Who's Who at Isis Innovation
Contact details for individual members of staff can be found on the Contact Details page or click on their name below.
Managing Director
Tom Hockaday
Tom Hockaday became Managing Director of Isis Innovation Ltd in 2006, having joined Isis in 2000. Before moving to Oxford in March 2000, Tom was at Bristol University for seven years where he was Managing Director of Bristol Innovations Ltd; before that Tom worked in UCL’s research contracting section for four years. Tom was Chairman of UNICO in 2003, the UK’s technology transfer trade association. Tom was on the founding Committee of Praxis, the UK’s national training programme aimed at technology transfer professionals, from 2002 to 2005.
Portfolio Manager
James Mallinson
James joined Isis in April 2003 to manage the equity stakes in spin-out companies held by the University. Prior to Isis, he worked in the private equity group at Abbey National Treasury Services where he was responsible for technology investments. James gained his MBA from Cranfield in 1990 and has over ten years' experience in venture capital as both investor and adviser. James gained his first degree in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, following which he trained and worked as a software engineer, initially with Marconi Underwater Systems.
Head of Group: Business Support Group
Matt Simons
Matt has held commercially-focused finance roles with technology-based companies including Glaxo Wellcome, Morgan Crucible (M&A transactions) and Fujitsu Siemens Computers (Head of Group Financial Planning & Analysis, and Divisional Finance Director). As Head of Business Support Group within Isis, Matt has responsibility for Finance, Legal and Marketing – focused on supporting the three business groups of Isis, and on developing Isis’s external business relationships.
Matt has a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and is a qualified chartered accountant.
Head of Group: technology transfer Group
Linda Naylor
Before moving to Isis in July 2002, Linda was based at the University of York where she was manager of Bioincubator York Ltd and was responsible for the commercialisation of Bioscience research either through company start-up or licensing. Linda was also part of the White Rose Biotechnology Consortium which was established to exploit the possible synergies between the Universities of York, Sheffield and Leeds to maximise the commercial potential of life science research from the three Universities. Previously, she had over 20 years experience in the Life Science industry with Zeneca plc / ICI plc during which time she was responsible for managing the biology research within developing life science businesses covering the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, biopolymer, chemical and food business. Linda has a B.A. in Biological Sciences and an M.B.A. from the Saïd Business School, Oxford.
Project Managers: technology transfer group
Fiona Begg
Dr Fiona Begg studied medical microbiology at Edinburgh University following a year working in pharmaceutical microbiology. Her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology (molecular pharmacology of phosphodiesterases) was completed at Glasgow University on a BBSRC CASE studentship. This was sponsored by AstraZeneca and the first year of study was completed at their research facility in Loughborough. After a year in a business development role she spent 3.5 years with Invitrogen Ltd as a technical adviser and then in their sales team.
Dina Chen
Dina studied genetics as an undergraduate, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree at Peking University in 1996. Upon graduation, Dina was sponsored by a fellowship from National Institutes of Health to continue studies in molecular cell biology at New York University-School of Medicine, where she was the first author of several scientific publications. After completing her doctorate thesis in 2001 on cloning a GTPase and identifying the protein’s function in introcellular vesicle transport, Dina joined Medarex Inc., an antibody engineering company based in New Jersey, as a research scientist. At Medarex, she designed and supervised dozens of antibody development projects. Subsequently, Dina obtained an MBA degree at University of Oxford, Said Business School in 2004 and completed several early stage biotechnology commercialization projects. Prior to joining Isis Innovation in May 2006, Dina worked as a business manager for Quality Nighthawk Teleradiology Group in California, a radiology service provider where she managed sales and marketing of teleradiology services.
David Churchman
Dr. David Churchman gained his PhD and MSc from the University of Surrey where he studied Inorganic Analytical Chemistry and Radiation and Environmental Protection respectively. For the past 7 years, David has applied his academic background to the commercial sector leading hi-tech scientific product development through international Marketing and Sales roles, such as the Micromass Inorganic Mass Spectrometer group. David joined Isis in April 2004 from a Cambridge University spin-out, where he was responsible for sales development of materials data management software to the U.S. aerospace industry.
Sarah Deakin
Dr Sarah Deakin studied at The University of Exeter where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences. Upon graduation Sarah then completed a Masters Degree in Immunology at the University of Birmingham, and remained to undertake a PhD in the Department of Medicine, entitled 'Novel Mechanisms of Lymphocyte Recruitment to the Liver', which resulted in the publication of several papers. Sarah then left academia to pursue a career in sales and prior to joining Isis was a Technical Sales Specialist with Invitrogen Ltd. In her first year with Invitrogen she was awarded 'Best New Sales Recruit'. Sarah joined Isis as a Project Manager in October 2006.
David Eastham
Dr David Eastham originally trained as a metallurgist followed by a doctorate in electrodeposition of thin Permalloy films, both from the University of Nottingham. His subsequent industrial career has developed interests in the wider field of surface engineering and tribology.
After university he spent time in the electronics industry with Plessey where he was responsible for evaluating the technology and the longer-term strategy for the production of processed aluminium foil used in capacitors. For the major part he has been involved in components supply to the automotive industry with Glacier Metal and T&N, where he had responsibility for the development of new products involving surface technology. This required technology transfer from laboratory to full-scale production, patenting, licensing of product/process and interaction with main representatives of the global automotive industry.
Latterly he has been at the National Physical Laboratory as Head of Commercial Programmes in the materials centre where the emphasis was on developing non-government funded projects. Such work required management of change, interaction with scientists, technology transfer to industry, licensing of NPL designed products, interaction with the DTI Engineering Industries Directorate and development of marketing strategy. Currently David is the Immediate Past President of the Institute of Metal Finishing, and is a member of the EPSRC Structural Materials College. David joined Isis in January 2000.
Jamie Ferguson
Having completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at The University of Edinburgh, Jamie joined BP in 1996. There he worked on a number of oilfield, fuel and polymer products within the Organic Chemistry Consultancy before leaving in 1999 to join the Cambridge inkjet printing start-up Patterning Technologies Ltd (PTL). On spinning out the Jetmask business from PTL, he became its Director of Business Development setting up and overseeing a number of the company’s commercial relationships within the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) market.
Jamie played a key role in licensing Jetmask’s proprietary technology to Fujifilm Electronic Imaging Ltd (FFEI) in 2002 and consequently took up a product management position there with responsibility for PCB and inkjet based developments. Within FFEI, he led the FineTrak FT300 laser photoplotter development and subsequently set up and managed the worldwide business. Jamie successfully obtained DTI funding under the Micro and Nanotechnology (MNT) Initiative and managed the collaborative research programme to develop an innovative hybrid imaging technology aimed at fine structure production. Jamie joined Isis Innovation in September 2006 as a Project Manager and expects to complete his MBA in November 2006.
Mairi Gibbs
Mairi is a chemist by background, studying biosynthesis during her PhD at Bristol after graduating from Oxford. She then spent several years working in the fine chemicals industry developing aqueous dyes for use in photorealistic printing, for which she is named inventor on 7 patents. Within this role Mairi managed a team of chemists and also negotiated funding to access the chemistry search engine Beilstein Crossfire. Since joining Isis in 2002 Mairi has worked on a number of exciting projects including the spin-out Oxford Catalysts, which successfully floated on AIM in 2006.
Mike Gilbert
Dr Mike Gilbert gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge where he studied solid-state Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory. Following this Mike spent 7 years at the UK Atomic Energy Authority researching methods for achieving highly reliable computing using novel hardware and software techniques and developing and commercializing software packages. Mike then moved into the commercial software sector developing, managing and licensing software development products and middleware for Micro Focus International. During this time, Mike took responsibility for product strategy and introduced several new products to help businesses using legacy software systems to benefit from contemporary technologies. As VP of worldwide marketing, Mike worked closely with the management team to achieve a full listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2005 raising $125M for the company.
Prior to joining Isis Innovation, Mike set up his own company, Legacy Directions Limited, providing consulting services and thought-leading analysis to the IT industry on the subject of computer systems modernization and service-oriented architecture.
Cynthia Green
Cynthia studied applied chemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, graduating with first class honours in 1990. Following a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry, Cynthia joined the Department of Biology at the University of York in early 1994 as a postdoctoral research fellow working in the field of molecular epidemiology. The next eight and a half years were spent in the medical device industry bringing new products to market, firstly as a scientific project leader, for Johnson & Johnson Medical and then as a project manager for Advanced Medical Solutions Ltd. Most recently Cynthia was employed as a Business Manager at Oxford Brookes University working on various aspects of technology transfer including the licensing of intellectual property from the School of Life Sciences. Cynthia has a Diploma in Management Studies (University of Bradford) and joined Isis in April 2008.
David Phillips
David started out as a research chemist, working for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. He then re-trained, studying Genetics at St. Andrews University, before taking his D. Phil. in viral gene expression in the Department of Biochemistry and Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology in Oxford. He then worked for The Oxford Trust as Research Manager, with a particular focus on Intellectual Property and Real Estate issues of importance to high growth-potential companies. During his first period of employment at Isis, David was responsible for a number of successful licensing deals, and worked on a number of spin-out companies, including Pharminox.
Following three successful years at Isis David went to GlaxoSmithKline, licensing in technologies and products. He worked at GSK for four years, and his work included negotiations on two strategic deals within the Consumer Healthcare business. He returned to Isis in June ’07.
Rakesh Roshan
Rakesh - former Felix scholar - obtained a DPhil in Physics from the University of Oxford in 2001. His thesis entitled “optical spectroscopy of semiconductor v-groove quantum wires” incorporated development and implementation of a novel near-field optical microscope. After graduating from Oxford, Rakesh moved on to work for a leading Japanese electronics manufacturer, in their research and development wing. As a supervisor in the advanced optoelectronics department he was involved in developing several cutting edge technologies, at different levels of the value chain, including development of semiconductor lasers, optical communication systems for automotive applications, display technologies and solid-state lighting. He was also involved in a variety of strategic roles focussing on the development of corporate technology road maps, market analysis and competitors’ IP analysis for mutual licensing agreements. Rakesh joined Isis as a project manger in August 2007.
Emma Sceats
Emma studied for her undergraduate (M.Sci.) degree in Chemistry (with a year in Industry) at Bristol University. Her year in industry was spent at the DuPont Central Research & Development facility in Wilmington, Delaware (USA) researching homogeneous and heterogeneous organometallic catalysis. Upon graduating from Bristol in 2002 Emma obtained a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she researched small molecule activation chemistry mediated by organometallic transition metal complexes. In 2004 Emma graduated from MIT with a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree and commenced her doctorate studies in Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Emma completed her D.Phil. research, which has focused on theoretical calculations of carbon nanotubes filled with molecules and one-dimensional crystals, in August 2007. Emma joined Isis in May 2007.
Ya-hsin Shen
Ya-hsin holds a first class honours degree in Bioindustry Engineering from the National Taiwan University (2001) and a Master in Electrical Engineering from the National Chiao-Tung University (2003) where her thesis focused on analyzing amino acid sequences by Neural Networks and statistics methods. After that, she became a researcher in Academia Sinica (2003-2004), where she studied the relationships between gene expression data and pathways. She then joined IBM Life Sciences Center of Excellence, where she was an IT Specialist (2005-2006), delivering system solutions and consulting services to medical and life sciences organizations.
Because of her interest in innovation management and strategy, Ya-hsin decided to pursue a certification in Intellectual Property (2003) and another in Law (2006), and has recently obtained an MBA degree at Said Business School, University of Oxford (2007). In Said, her entrepreneurial project, a business plan for a start-up in the area of Asian Healthcare Tourism, was awarded as a runner-up for the JPMorgan MBA Prize 2007, which selected the Best Entrepreneurial Project amongst those of 50 international teams. She joined Isis as a Project Manager in 2008, where she focuses her work on technology licensing and spin-out formation in biotechnology, engineering and green industry applications.
Colin Story
Dr Colin Story read biological sciences at Swansea University during which he was awarded the Ivor Isaac prize for academic excellence. For a further 3.5 years at Swansea University and Plymouth Marine Laboratories, Colin performed detailed research investigating intracellular calcification in algae using a variety of molecular biology techniques including 2D gel electrophoresis and fluorescence confocal imaging. After obtaining his doctorate in 1997 Colin joined Amersham International (now GE Healthcare) as a development scientist. After 3 years in this position Colin became a Project Manager within R&D. In March 2002 Colin moved into a commercial role as Product Manager for proteomics labelling and detection where he remained until joining Isis as a Project Manager in January 2005.
Adam Stoten
Dr Adam Stoten gained a first class honours degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham in 1997. He remained at Nottingham to undertake a PhD in molecular immunology, investigating novel T-cell independent mechanisms of allergic inflammation. His research was co-sponsored by AstraZeneca and Adam worked for the latter two years of his PhD at the company's Charnwood R&D site in Loughborough. On completion of his PhD, Adam conducted further research at Nottingham on behalf of DERA, before joining Talentmark, a specialist life science recruitment consultancy, as a Researcher. After 18 months with Talentmark, he joined its sister company Technomark, a specialist consultancy operating in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. Joining as a Research Analyst, Adam was promoted to Head of Research in 2004, and worked on various due diligence, market analysis, strategic marketing and outsourcing projects. During his time at Technomark, Adam passed both the UKSIP Investment Management Certificate and Part I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme. Adam joined Isis as a Project Manager in February 2005.
Stuart Wilkinson
Stuart gained an M.Eng in Metallurgy and the Science of Materials at the University of Oxford prior to completing a DPhil in Biomaterials for artificial bone materials. During the following 3 years Stuart was a Knowledge Transfer Enterprise Fellow and then an Advanced Technologies Programme Manager at Oxford University Begbroke Science Park. At Begbroke he: developed the interactive tools to explain the key concepts in emerging technologies to a general audience; managed the University's Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) office; and developed the Universities part time post-graduate programme and MSc in Nanotechnology. Stuart joined Isis in May 2007.
John Wilson
John completed his PhD in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. He spent 5 years conducting research into colloidal systems, both at Virginia Tech and in the Department of Physics at Bristol. John spent 7 years as a project manager for Unilever, leaving this position to become the CEO of a Unilever spin-out. Today John is a project manager in the Tech Transfer group, helping to commercialise Oxford technology in the life and physical sciences.
Weng Sie Wong
Dr Weng Sie Wong obtained a BSc honours degree in pharmacology at University College London and went on to complete a PhD in toxicology at the university. Her PhD was sponsored by a BBSRC CASE studentship in collaboration with SmithKline Beecham, and she spent 10 months in their R&D labs in Harlow. After obtaining her doctorate, Weng spent 3 years at University of Edinburgh undertaking postdoctoral research, investigating the mechanisms that protect small cell lung cancer cells from chemotherapeutic agents. At the same time, she completed a part-time MBA at the University of Edinburgh Management School. Following this, Weng worked as a medical sales representative at GlaxoSmithKline for 21 months before joining Isis as a Project Manager in October 2006.
head of group: oxford university Consulting
Steve Lee
Steve, orginally an aerospace engineer, has over twenty years experience of industry and external consultancy working for companies such as BAE, Siemens and PwC. He has extensive experience of managing technology and product development projects, and of improving business processes to support innovation and product development capability. His experience includes working with a number of local high tech businesses with Oxford University connections. Steve has a degree in Psychology and an MBA.
Project Managers: oxford university Consulting
Andrew Goff
Prior to joining Isis in February 2003, Andrew was Business Development Director at Penguin Digital Media and latterly Pearson Broadband. At Pearson he was responsible for setting up a business to license digital intellectual property and to commercially exploit the group's media development capabilities. Prior to this Andrew was with Dorling Kindersley Multimedia for six years where he was Director of Sales and Marketing. Andrew started his career in publishing at Oxford University Press, where he held posts in book commissioning and marketing. Andrew has a BSc in Zoology from the University of Bristol and 5 years' research experience with the Medical Research Council both in Cambridge and the University of Oxford.
Caroline Jenkins
Caroline gained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2000. She then moved to the University of Oxford where, in 2005, she completed a D.Phil which focussed on the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer multi-drug resistance. Prior to joining Isis in July 2007, she undertook a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, where she studied the genetic pathways required for normal mammalian cardiac development.
Gurinder Punn
Gurinder has held roles of Team Leader for Business Clusters at a regional development agency and senior sales management positions within the automotive, electronics and engineering sectors. In previous roles he has set a joint venture to commercialise intellectual property and managed pan European sales operations. He holds an MBA from University of Birmingham and has represented the UK at the 2004 Commonwealth Study Conference in Australia. He has also written and published a photographic book exploring landscapes as diverse as Antarctica, Alaska, Patagonia, Iceland and New Zealand.
Gill Rowe
Gill holds a BSc in Human Sciences from University College London (where she specialised in the neurosciences) as well as a Diploma in Marketing and an MBA. In addition, she has extensive experience in business development, marketing and technology transfer within the medical, engineering and IT industries. Before joining Isis, Gill worked for AEA Technology plc on a variety of business development projects principally related to neural networks, plasma technology, biosensors and orthopaedic device testing. Her final role at AEA Technology was as Global Marketing Manager for one of its engineering software businesses.
Elen Wade-Martins
Elen holds a BEng in Materials Science from Birmingham University and a DPhil from Oxford University, where she carried out industrially-sponsored research into novel aluminium alloys for use in aerospace. She went on to work for AEA Technology plc as a consultant on a government programme before moving to the US to do postdoctoral research at MIT. This included investigating carbon nanotubes for electronic applications and some of the fundamental phase transformations in steels, as well as teaching.
From January 2003, Elen was a HEIF (Higher Education Innovation Fund) Manager for Oxford University Begbroke Science Park and the Said Business School. Her remit was promotion of science entrepreneurship and included running the 'Oxford University Business Plan Competition', the 'Building a Business' course and the 'Enterprise Fellowship' programme. Elen joined Isis in August 2005.
Head of group: Isis Enterprise
David Baghurst
David studied chemistry at the University of Oxford prior to completing a DPhil entitled "Applications of microwaves in chemical synthesis". Following two years as a fixed term lecturer in chemistry at Imperial College, London, David joined the Cookson Group as Head of the Advanced Products Group at the Cookson Technology Centre. The group carried out development work in a wide range of materials fields including studies in ceramics, electronic materials (solders and adhesives) and polymer products (fibres). David joined The Oxford Trust as Director of Industrial Programmes in 1996 supporting the creation and growth of high tech companies and encouraging technology business networks. David has an MBA from Warwick Business School and joined Isis in July 2002.
Mark Mawhinney
Mark joined Isis as General Manager Isis Enterprise in November 2004 and manages Isis Enterprise worldwide business activities. Mark has many years experience at operating in the interface between the research world, business and the public sector. Mark’s previous experience in technology transfer comes from a wide range of previous activities, from which he has built a strong understanding of the diverse drivers of innovation.
Most recently Mark was Project Director of Knowledge Starts, an ERDF Programme to support Sheffield’s universities in technology transfer and building links with business. Before that Mark was the first Director of the Sustainable Cities Research Institute at Northumbria University, where he established strong links with public sector agencies and was involved in the formation of a start-up business. Mark has a PhD in Civil Engineering and worked in UK, South-East Asia and South America for Tarmac and Penta Ocean.
Sarah Macnaughton
Sarah completed her PhD in Microbial Ecology at the University of Newcastle in 1992. After three years in post-doctoral research at Newcastle she became the senior researcher at a US environmental analysis business. Following this she joined the Centre for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee before moving back to the UK in 2000 to join AEA Technology Environment and its Momenta operating division. At Momenta Sarah worked on a number of projects including research into bioremediation, management of a UK site for contaminated land research, a review of environmental science and training in the UK and the DTI BIOWISE Programme. Her final role at Momenta was as regional manager on the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme. Sarah joined Isis Enterprise in October 2006.
Terry Pollard
Terry studied physics at the University of Bristol, and then moved into a technical business consulting role. After 4 years consulting into many different industries, he decided to study for an MBA at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London.
Terry first joined Isis Innovation in 2003, where he worked as a project manager commercialising intellectual property from the physics, chemistry, materials and engineering departments. He was involved in the formation of several spinout companies, including Oxford Catalysts Ltd, a company that is developing specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels from conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources such as biomass. Oxford Catalysts floated on AIM in 2006, and Terry left Isis in early 2007 to join Oxford Catalysts, where he gained valuable experience in a business development role. Terry returned to work in a new role at Isis Enterprise in April 2008.
Roger Welch
Dr Roger Welch completed his Ph.D. from the Physics Department of Warwick University in 1995. He then spent three years as a cryogenic systems design engineer working in the Oxford area. Later, Roger was involved in several sales and marketing positions dealing with new and innovative technologies closely associated with science and engineering including cryogenics, optics, optoelectronics, and vacuum technology. Roger joined Isis in September 2003.
Suzanna Wood
Suzanna studied at The University of Surrey in Guildford where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry. Subsequently she spent 6 years at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton where she studied for a University of London PhD and then worked as a postdoctoral scientist. Suzanna's research was investigating genes encoding Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase, which is involved in the Thymidylate Synthase Cycle and subsequently the role of SYT/SSX gene translocations in Synovial Sarcoma. Suzanna then left academia to pursue a career in sales. She has been involved in sales of a wide range of molecular biology reagents and equipment including products used for microarrays and robotic instruments. More recently Suzanna was employed as the UK Product Manager at MWG Biotech for the oligonucleotide synthesis and DNA sequencing services and then as the key account manager in the UK for Proligo, an oligonucleotide synthesis company. Suzanna joined Isis as a Project Manager in May 2005.