Team

Edwin Stone: CEO at Cellular Origins

After completing his PhD in robotic vehicles at University of Cambridge, Edwin has spent nearly 20 years bringing new life science technologies to market.  He has worked with over 30 start-ups who have collectively raised in excess of $1Bn and achieved exits of up to 20X on investment.  For the last 8 years, he has focussed on cell therapy manufacturing, where he established TTP’s cell and gene team growing it to 20 people and achieving a CAGR of 50%.  He has been involved with the development of over 10 cell therapy automation systems, the first of which are now being placed into use for therapeutic manufacture.

Dan Strange: CTO at Cellular Origins

Dan has been working at the intersection of engineering and biology for almost 15 years. Following his PhD in regenerative medicine at the University of Cambridge, Dan joined TTP plc’s medical devices group, working with top 10 pharmaceutical companies to develop drug devices for complex medicines. He is an inventor on 20 patents, ranging from microneedle platforms to automated bioprocessing systems.

Dan is passionate about the potential for therapies to cure some of the most devastating diseases of our time, and has been an active member of various automation working groups looking to bring these therapies to scale. He has been involved in the development of 4 modular cell therapy manufacturing systems ranging from cell selection to expansion.

Peter Crossley: COO at Cellular Origins

Pete is an Engineer with 28 years’ experience in novel technology and product development.  He trained in Aerospace Engineering and began his career in gas turbine development at Rolls-Royce before moving to R&D and technical management in consumer products at Dyson and Fisher & Paykel. Over 17 years at TTP focussing in life sciences, he has delivered highly complex systems from conception to production in conjunction with partners and customers in Europe, Asia and the US. At Cellular Origins, Pete is building our development and manufacturing teams and overseeing product development and delivery.

Paul Crisp : Design Lead at Cellular Origins

Paul has worked in industrial automation design for around 35 years, initially developing CNC automation, automotive and consumer product assembly equipment. After initially joining TTP in the 90s he worked primarily on combinatorial chemistry tools which spun out to form a new company specialising in R&D lab equipment. Paul later developed microfluidic and batch chemistry instruments for use in R&D and scaleup. He has been involved in the foundation of a number of companies which have gone on to become leaders in their fields. Paul’s return to TTP 2 years ago has brought with him a wide ranging experience in conceptual design, product rendering through to production and engineering management.

Leo Steenson: Robotics Lead at Cellular Origin

Leo has a PhD in robotics from University of Southampton and 10 years’ experience working in Advanced systems R&D. His background includes the development of fluidic transport systems including analytics and control. His broad skillset covers the entire concept to product process, starting from the problem statement, to proposing solutions, through the design and build process and in service support.

Ryan Roberts: Cell Processing Lead at Cellular Origins

Ryan has a PhD in immunology and cell biology from the University of Cambridge. Combining 15 years T-cell biology and flowcytometry experience with 7 years in cell therapy process development at GSK. Ryan has worked extensively on the integration of automation technology and flow cytometry analytical development with cell therapy processes.

Ryan has gained extensive expertise leading design of experiment (DoE) assessments, guided by a quality by design (QbD) approach.

Ryan is passionate about enabling patient access to transformational cell therapies by connecting together scaleable manufacturing.

William Deeks: Embedded Systems Lead at Cellular Origins

William has been at the intersection of hardware and software for almost 10 years. Following his MEng in Electronics from Durham University, he has worked on a wide range of technologies. From early stage R&D for some of the largest names in Tech, to a IoT cloud platform supporting millions of end points. Most recently William has led the Software & Electronics development in a recently acquired spin-out, TTP Ventus. Helping to take it from start-up to respected manufacturer, producing thousands of units on a highly automated production line.  

Jason Jones: Global Business Development Lead

Jason is a cell and gene therapy industry veteran with over 20 years of sales and business development experience in the sector, including pivotal roles at Miltenyi Biotec (including launching the Prodigy and managing their strategic partnerships), Ori Biotech (employee No.1 and CBO) and, most recently, adthera bio (Head of Business Development).
All these experiences have built to joining cellular Origins as Global Business Development Lead and to really make a difference in CGT manufacturing. Leading current partnerships and securing new ones, progressing collaborations with other technology providers and supporting relations with potential investors.

Szer Ming Lee: Software Lead at Cellular Origins

Szer Ming is a software engineer and a functional safety engineer. Following his MEng in Mechanical and Production Engineering in National University of Singapore, he has researched and obtained his PhD in automotive manufacturing from Loughborough University. He has led and delivered software systems for regulated industries in the transportation, medical, surgical and healthcare sectors. He has worked across various software technology stacks integrating embedded firmware with cloud-based enterprise system and analytics backend.
Working with different disciplines amongst the company, Szer Ming is leading the software team to design, implement and deploy software systems for automating cell therapy manufacturing.

Rebecca Farn : Programme Manager

Rebecca is a mechanical engineer turned programme manager, who enjoys utilising her experience to support complex, multidisciplinary teams. Since starting her career, she has worked with several tech start-ups on projects ranging from designing controllers for surgical robots, establishing the mechanical engineering team developing a prosthetic interface device, and leading the instrument development for a company developing a DNA printer.
Becca completed her MEng in Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cambridge and has stayed to enjoy the personal and professional advantages of the Cambridgeshire area.