Entrepreneurial pathways to impact: spinning out your research

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and the Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics at the University of Cambridge

Sir Greg Winter is a Nobel Prize-winning English molecular biologist best known for his work on the therapeutic use of monoclonal antibodies, credited with having invented techniques to both humanise (1986) and, later, to fully humanise using phage display, antibodies for therapeutic uses. Sir Greg has established hugely successful spin out companies including Cambridge Antibody Technology (acquired by AstraZeneca), Domantis (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline) and Bicycle Therapeutics.

Dr Diarmuid O’Brien is Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise.

Diarmuid joined Cambridge Enterprise in August 2021 from his role as Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer at Trinity College Dublin, where he had overall responsibility for the development and enhancement of the college’s innovation and enterprise strategy.

Prior to this, Diarmuid was Director of Trinity Research and Innovation with responsibility for both the Research Development Office and the Office of Corporate Partnership and Knowledge Exchange. In that role he led the establishment of the University Bridge venture fund, which is ranked in the world’s top five collaborative university funds, according to Global University Venturing.

He has held senior management roles in several university-founded start-up companies, including NTera, Xoliox, and Deerac Fluidics.

Andrew Williamson is the Managing Partner of CIC and focuses on technology investments.

Andrew’s background combines R&D, start-up formation and technology investing. Before joining CIC he spent ten years in venture investing at Physic Ventures in San Francisco and True North Venture Partners in Chicago. Before moving into Venture Capital, Andrew led a research group applying High Performance Computing to materials science at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Andrew has an MA and PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Andrew manages CIC’s investments in AudioTelligence, Origami Energy, PragmatIC, Swim and Riverlane.

Dr Hannah Sore is CEO and Co-Founder of PharmEnable. A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. She brings over 20 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Professor Florin Udrea is a professor in semiconductor engineering and head of the High Voltage Microelectronics and Sensors Laboratory at University of Cambridge. He has founded five companies including Cambridge Semiconductor, Cambridge CMOS Sensors, Cambridge Microelectronics, Flusso and Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD). CGD is a fabless semiconductor company that develops energy-efficient GaN-based power devices to make greener electronics possible. It completed its $9.5M Series A fundraising in March 2021. In autumn 2021, the company was named Tech Scaleup of the Year by Business Weekly in the category of green electronics and was awarded the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) DeepTech Investment of the Year.

Professor Fiona Karet is a Clinical Academic in the University of Cambridge. She combines lab research into ‘housekeeping’ disorders of the kidney with running a clinic at Addenbrooke’s for these and other patients with inherited or stone-forming disorders. Kalium Health Ltd is her first foray into the commercial world. It was formed in 2018 and is currently in its ‘seed-plus’ phase. Kalium’s first product will be the world’s first hand-held fingerstick monitor for blood potassium, which will benefit the tens millions of patients with kidney and/or heart disease who have potassium problems but have no means of contributing to their own healthcare.