Dr. Budge attained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University, investigating cellular processes that impact upon production of biotherapeutics. He has long-standing collaborations with industry in the development and commercial application of new technologies in the biotherapeutic industry and his work has so far led to the granting of three international patents. He is also on the committee for ESACT Frontiers focussing on career progression and active engagement of early career researchers.

Mario is the Director of Technologies and Business Development at ATUM, bringing over 15 years of combined academic and industrial expertise in recombinant protein expression. He earned his PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Manchester, where he investigated the transcriptional mechanisms that regulate recombinant promoters in CHO cells. Following his doctoral studies, Mario pursued his passion for biotherapeutic manufacturing at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies and Horizon Discovery, where he had different scientific and commercial-related roles. Passionate about technology development, Mario is driven by a desire to translate scientific discoveries into impactful technologies.

Dr. Dongda Zhang is a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester and a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellow. His group focuses on the development of methodologies and practical applications for industrially focused mathematical modelling and data analytical techniques, aimed at understanding and operating complex chemical and biochemical processes. They are interested in exploring how advanced digital technologies, particularly when integrated through interpretable machine learning and data intelligence techniques, along with rigorous mathematical analysis and physical modelling approaches, can accelerate novel process development, optimisation, and automate industrial process manufacturing.

Emma Davé is a principal scientist at UCB, having joined the company in 2005. Her interests lie in Research and Development of antibody therapeutic medicines and she is an integral contributor to the development of novel antibody therapeutic formats. She specialises in molecular biology, antibody expression, protein engineering and bio-fermentation. She is also a seasoned PhD supervisor and currently involved in project management. Emma Davé has published in both peer reviewed scientific journals and is a co-inventor on several UCB patents. Prior to joining UCB, spent 10 years in Academia, specialising in areas of genetics and pathogenesis of infectious diseases. Emma earned her PhD from the University of Sheffield.

Dr. Armstrong currently serves as the Head of Scientific and Regulatory Consultancy leading a global team of scientific experts within the Merck BioReliance testing services business. Prior to this role Dr Armstrong held a number of additional positions at Merck BioReliance testing services including operations director, scientific director and Head of Development services. Her academic achievements include PhD in Molecular Virology. Throughout out her academic and commercial career, Dr. Armstrong has been an invited speaker at both national and international conferences and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers and editorials.

Hanns-Martin Schmidt is a molecular biologist with a longstanding background in biotechnology startups, primarily focusing on research and development. Throughout his career, he has aimed to bridge scientific research with industry needs, emphasizing practical, impactful innovations. He has contributed to several early-stage companies, advancing technologies in areas such as gene transfer, protein expression and analytics. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanns-Martin co-founded Ningaloo Biosystems GmbH, Germany, to support the development of improved manufacturing processes for next-generation biotherapeutics. In addition to managing the diverse challenges of a startUp, he remains dedicated to R&D efforts that enhance production efficiency and therapeutic quality.

Dr Sarah Fadda is a Principal Consultant at Siemens Industry Software and the Solution Owner of upstream bioprocessing model libraries. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cagliari (2005) and a PhD in Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan (2009). Before joining Siemens in 2017, she worked as an academic research associate, focusing primarily on modelling heterogeneity in biological applications. At Siemens, she leads the development of the gPROMS bioreactor model libraries and works at facilitating the adoption of mechanistic and hybrid modelling solutions for upstream bioprocessing in process industries.

Gary Finka has over 25 years of experience within the Biopharmaceutical industry and currently holds the position of Senior Director, Drug Substance Development at GSK R&D. As part of the CMC Digital Transformation within GSK, Gary leads a Digital Grand Challenge called CMC Next Generation Workspace. This is focused on transforming GSK’s CMC laboratory workspaces and associated ways of working to enable innovative capture and subsequent use, and re-use, of all GSK experimental data to enable innovation and acceleration of the GSK portfolio of medicines and vaccines to patients.

Elise Cachat is a group leader in the School of Biological Sciences and deputy director of the Centre for Engineering Biology at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focusses on constructing synthetic cellular tools that can help us tackle challenges relating to our health and well-being. One focus of her lab is to construct synthetic cell-cell communication systems, to better understand how cells in our body interact and communicate with each other.

Timo Schmidberger, began his career at Novartis in 2008, specializing in mammalian cell culture process development. Over nine years, he excelled in scaling, process transfer, characterization, and statistical evaluation, eventually leading an in-process control QC laboratory. In this role, he provided analytical support to three production lines. In 2018, Timo joined Sartorius, leveraging his extensive bioprocessing and GMP knowledge. At Sartorius, he is helping our customers with his expertise in data analytics and biopharma to improve their bioprocess development and manufacturing.

Qasim Rafiq is a Professor in Bioprocess Engineering at University College London (UCL), Vice Dean (Health) for the UCL Faculty of Engineering Science and is Director of the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering. In his role as Director of the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, he coordinates interdisciplinary research activities within healthcare engineering across UCL Engineering, School of Life and Medical Sciences, and the hospitals within the UCL Partners academic health system.

Professor Rafiq’s research interests lie in translating novel therapeutic modalities, including cell, gene and nucleic acid therapies. He is a biochemical engineer by training working at the life science, engineering and commercial interfaces with a particular emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches which integrate bioprocessing, molecular biology, digitalisation and automation of advanced therapy manufacture. He currently holds a prestigious EPSRC Fellowship and leads a research portfolio of >£10m as Principal Investigator and leads a dynamic interdisciplinary research group that collaborate internationally with leading academic institutions, industry partners, and leading clinicians. He is both a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Chartered Scientist (CSci) and sits on multiple scientific and engineering committees including the British Standards Institute Biotechnology Committee and the BioIndustry Association’s Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.

 Jamie is a bioscientist who currently works in the Global Sustainability team at Cytiva, where, amongst other things, he heads up sustainable lab ops certifications for Cytiva labs worldwide. Before this he was a downstream processing development scientist of eight years’ experience, where he spearheaded one of Cytiva’s first lab certifications. Jamie has an MSc by Research in Chemistry and BSc in Biochemistry, and independently studies computational biology part-time.