Our team

Prof Robin Shattock

Co-Founder, Director and Chief Scientific Officer

Robin Shattock has over 30 years’ experience in research and development of vaccines and antiviral therapeutics. He is a Professor of Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College, London. He is a pioneer in the development of saRNA technology, leading the initiative to develop a Covid-19 vaccine for the disease at Imperial. He is an international leader in the field of vaccine immunology with a focus on development of vaccines to prevent pandemic threats and poverty related diseases. His academic research portfolio includes vaccine projects on HIV, Ebola, Lassa fever, Marburg and Rabies viruses and Chlamydia. He has a strong track record of translation research having taken a wide range of vaccine products through from discovery into clinical testing. Robin is an elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

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Charles Mallo

Imperial Director

Charles joined Imperial College from a senior executive career in global private healthcare, where he built startups into business groups, as well as having major P&L roles at listed companies in the UK and abroad. He currently leads a specialist unit advising on strategic commercial academic led B2B step-outs for the College, as well having responsibility for elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem development at Imperial’s new £3b White City campus in NW London.

He has held various Board roles at early-stage healthcare companies, as well as for Imperial College JV entities in the past, and is a steering board member of its venture mentoring service, IVMS, comprising some 75 leading entrepreneurs from across all science disciplines.

He has represented Imperial at industry bodies such as London First and was chair of the advisory board of the 2019 bi-annual International Student Energy Summit. Charles graduated from the INSEAD Directors Programme and is on the steering board of a global alumnus driven energy initiative, responsible for the governance portfolio. He holds an M.Eng. (1ST Class) as well as business and executive education qualifications from leading universities in Europe, the UK, Asia and the USA.

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Tyrell Rivers

AstraZeneca Director

Dr. Tyrell Rivers is an Executive Director of Corporate Development & Ventures at AstraZeneca, where he is responsible for creating and executing innovative, value-enhancing business strategies. Prior to assuming this role in 2014, he worked at MedImmune Ventures, specializing in biotechnology investing. Earlier in his career, Dr. Rivers held various positions at Merck & Co., where he led technical support for commercial vaccines and directed global business initiatives for accessing key technologies for research and development. He currently serves as a Board member of ADC Therapeutics, Cerapedics and Goldfinch Bio. Dr. Rivers holds his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business.

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Anders Holmén

AstraZeneca Director

Anders was appointed to lead Pharmaceutical Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca (AZ) in February 2016.

Anders joined AZ in 1998 as scientist and in 2005, he became Head of the Lead Generation DMPK team within the CVGI therapy area, and in 2008 he became Head of Early Development CVMD within the global Pharmaceutical Development group. Later Anders led the AZ Pharmaceutical Development team that developed formulations and supported Forxiga, Xigduo and Epanova successful submissions and commercial launches. During 2014-2016, Anders was seconded to GRAPSQA within Global Medicines Development as the global project leader for introduction of a new system for all our regulatory submissions.

Anders is passionate around building high performing teams and his team works across all therapy areas, with a focus to take the therapies of the future into clinical testing. Anders was founding member of the AI Innovation of Sweden board and is chairman of the Strategic Science Foundation FormulaEx consortium. In addition, he is a member of steering committee for the collaboration with Pieris Pharmaceuticals and has been heavily engaged in AZ’s collaborations with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Moderna and Ethris Therapeutics. Within AZ he is the sponsor for the global Digital Lab and Lab4Life programs which aim as developing AZ’s next generation labs.

Anders holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Chalmers University and he did research in the area of nucleic acids biophysics and quantum chemistry.

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Dr Will West

Investor Director

Will represents Morningside on the boards of several biotech companies, including Cyted Ltd. and F2G Ltd. He is also the CEO of CellCentric Ltd, a development stage cancer drug biotech company which he co-founded out of the University of Cambridge with Prof Azim Surani. He also co-founded CTS Inc, a Johns Hopkins’ spin-out focused on non-viral particles to deliver nucleic acid-based therapeutic products incorporating tissue specific promoters.

His scientific background is in virology and immunology, studying antibodies to RSV for his PhD, then as a post-doc at NIBSC, working on the MRC AIDS vaccine development programme. He was previously on the Executive Committee and Board of the BioIndustry Association, as well as Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). He Chaired the John Innes Centre, the world leading plant and microbial research institute. He holds a Masters in Clinical Research as well as an MBA from London Business School.

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Dr Jason Dinges

Investor Director

Jason is currently an investment advisor at Morningside Technology Advisory LLC, which he joined in 2011. He has extensive experience providing operational and management oversight to early-stage biotechnology companies. Dr. Dinges is also a director of several biopharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas including several clinical stage companies: Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ: KZR), Enyo Pharma, CellCentric, Inotrem SA, Bacainn Therapeutics, ApicBio, IM Therapeutics, Pinteon Therapeutics, and Allysta Pharmaceuticals. He has also facilitated multiple financings for private companies. From 2006 to 2011, Dr. Dinges was an associate attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, practicing intellectual property law in the firm’s Chemical, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical practice group. Dr. Dinges received his Ph.D. in genetics from Iowa State University and a J.D., with highest distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law.

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