Our team of life science experts
CEO
Fozia’s role within Magnitude is to lead and deliver the strategy and vision for growth of the business.
Fozia is passionate about delivering profitable innovations by effectively leading multifunctional teams. Along with the experts at Magnitude, she is committed to delivering a bespoke service to our clients tailored to answering their specific research questions. Fozia joined us with over 14 years senior leadership experience across the medical device, pharmaceutical and nicotine industries. She has extensive experience of working in the global life sciences sector in R&D, CRO and GTM environments.
Fozia has a PhD in molecular physiology from the University of Edinburgh and started her career in industry at GlaxoSmithKline. She subsequently worked for British American Tobacco and Nicoventures Holdings, where she had a wide range of responsibilities, including product development, project delivery, and revenue growth. She also held senior leadership roles at Broughton Life Sciences, where she led the creation of a new Product Development Services function and was instrumental in Broughton’s transition to a global scientific consultancy
CSO
David’s role within Magnitude is as our lead consultant to diagnose customer challenges, determine where our expertise and services can best progress customer research aims, and ensure projects deliver.
David is well respected in the academic fields of C. elegans and ageing biology. As a postdoc, he worked with David Gems, Ronald Plasterk and Erik Jorgensen. He is now Professor at the Department of Biosciences, Durham University and Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing. David has over 3000 citations of his work.
David is passionate about applying the strength of C. elegans research to industrial application and he cofounded the Magnitude Biosciences team to bring reliable automated technology together with experienced C. elegans scientists to bring increases in productivity to the whole field.
CTO
With a deep mathematical understanding, Chris is the genius behind the software at the heart of the WormGazer™.
Chris is an instrumentation specialist and is constantly thinking about how we can solve customers' problems in the lab. Chris’ daily challenges include finding new ways to adapt our hardware and software for continuous improvement to improve reproducibility of experiments and the quality of the science that we deliver. Chris’ extensive experience of finding solutions for biological labs enables him to create the technology to quantify your research question.
Non-Executive Director & Chair of the Board
Sally has operational, strategic and board level experience gained over more than 30 years as a senior executive in multiple early stage biopharmaceutical companies and service providers. She has developed and led drug development programmes for a wide range of product types and indications and interacted with regulatory agencies in Europe and the US. Sally has been involved in developing and implementing strategies for growth which have included building sales and the team in a contract research organisation and identification and participation in multiple M&A transactions and two IPOs
Head of Operations
Sara oversees the operational needs of the business and joined Magnitude with over a decade of continuous improvement, quality, production and health and safety experience. Sara has a BSc in Biology and has worked in a variety of industries including medical devices, FMCG and animal feed where she had been responsible for a number of sites. Sara’s commitment to operational excellence alongside her ‘anything is possible’ attitude and scientific background makes her a perfect fit to help support our CEO with the development and implementation of our business objectives and company vision.
Senior Research Scientist
Karthik is a skilled professional with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, specializing in the investigating Mitochondrial Biogenesis. His research journey encompasses working with diverse systems like C. elegans, yeast, and human cells, where he made significant contributions by discovering a novel mitochondrial disease pathogenesis mechanism. In his postdoctoral research work at the University of Bern, Switzerland, he led a research project to create a C. elegans-based leukemic disease model and develop high-throughput assays for drug discovery studies. His proficiency extends to the creation of numerous transgenic worms, showcasing a strong foundation in C. elegans genetics, cell, and molecular biology techniques. With over a decade of international exposure, Karthik brings the experience of working with scientists from diverse specializations and various locations around the world, which contributes to strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. His scientific accomplishments include many research articles and co-inventorship of a patent application focused on therapeutic strategies for mitochondrial diseases. Karthik actively participates in in-house R & D projects, embracing the challenges inherent in each client project and developing client-friendly strategies to deliver successful outcomes.
Commercial Innovation Manager
Frederique has a PhD in Cell Biology and many years experience working in the life sciences CRO environment. She brings substantial Business Development skills to Magnitude Biosciences and has extensive experience working with life science, health products and manufacturing companies of all different sizes across a wide range of research areas, helping to understand and address different research problems. Her scientific background, breadth and depth of biological sciences knowledge, and rich commercial experience enable her to understand customer challenges and help to find the right solution to address them. She is proactive and well-organised, extremely responsive and a great communicator, always ensuring of our customer projects get off to the right start.
Research Scientist
Jason holds an MSc in Molecular Medicine, which he achieved at the University of Reading. His degree explored a variety of areas such as synthetic biology, cancer biology, and regenerative medicine. For his thesis, his MSc research focused on using C. elegans to investigate the effects of microplastic exposure on Parkinson’s-like symptoms including motor deficits and alpha-synuclein accumulation. His work explored how environmental factors influence neurodegenerative disease progression, by utilising molecular techniques, fluorescence microscopy and developing behavioural assays. Jason’s time at the University of Reading reinforced a strong interest in neurodegeneration and ageing, with a particular interest in how insights from model organisms can be translated to advance therapeutic research. At Magnitude, Jason brings his scientific knowledge with an organised attitude and attention to detail.
Research Scientist
Feng brings over a decade of experience working with C. elegans to model human disease, with expertise in high-throughput screening, molecular biology, microbiology, NGS, and bioinformatics. He has contributed to research spanning neurodegeneration, ageing, microbiome interactions, genetic variation, and cancer signalling.
His PhD in Systems Biology at the University of Manchester involved using high-throughput liquid screening methods to probe the effects of natural genetic variation on cancer signalling and population fitness, alongside developing pipelines for data processing and statistical analyses. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, he identified novel protective genes against dopaminergic neurodegeneration through EMS mutagenesis screens with high-throughput worm sorting and mapping causal neuroprotective mutations using custom pipelines and tools he helped develop for bulked segregant WGS approaches.
Shifting fields, he explored the benefits of commercially available probiotics on α-synuclein aggregation in a Parkinson’s disease model. Successes led to a PDUK-funded project on exploring the effects of human gut microbiota on α-synuclein aggregation and stress response pathways. As a research associate at the University of Kent, he characterised natural microbiota that protected against amyloid-β proteotoxicity in an Alzheimer’s disease model. Bacterial libraries were generated using transposon-insertion mutagenesis and fed to worms to screen for the causal bacterial component.
At Magnitude, Feng applies his broad technical and research background to develop bespoke in vivo screening approaches tailored to client needs.
Commercial Research Scientist
Mireya has worked with a number of model organisms over her scientific career, including chickens, zebrafish, and finally C. elegans. Mireya obtained her doctorate in Cell Biology from the University of Kent investigating the relationship between ageing C. elegans and their natural microbiome. Throughout her PhD, she evaluated the impact of a defined bacterial community on healthspan in wildtype nematodes as well as in nematode models of human disease. Following on from this, her postdoctoral work focused on identifying biomarkers and interventions to prevent motor decline in ageing worms. Mireya is just as enthusiastic about research outside of the lab, with a real passion for science communication. At Magnitude, Mireya is able to merge her equal excitement for biology and for people, offering bespoke solutions to suit client needs.
Program Manager
Matt is a dynamic and accomplished Program Manager with a passion for innovation. With a Master of Chemistry from Newcastle University, Matt's journey began as a Research Scientist, honing his expertise in various roles at speciality chemical and sustainable industrial technologies companies. Leveraging his extensive industry experience, he thrived as a Programme Manager at a global CDMO, excelling in project management to help clients across the biopharmaceutical industry. Matt's in-depth knowledge of science and technology, combined with his natural understanding of our clients individual needs, means he has a proven track record of delivering results to the highest standards.
Lead Development Engineer
Andy has over 20 years experience creating imaging technologies for a range of uses, from microscopy to astronomy. Alongside Chris, Andy helps to design and create our automated imaging technology which enables the production of rich and reliable data. With a breadth and depth of engineering experience, Andy brings a unique set of practical engineering skills which means our technologies are kept at the cutting edge. Andy has decades of experience matching his engineering skills with the needs of research life scientists, for repeatability, consistency, authenticity of the data, and ensuring objectivity of all of our experiments.
Research Software Engineer
With a background in computer vision, machine learning and software engineering, Phil is a core member of our tech team constantly working to scale up and implement innovative solutions to our data analysis pipeline by automating labour intensive bottlenecks. In addition he is upgrading and extending our current software infrastructure to be robust, future-proof, automated and well documented. Before coming to Magnitude, he worked on neural network interpretability and dataset management web services, and has several publications on convolutional neural networks. Phil holds a BsC in Physics and Computer Science, an MSc in Computer Vision and a PhD in Machine Learning from Durham University.
Research Scientist
Emma is a key support member in our lab and to the wider Magnitude team. Having worked in both start-up and commercial laboratories ranging from agricultural biotechnology to medical haematology, Emma possesses a wealth of knowledge and skills that help lab operations run smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Emma has a BSc in Bioveterinary Science achieved at the University of Lincoln. Her impressive organisational skills and passion for science means that alongside her work at Magnitude she is also completing a PhD in Bioveterinary Science, with a focus on bioinformatics, phylogenetics and canine parvovirus viral evolution.
Business Development Manager
Sophia brings a diverse range of skills combining her academic and industry experience to the Business Development team and Magnitude Biosciences. Sophia holds a PhD in ageing and nutrition from Northumbria University: a joint venture with a longevity nutraceutical company, where she studied the role of NAD+ in ageing. During this time she conducted a human dietary supplement study, and was heavily involved in all aspects from participant-facing roles, such as recruitment and sample collection, to lab and statistical analyses. She is experienced in cell culture and Drosophila models in the lab, which have assisted in research and product development in her PhD and post-doctoral research positions.
Prior to these positions, she completed her Research Masters in Ageing and Health from Newcastle University, and a Biological Sciences degree from Durham University. From these experiences Sophia has had exposure of the product development cycle and is able to combine her passion for biology within a business development capacity to support the clients she works with.
PhD Student
Chad completed his MSc. in Biotechnology at Kean University, and has a specialization in molecular biology and genetics. For his Master's thesis, he was involved in a collaboration with Crescenta Biosciences to study drug screening in cancer metastasis in the presence of tumour associated macrophages. Following his Master's degree, he continued his work with Crescentae on a project for drug screening, and worked on a post-graduate project at Bilkent University for over two years. There, he sharpened skills in drug screening, cell culture, cell viability and imaging techniques in addition to carrying out teaching assistantships. With international exposure and experience both in academia and in biotech, he is working at Magnitude Biosciences while completing his PhD at Durham University.
Finance Manager
Kelly is an experienced Finance Manager with over a decade working in global FMCG including automotive, food and battery manufacturing. Kelly is an associate member of CIMA with a passion for driving financial excellence and ensuring every detail counts. Kelly’s role is to manage all day to day accounting activities and to support Magnitudes strategic decision making.
Head of Marketing
Rob heads up our marketing at Magnitude Biosciences, including our brand, website and communications. Rob has over 10 years of experience marketing in the pharmaceutical, biotech and life science space working companies across the industry from CROs, biotech start ups to equipment manufacturers and global CDMOs. His background covers Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), digital advertising, social media, website management and content giving him the experience to take our unique service proposition and communicate it to the industry.
Senior Transgenics Consultant
Michael Fasseas has 12 years' experience working with C. elegans including many years making transgenic worms and in setting up and running different types of C. elegans studies to the highest scientific standards. Before joining Magnitude, he set up his own transgenics services specialist company, and is highly accustomed to adapting to customer needs and helping customers achieve the results they need to address their research question. As as our senior consultant, Michael oversees all transgenics experiments, ensures everything works and is scheduled well, and also helps to ensure we maintain the flexibility to adapt and add to studies when required. Michael is an excellent listener and goes above and beyond to help customers, and consistently receives customer feedback that he acts as an invaluable member of their research team. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens.
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