Meet the Team

Jonathan Milner, PhD

Chairman

Jonathan is an experienced entrepreneur and business leader with a background in genetic research. When he was doing his postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, he identified the market opportunity for supplying quality, data-rich antibody products to research communities. In 1998, Jonathan co-founded Abcam, and since then he has led the company from a start-up to become the global leader in the supply of protein research tools.

Liam Taylor

CEO

Liam has over 11 years’ C-level experience in both US listed and UK private equity environments, with an emphasis on the diagnostics, pharma and life science sectors, partnering with blue chip global organisations and start-ups alike. A true business leader, Liam spent 10 years with the BBI Group: initially as the Group CFO, before taking on the leadership of BBI Solutions as Managing Director in 2014. BBI Solutions is a leading expert in immunoassay development, biological reagents and manufacturing services. The business revenues more than doubled during his tenure, growing from £23m to over £52m, driven by solid organic growth and strategic acquisitions that built out product and service offerings to its global customer base. After leaving BBI Solutions, Liam worked as a consultant to start-ups in the diagnostics and biotech space, joining Axol Bioscience in July 2020.

Liam is a highly experienced CEO and Managing Director, with extensive knowledge of running commercial, operations, finance and innovations teams. His leadership approach is strongly influenced by his Australian heritage: based on openness, honesty and transparency. He thrives on leading businesses, as well as developing high performing teams and business cultures. Although not a scientist, he is passionate about science with a naturally inquisitive mind and personally aspires to improve end patient outcomes around the world.

Yichen Shi, PhD

Founder

Yichen gained his doctorate in neuroscience and stem cell biology from the University of Cambridge. During his research he identified the need for a high-quality supplier of human cells; both iPSC-derived and primary, complete with media, supplements and all the critical ingredients for successful research with human cells. His entrepreneurial spirit combined with his passion for cell-biology led to the creation of Axol where innovation, quality and customer service are the key drivers.

John Burgess

Chief Business Officer

With over 12 years in senior Sales and Marketing Management roles with Global Pharmaceutical/Biotech and Speciality Chemical businesses, such as Pfizer and Bayer, John brings extensive experience in the launching of new innovative products into both emerging and more mature markets, as well as successfully managing the growth and increasing share of existing products in very competitive spaces through effective customer relationship and key account development. His senior management accountability for multidisciplinary teams across different geographical markets, responsible for overall business growth and development, as well as within the educational environment, also gives Axol Bioscience strong leadership, team and man management experience in delivering target driven financial objectives within budget.

A Biology graduate, passionate about Science and Innovation. Highly competitive, having suffered a spinal cord injury playing rugby in 2004 leaving him an incomplete tetraplegic and wheelchair dependent, John represented Great Britain in Wheelchair Rugby going on to win the European Championships in 2007 and qualifying the GB team or the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. Now coaching and developing players within the game.

Steve Rees, PhD

Steve is the Vice President Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca. He is also the chairman of European Laboratory Robotics Interest Group (ELRIG) and is a member of the Europe Council, SLAS. He is a renowned expert amongst the drug discovery community.

Chas Bountra, PhD

Chas is recognised for his open access approach to drug discovery and has made several noteworthy contributions to the field. A pioneer in the identification and validation of numerous drug targets, he has formed a number of successful collaborations between the public and private sectors to implement more efficient strategies for drug discovery.

Chas currently heads one of Europe’s major academic drug discovery centres, the Structural Genomics Consortium and is Professor of Translational Medicine at Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, both based at the University of Oxford where he is also Associate Member of the Department of Pharmacology. Current projects include using X-ray structures of novel proteins to generate small inhibitory molecules for drug target screening in human cells, with a particular focus on epigenetic and genetically-identified proteins. In addition, he is involved in translational studies for Alzheimer’s and rare diseases. Former Vice-President and Head of Biology at GlaxoSmithKline, he has worked at almost every stage of drug discovery and development and specialises in several therapeutic areas namely gastro-intestinal, inflammatory and neuro-psychiatric diseases.

Mahendra Rao, MD, PhD

Mahendra is a researcher known for his work involving human embryonic stem cells and other somatic stem cells. In 2011, he was appointed Director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Medicine. He received his MBBS from Bombay University, India, and then earned a PhD in developmental neurobiology from California Institute of Technology.

After postdoctoral work at Case Western Reserve, he became an independent researcher at University of Utah. Next he joined the National Institute of Aging, where he studied neural progenitor cells and their potential clinical use. Dr. Rao was also the VP of Regenerative Medicine at Life Technologies. Additionally, he co-founded Q Therapeutics, a stem-cell research firm and serves on USDA Cellular Tissue and Gene Therapies advisory committee and more. Mahendra also holds a joint research appointment in NIAMS and NINDS.

Paul Andrews, PhD

Paul is an expert in the industrial application of stem cells in phenotypic screening, having previously used this platform to identify agents that steer cell fate.

Paul is Director of Operations at the National Phenotypic Screening Centre (NPSC), a new open collaborative venture based at the Universities of Dundee, Oxford and Edinburgh. He also sits on the editorial board for Current Research in Drug Discovery and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. He has been a Trustee of the British Society of Cell Biology, Advisory Board Member of the Scottish Stem Cell Network and was team leader in Cellartis/Cellectis Stem Cells. Prior to this he was team leader for the Stem Cell Technology Programme in the Drug Discovery Unit at The University of Dundee and has over 20 years of postdoctoral research experience in cell and molecular biology.

Chris Torrance, PhD

Chris is an innovative R&D leader and a seasoned biotech entrepreneur. His principal expertise lies in oncology and drug discovery. Chris pioneered the use of isogenic cancer cell models in high-throughput drug screening. In 2007, He founded Horizon Discovery, a translational genomics company which supplies genetically edited cell lines for research into personalised medicine.

Darrin Disley, PhD

Darrin holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Cambridge and has been involved in the start-up and growth of numerous business ventures where he has a track record of securing over $300 million business financing from grant, angel, corporate, venture capital and public market sources as well as closing over $450 million of product, service, licensing and M&A deals.

He is currently CEO and President of Horizon Discovery Group plc a company he has led from start- up through its listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 where he achieved a $113 million placement a record for a life science company from the Cambridge cluster. In 2012, he was named Business Leader of the Year at the European Life Science Awards, in 2014 was named Executive of the Year by Scrip a global award recognising leadership in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and in 2015 was named UK Quoted Company Entrepreneur of the Year, Cambridge Business Person of the Year and one of the 175 Faces of Chemistry by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Darrin supports academic, entrepreneurship and mentoring programs in the UK via the Professor Christopher R Lowe Carpe Diem Enterprise Fund and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Judge Business School and Enterprise Fellow at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Biotechnology both at the University of Cambridge. He is currently Chairman and co-founder of GeoSpock Ltd, Chairman of Desktop Genetics Ltd, Non-Executive Director of Cell Therapy Ltd, Board Member of the UK Bioindustry Association, Regional Council Member of the Confederation og British Industry and serves on the advisory boards of HealX3 Ltd, SimPrints Ltd, GeneAdviser, Cambridge Ahead, the Cambridge Phenomenon, the Cambridge Science Centre and Biotech and Money as well as working with national and international bodies aimed at promoting the thriving UK life science industry.

Steve Finkbeiner, PhD

Steve Finkbeiner, MD, PhD is renowned for his research in neurodegenerative conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He is perhaps best known for his invention of a robotic imaging device that has helped to elucidate the mechanisms behind learning, memory formation and neurodegeneration. Steve Finkbeiner’s research focuses on understanding how neurodegeneration occurs and elucidating therapeutic strategies to intervene. He has an impressive record of publications and sits on the editorial board of several journals. Dr Finkbeiner has received numerous awards for his work and has also established a centre to accelerate the identification of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, which heavily relies on the use of iPSC models.

Dr Finkbeiner is currently Associate Director and Senior Investigator at Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, Professor of Neurology and Physiology at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and Director at Taube/Koret Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. Prior to this he carried out a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School and completed an internship (internal medicine) and a chief residency (neurology) at UCSF. He achieved his MD and a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University.

Maria Grazia Spillantini, PhD

Maria Grazia Spillantini FMedSci FRS, is Professor of Molecular Neurology in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. In 2013, she was elected as a fellow of The Royal Society. She is most noted for identifying the protein alpha-synuclein as the major component of Lewy bodies, the characteristic protein deposit found in the brain in Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Her interest is in the identification of the mechanisms leading to neuronal death and clinical phenotype in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal dementia. In particular, her group studies the role of microtubule-associated protein tau and alpha-synuclein aggregation in the neurodegenerative diseases. Her work extends from genetic studies in patients to disease models. Her aim is to identify mechanism-based therapies for these diseases.