can help to support research and its translation to drive growth. 

Jeffrey’s technical background is in microbiology, and he has worked in roles across quality assurance, and both product and business development. His experience includes the pharmaceutical sector, the development of genomic marker technologies in agritech and activities in cell biology. In his current role his time is dedicated to building partnerships across the UK and internationally across standards and metrology in Engineering Biology supporting companies in their quest to scale and commercialise at pace. 

 

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Arnaud Autret

Investment Director, BOLD, the venture fund of L’Oréal

Arnaud serves as one of BOLD's Investment Directors, where he leads European investments with a focus on beauty and science-driven innovation.  

Before joining BOLD, Arnaud was Head of European Investments at Illumina Ventures, focusing on life sciences, healthcare, and enabling technologies. His earlier career includes significant investment roles at M Ventures and Seventure Partners, where he actively participated in numerous transactions spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, and life science tools. Arnaud holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Pasteur Institute and an MSc in Finance from ESCP Europe Business School. 

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Anders Bendsen Spohr

Managing Partner, Head of Planetary Health Investments, Novo Holdings

Anders joined Novo Holdings A/S in 2017.
Anders is Managing Partner and Head of the Planetary Health Investments team.

Prior to joining Novo Holdings, Anders was employed as VP in Xellia Pharmaceuticals heading up the Global Product Supply. Other previous employments include EVP, Global Product Supply at Leo Pharma A/S and VP Global Supply Chain at Novozymes A/S.

Anders holds a PhD in Biotechnology and a MSc in Chemical Engineering from Technical University of Denmark as well as a graduate diploma in Business Administration (International Business) from Copenhagen Business School.

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Sofie Carsten Nielsen

Director, DI Biosolutions and European Biosolutions Coalition, Danish Industry

Sofie is the Former minister of Higher Education and Research and former member of the Danish Parliament for more than 10 years. She is  now an enthusiastic ambassador for biosolutions and for the industry which provides so many of the answers to how we can live sustainably in the future. Sofie is eager and impatient to get many more of the solutions to market in Europe. 

Sofie is a Political Scientist by education and slso has a Masters degree in European Politics and Administration from College of Europe, Bruges. 

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Laure Craeye

CEO, W'ICE

Laure Craeye is a biochemical engineer and entrepreneur focused on translating sustainable innovation to market-ready solutions. She started her academic journey at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, where she built a strong foundation in biotechnology and life sciences. To complement her scientific expertise with business acumen, Laure pursued General Management studies at Vlerick Business School and completed an additional course in commercial and corporate law. This interdisciplinary background equipped her with skills in management, strategy, and entrepreneurship enabling her to bridge the gap between research and real-world impact. 

Building on this foundation, Laure co-founded W’Ice, a Belgian startup developing eco-friendly antifreeze solutions, with a primary application in agriculture to protect fruit crops from spring frost. W’Ice aims to provide growers with a preventive, sprayable and biological alternative to existing frost protection methods. The long term vision of the company is to expand its sustainable antifreeze solutions toward industrial applications beyond agriculture. As CEO, Laure leads business development and fundraising.  

With a strong commitment to sustainability, innovation, and tangible impact, Laure combines scientific rigor and entrepreneurial vision to address climate-related challenges in agriculture, delivering solutions that are both technologically advanced and environmentally responsible. 

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George Freeman

MP for Mid Norfolk, UK Trade Envoy to Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore & Brunei

George was elected to Parliament in 2010 after a 15 year career in the Cambridge cluster founding high-growth technology companies.  

George has served in the last three Governments as UK Trade Envoy, the first UK Minister for Life Science, Chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board and Minister of State for Decarbonisation, Disconnection & Digitalisation at the Department for Transport. In 2022 he was appointed as Minister of State for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In 2023 George was appointed as Minister of State in the newly-created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He previously led the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR).  As Founder of the 2020 Conservatives Group of MPs, author of Britain Beyond Brexit and Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum, Freeman is a leading Conservative voice for a New Generation of Conservative Reform, Regeneration and Renewal after the divisions of Brexit and the Covid recession.  

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Robert Harris

Head of Microbial Technologies, Biologicals Research at Syngenta Crop Protection, Syngenta

Robert Harris is Head of Microbial Technologies, Biologicals Research at Syngenta Crop Protection. Based in the UK, his role is focused on building global microbial platforms and technologies that will deliver biological products for future global sustainable agriculture systems. Following an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Cardiff, and a PhD in biochemical engineering from University College London, Robert initially joined Syngenta as a fermentation scientist in 2001 and gained broad experience over 15 years in varying roles. This focused on developing microbes and bioprocesses for businesses in crop protection, biopharma, enzymes and biocontrols. In 2016 Robert moved to lead a group of scientists responsible for microbial discovery, synthetic biology, and bioprocess development supporting the biologicals business within Syngenta.  

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Ross Hendron

CEO, Wild Bioscience

Ross Hendron is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wild Bio, an Oxford University spin-out harnessing evolution to design resilient crops for a changing planet. He completed his PhD at Oxford, worked at the venture capital firm OSE, and co-founded Wild Bio in 2021. Since then, Ross has led Wild to develop new crop products from discovery through to field trials, built partnerships with industry-leading multinationals, and scaled the company through successful fundraises, most recently a $60M raise led by the Ellison Institute of Technology. 

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Damian Kelly

VP of Innovation & Technology Development, Croda Europe

Damian holds a BSc in Chemistry, MSc in Surface Science & Catalysis and a PhD in Tribology from the University of Cambridge. Upon graduation Damian joined the Croda Graduate Development Programme in 2001. Over the past 23 years Damian has held several positions across different Croda markets, divisions and functions including Personal Care Sales Manager for Latin America, Performance Technologies Business Development Manager for North America and Life Sciences Vice President for Europe with both Technical and Commercial responsibility. Damian is presently Vice President Innovation & Technology Development for all Croda businesses globally and has responsibility for the acquisition and licensing of new technologies that match the needs of all Croda’s end markets. 

Zayd Lakhi

Co-Founder & CEO, Amplisynth

• Specialist in genomics, oncology and molecular biology
• Shortlisted for a £3M grant by Pfizer at 21 for an independently developed treatment for Huntington's Disease
• Employee no. 7 at Imperial College Spinout acquired for $117M, then subsequently acquired for $10B

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Vjera Magdalenic-Moussavi

Head of Research & Innovation Services, Kew Gardens

Vjera is an experienced leader with 20 +years of experience in innovation and translation of bio-based research spanning academia, SMEs, UK and EU governments and corporates in BioPharma, MedTech, Nutrition, Energy, FMCG. At Kew, Vjera leads a new department with a focus on delivery of biodiversity-based innovation for novel solutions across policy and bioeconomy both nationally and internationally. 

Prior to joining Kew, Vjera was at Imperial College for 11 years as Director of Industrial Partnerships and Commercialisation for the healthcare portfolio. This included industrial research partnerships, IP management, licensing, and spin-out creation. Previously Vjera co-founded Lux Assure, an industrial biotech providing bio-based technology solutions across several industries. She acted as CBO, leading on all commercial aspects of the business. In addition, Vjera acts as an assessor and advisor for European Commission Innovation and Research Councils (EIC and ERC) across programmes since 2012 and La Caixa foundation since 2023. Vjera is passionate about entrepreneurial systems building and developing entrepreneurial mindsets. To this end she teaches on innovation across a number of Imperial College Masters programmes and has authored a chapter on the topic of healthcare innovation for Oxford University Press Handbook, published in 2025. 

 

Fiona Mischel

Associate Director, Strategic Development, Holiferm

Fiona is the Associate Director of Strategic Development at Holiferm, a commercial-scale UK biochemicals company. Her work covers business development, strategic partnerships, investment, and developing compelling narratives to illustrate the impact of biology over petrochemicals. Fiona began her career in science communication, and she previously worked as the Director of International Outreach for SynBioBeta. She was also previously a member of the OECD's Expert Focus Group on Synthetic Biology and has worked closely with national and international bodies to advance bioeconomy policy and collaboration. 

Line Kloster Pederden

Founder & CEO, Visibuilt

The company was founded by Line Kloster Pedersen. Line's inspiration to start Visibuilt came during one of her runs around the lakes of Copenhagen, where she reflected on how fungi play a crucial role in the soil ecosystem in nature, and wondered whether the same logic could be applied to creating road surfaces in our cities.

When she began researching the asphalt industry, she was shocked to discover that the current asphalt market is still dependent on oil-based binders, similar to those used a hundred years ago, with few or no alternatives available. This realization sparked her imagination and led her to consider the possibility of a natural, mycelium-based binder, inspired by nature’s own solutions.

This became the foundation for Visibuilt’s solution, visiBINDER, a technology aimed at reducing our infrastructure’s dependence on fossil-based binders and contributing to the global development of groundbreaking climate technologies for pavement materials.

The team behind Visibuilt has since expanded to 19 employees, and brings together diverse expertise spanning science, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, and engineering. Based near Copenhagen, we are positioned at the heart of Europe’s biotechnology innovation hub.

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Hannah Regan

Infrastructure and R&D lead, DSIT

Dr Hannah Regan is the infrastructure and R&D lead in the Engineering Biology Policy Team in the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT). She is responsible for ensuring infrastructure and R&D policy for engineering biology support growth of the UK’s sector.  Prior to joining the engineering biology team, Hannah worked in central DSIT, and for the Office for Life Sciences. Hannah holds a doctorate in biological engineering from the University of Sheffield. 

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Beatriz San Martin

Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP

Dr Beatriz San Martin is a leading intellectual property partner at Arnold & Porter in London, advising life sciences and biotechnology companies on strategic issues across the product lifecycle. Her practice sits at the intersection of IP, trade secrets, data, compliance and dispute resolution, with industry experience spanning engineering biology, digital health and artificial intelligence. Beatriz regularly advises clients on complex issues affecting innovation and commercialisation, as well as supporting transactions, resolving disputes and enforcing IP rights. She works closely with in-house teams to deliver pragmatic, business-focused solutions aligned with scientific and commercial realities.

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Oliver Sexton

Investment Director, Future Planet Capital

Oliver is an Investment Director at UKI2S. Specialising in life science investments he has managed the enlarged £33m engineering biology sub-fund since its inception in 2014. He has invested in a broad range of companies in sectors as diverse as therapeutic, agritech and clean biotech.  

He sits on multiple boards and has overseen exits including the £85m sale of Quethera to Astellas. He is also a member of the Future Planet Capital ESG steering group.  

Prior to joining UKI2S, Oliver worked at the venture fund Imperial Innovations as well as other roles in the industry. He has a background in strategy analysis and consultancy including roles in New York and has a masters from the University of Bristol and commenced a PhD in bioremediation at the University of Nottingham. 

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Claire Skentelbery

Director General, EuropaBio

Claire has worked in the development of scientific networks and associations for over 20 years. Following a degree in agriculture and a PhD in crop science, she worked in scientific communications and as a biotechnology National Contact Point for Framework Programme Five. Her work took her to the fast growing Cambridge (UK) biotechnology cluster in 2000, where she was part of her first business association (now One Nucleus) from where, as part of a Europe-wide founding team, she launched the Council of European BioRegions (CEBR), a network of biotechnology clusters.

Her role as Network Manager for CEBR brought her to Brussels in 2009, where she also became Secretary General of the European Biotechnology Network, a network with the mission to build collaboration for exploitation of science. Through EBN she became involved in the Innovatove Medicines Initiative (IMI) within the ENABLE project, which developed novel Gram negative antibacterial candidates.

In 2016, Claire took on a global role as Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA), representing nanomaterials across sectors, with focus on the emerging regulatory frameworks worldwide and the positioning of nanomaterials in advanced products and processes.

In 2020, she joined EuropaBio as Director General, representing biotechnology across sectors and helping to shape the role that it plays in Europe’s delivery of a sustainable and healthy future.

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Hendrik Waegeman

Head of Business Operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Hendrik Waegeman obtained a master’s degree in Biochemical Engineering at Ghent University (2007) and holds a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences-Chemical Engineering (2011), also obtained at Ghent University. During his doctoral research he metabolically engineered Esherichia coli to improve recombinant protein production. During his post-doctoral research, Hendrik Waegeman was involved in a number of projects that focused on precision fermentation targeting specialty carbohydrates. He is also one of the founders of the biotech company Inbiose NV, founded in 2013, which develops fermentatively produced human milk oligoscaccharides.  In 2012, he was guest lecturer at the University of Incheon, South-Korea where he lectured a course on Industrial Biotechnology. 

Since 2012, he has a position at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, Belgium. Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is globally one of the largest Pilot- and Demonstration Facility for Industrial Biotechnology. Since 2019 Hendrik is Head of Business Operations and responsible for the operational management of BBEPP.  

Hendrik is also board director Biobased Industries Consortium (the private partner in BBI-JU and CBE-JU, Bio.be (the cluster of Belgian biotech companies), Smart Delta Resources (large energy and resource-intensive companies in the Flemish-Dutch Schelde-Delta region) and the European Biosolutions Coalition (representing VBO-FEB, the Organization for Belgian Enterprises).  

Hendrik is a strong believer in the bioeconomy and industrial biotechnology. 

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Sophie Walton

Strategic Partnerships Director, CPI

Sophie is a biotechnologist by background with 20+ years’ experience of commercial and operational leadership roles, interfacing with both private and public sectors. She has a keen interest in the role of technology and innovation in economic growth, and around support for technology startups and spin outs. She has also worked as a CEO of a biotechnology start up.  

She currently works as the Strategic Partnerships Director at CPI leading a team which seeks to create major economic impact from cutting edge research and innovation. Sophie has also inputted into policy development work with BEIS, Government Office for Science, and UK Research and Innovation. She participates in a number of external Advisory Teams and groups and is an active Non Executive Director. 

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Karolina Zapadka

Senior Partner , BioInnovation Institute

Karolina has spent the past 15 years building a strong network across the UK life sciences ecosystem. She is an experienced life sciences investor and entrepreneur with over a decade in life sciences innovation, spanning drug discovery, technology transfer, venture building, and equity financing. She recently joined the BioInnovation Institute (BII) in London. Previously, she was an investor at the UK’s largest EIS fund, where she led multiple deals, sat on several company boards, served as a member of the Investment Committee, and supported numerous portfolio companies. Karolina also co-founded Accelerate@Babraham, Cambridge’s first life sciences accelerator. She began her career at MedImmune (AstraZeneca) and later in leading Cambridge biotech ventures, focusing on biologics in neuroscience and metabolic science. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.

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Franklin Keck

Co-Founder & CEO, RemePhy

No bio provided

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