About
As CEO of HydRegen, my vision is to see our pioneering biotechnology platforms used to enable a more sustainable chemicals sector, fast-tracked by the significant 'green discount' we have demonstrated. At our core, we apply the benefits of bio-based manufacturing, with as little change to existing chemical plants and scale up processes as possible. I have taken the HydRegen technologies from first in lab results, through to commercial products and processes. I was co-awarded £3m in academic translation funding, and went on to raise more than £3m in private investment and £1.5m in IUK non-dilutive grant funding. I'm committed to creating an inclusive and balanced company culture where individuals are working towards personal and company goals.
Experience
Ceo & Co-Founder
HydRegen Limited · Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Present
Our biocatalyst platforms delivering 40-50% cost savings, and 3x CO2 savings for chemical manufacturing in existing infrastructure. Over the last 4 years, I have: - led a 3 month market validation program, talking to >100 chemical companies - raised >£3m in private investment and >£1.5m in IUK grant funding - built partnerships and customer relationships - grown the company from 2 to 15 people - consistently met commercial and technology targets As a company, we have invested heavily in leadership training, focused on leaders in high-growth deep-tech start ups.
Senior Researcher / Project Manager
University of Oxford · Department of Chemistry
I was co-awarded a major £3m R&D grant by EPSRC through Innovate UK / BBSRC / EPSRC Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst scheme to translate our HydRegen technology towards commercialisation. To translate our H2-driven biocatalysis system towards market, research spanning enzyme scale-up, optimisation of the enzyme-modified particles, development of biocatalytic hydrogenation steps in industry standard batch and flow reactors and investigation into the scope of the system is required. I am leading this research effort and ensuring developments are industrially relevant by regularly meeting with our industrial Advisory Board and industrial and academic project partners.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Oxford · University of Oxford, Department of Chemsitry
I was responsible for the continued development our hydrogen-driven cofactor recycling technology, HydRegen. For part of this time I was carrying out research on an industry linked project to develop H2-driven NADPH recycling for C=C reductions. I supervised the day-to-day research of 5 undergraduate and graduate student projects and contributed to academic publications, development of a business plan and a number of successful grant applications.
Dphil in Inorganic Chemistry
University of Oxford, Jesus College · Vincent Group, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Oxford
During my DPhil, I demonstrated and developed a highly innovative approach to using cofactor-dependent redox enzymes for H2 driven biotransformations. This system combines the exquisite selectivity of biocatalysts with the perfect atom economy of catalytic hydrogenations and represents a step-change for implementation of biocatalytic processes for fine chemicals synthesis. This research bridges concepts from bioinorganic chemistry, biocatalysis, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis and organic synthesis offering a completely new route to selective hydrogenation reactions which can be carried out under mild conditions, and as flow or batch processes. A full paper detailing characterisation and demonstration of this novel system was highlighted as a cover article in ChemCatChem (Reeve et al., Issue 7, 2015). The results are analysed and reported in multiple ways such that they relevant and accessible to both the bio- and chemo-catalysis communities. I have demonstrated this platform a…
Icure Entrepreneurial Lead
Awarded a place on the ICURe scheme run by SETsquared as an Entrepreneurial Lead (Jan-March 2020). During this time I spoke to more than 60 companies, uncovering opportunities for our biocatalytic hydrogenation and deuteration technologies. The strongest market pull was for sustainable chemistry and the insights we gained have allowed us to develop routes to market that address real problems in the chemicals sector. We were awarded £300k from Innovate UK via ICURe follow on funding which has allowed us to start a company to commercialise our technology.
British Science Association Media Fellow at Mirror Online
Reach plc · London, United Kingdom
I was awarded a British Science Association Media Fellowship for 2018. As part of the Fellowship I spent 2 weeks as a Science/Technology journalist at the Mirror Online. I wrote more than 20 articles during this time, including a Feature piece: 'Why Love Island is turning YOU into a scientist'. I also featured in a podcast discussing science and the media with the Science/Tech team. This experience taught me a great deal about how Universities and research organisations can better interact with the media and provided me with an excellent opportunity to broaden my writing experience and style. As part of this Fellowship, I will be reporting on the British Science Festival in September.
Embo Short Term Fellowship
Berlin Institute of Technology (Technische Universität Berlin) · Berlin, Germany
During this 3 month fellowship position I was able to quickly learn and implement new techniques in molecular biology. I designed and generated a series of enzyme variants which will allow me to probe the structure-function relationship and mechanism in the important class of NAD+/NADH cycling flavo-enzymes.
Education
University of Oxford
DPhil, Inorganic Chemistry
Cornell University
Certificate, Psychology of Leadersip
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Science Innovation Plus, Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies
University of Oxford
MChem, Chemistry
Kings High School
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