Will Olughu

Chair

Dr Olughu holds the position of Senior Principal Scientist at Ipsen Biopharm Ltd UK. His extensive journey has led him through both academic and industrial realms as a biotechnology and bioprocess engineering expert. This dual experience has endowed him with a profound insight into the intricate process of bridging foundational principles from laboratory settings to large-scale commercial manufacturing. Within the BioPharmaceutical Development team at Ipsen, he focuses his technical leadership on the characterisation, optimisation and advancement of bioprocesses. His expertise extends to areas such as scale-up/down methodologies, process intensification, seamless integration of Process Analytical Technology (PAT), in silico modelling of bioprocesses and the implementation of cell-free synthesis techniques for the production of biologics.

Stephen Judd

Secretary

Stephen Judd is a Bioprocess SME with DPS Group.

James Winterburn

Immediate Past Chair

Dr James Winterburn is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering.

Ooi Chien Wei (Edward)

Malaysia Chapter

Dr Ooi Chien Wei (Edward) is an associate professor in Chemical Engineering Department at Monash University Malaysia.

Wenqian Chen

Committee Member

Dr Wengian Chen is an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), working on the purification of proteins and peptides via crystallization and membrane filtration.

Ali Bahari

Committee Member

Dr. Ali Bahari serves as the Process Director at Fluor's Life Science Group.

Andrew Brown

Webinar coordinator

Andrew is currently Director, Head of Global Process Development Support at Lonza. He is a chartered biochemical engineer, who graduated with an EngD in Biochemical Engineering from University College London and MEng in Biochemical Engineering from University of Bath.

Petra Hanga

Bursary Officer

Dr Mariana Petronela (Petra) Hanga BEng, PhD, FHEA, AMIChemE is a Lecturer in Biological Engineering at Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

Dr James Mercer

Committee Member

Alex Brierley

Committee Member

Alex Brierley is a process engineer / project manager at Pall Corporation.

Vaughan Thomas

Committee Member

Vaughan’s career in biotechnology design spans 30 years, encompassing fermentation development, technical support to purification operations, facility & process design, and start-up consultancy.

Eirini Theodosiou

Webinar coordinator

Eirini obtained a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, followed by an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from University College London and a PhD in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

Paul Bird

Committee member

Dr Paul Bird has >20 years of Biologics drug substance manufacturing experience including within Manufacturing, Engineering, Global Business Change and now the Quality Unit at FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies.

Neil Renault

Committee member

Neil Renault is the Scale-up Facilities manager at FlexBIO, a bioprocessing scale-up facility hosted by Heriot-watt university (Edinburgh) and managed by Scotland’s Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). He ensures operational delivery of facility provision, resourcing, timing and pipeline project targets are all met and aligned with the IBioIC's remit to 'accelerate commercialisation' of industrial biotechnology industry and academia projects.

Akinlolu Odeleye

Bursary Officer

Akin is currently Head of Process Scale-Up at Ivy Farm (a cultivated meat company), translating their bench-scale manufacturing process to industrial scales.