The Spinoff Prize

Judges

Additional judges for 2022 will be added in due course, please check back.

Kiana Aran is a Biomedical Entrepreneur as well as a researcher. She is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Cardea Bio, an Associate Professor of Medical Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Keck Graduate Institute, a member of the Claremont Colleges, and a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Aran also serves as a Consultant of Drug Delivery and Medical Diagnostics for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her research efforts focus on designing novel biosensing platforms, using 2D nanomaterials, for early disease diagnosis as well as utilizing biology as tech elements for a variety of biosensing applications. In addition to biosensing, she combines various engineering modules to develop tools to better understand the process of aging. Dr. Aran’s scientific vision has been recognized within the scientific community by the Clinical OMICs 10 under 40 Award, Athena Pinnacle Award in Life Sciences, and Nature Research Awards for Inspiring Women in Science and National Science Foundation (NSF) Career award.  Dr. Aran was also the recipient of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship at the Buck Institute for Aging Research and has received numerous grants from NIH and private sector to develop the next generation of sensing platforms to understand, improve and set quality control metrics for CRISPR technology.

Adam Irvine, Founder of Carlton Hill Ltd.  Adam has significant experience of early-stage technology development, having spent the past decade working directly with academic entrepreneurs to identify, validate and pursue the commercial applications of university research. After working in the Technology Transfer Offices of the University of Southampton and the University of Edinburgh, Adam now acts as a freelance consultant providing intellectual property commercialisation training, consultancy and project management support to universities and companies. He is a former committee member of PraxisAuril, the UK’s professional association for technology transfer professionals. Adam has a Batchelor’s and Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. Adam has been supporting the Nature Research team during the development and launch of The Spinoff Prize.

Peter Kirkpatrick, Chief Editor Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, studied for a BA at the University of Cambridge, UK, specializing in chemistry. He stayed in Cambridge for his PhD, investigating the biosynthesis and mode of action of vancomycin-group antibiotics in the group of Dudley Williams. Following post-doctoral research in this group, he joined the launch team of Nature Reviews in 2000. He joined the launch team of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery as Associate Editor in 2001, and became Chief Editor in 2004. Peter is based in London, UK.

Lewis Liu, Managing Director of IP Group Greater China. Lewis established IP Group Greater China in Hong Kong, seeking exciting deep tech investment opportunities as well as representing the group on the boards of various portfolio companies. Lewis kicked off his technology startup journey when he co-founded CamGaN as CEO, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge specialising in energy-efficient lighting. He worked with Plessey Semiconductors following its acquisition of CamGaN on business development and corporate strategy before joining IP Group. Outside work Lewis has served as judge/mentor of various business plan competitions across the US and the UK, and served as the Secretary General of UK Tsinghua Association. Lewis holds a PhD in materials science from the University of Cambridge and a BEng from Tsinghua University, China.

Emily Mackay leads the Competitive Intelligence Platform at AstraZeneca, a machine learning and data engineering programme. She joined from Congenica, where she was Head of AI & Data Strategy, applying machine learning to predict causal genetic variants for patients with suspected rare diseases, a complex probabilistic and sparse-data challenge. She spent several years founding two fintech companies in the wake of the global financial crash, securing multi-million pound investment and awards, failing often and learning lots. Emily’s early career spanned media telecoms and technology, contributing to national and international programmes of innovation and strategy across such topics as revising radio spectrum usage for mobile applications, content rights bidding, broadband capacity planning and satellite feasibility studies.

Andrew Marshall, Chief Editor of Nature Biotechnology,  obtained his PhD and postdoctoral experience in molecular biology and microbiology at King's College London. Before joining Nature Biotechnology in 1996, he was Editor of Current Opinion in Biotechnology for four years. He has written numerous articles and editorials on science and technology for the popular media, including The Economist, and for trade publications. As well as frequently speaking on biotechnology issues at international meetings, he regularly organizes conferences and symposia for Nature Research in the biotechnology area.

Sue Sundstrom, Founder of Sundstrom Innovation Ltd. provides commercialisation, translation and intellectual property consultancy and training to universities and small businesses, with a focus on university spinouts and startups.  Sue has worked in both the private and university sectors, negotiating licence deals, collaborations and corporate agreements. As head of commercialisation and impact development at the University of Bristol Sue lead a team of 25 in the protection of University IP, Knowledge Exchange and the development of commercial impact through licensing IP and creating spinout companies. She lead on the creation of the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund, alongside Parkwalk Advisors. The fund offers alumni and friends of the university the opportunity to invest, tax efficiently, in early stage companies associated with the University of Bristol, while providing an excellent source of seedcorn funding for companies.  Sue works with and mentors early stage companies and is a core member of the SETsquared ICURe delivery team, supporting market validation for university technology ahead of spinout formation.  Sue is a highly rated practitioner trainer, bringing experience and practical skills in technology transfer/research commercialisation from both a university and a multinational corporate perspective to the design and delivery of state-of-the art training programmes; she is the immediate past chair of the PraxisAuril Professional Development Committee, working with volunteer practitioners to share best practice across organisations within the UK and internationally, supporting the professional development of the profession as a whole.

Stuart Thomas, Senior Editor Nature Electronics.  Stuart joined Nature Research in 2017 as an editor for Nature Communications, handling manuscripts on semiconductor physics and devices, electronics and robotics. He joined Nature Electronics in 2018 and handles work covering all aspects of electronics. Stuart has a PhD in experimental solid-state physics from Imperial College London, and a BEng in Computer Systems and Electronics Engineering. He conducted postdoctoral research in the UK and Taiwan, working on field-effect devices, photovoltaics and digital circuit design, and has over ten years of experience working in industrial automation and control. Stuart is based in London.

Steve Xu MD, Medical Director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University.  Steve is a physician-engineer, academic, entrepreneur, and board-certified dermatologist. He is the co-founder and CEO of Sibel Health, the inaugural winner of the The Spinoff Prize—Sibel is commercializing ICU-grade wearables for every patient worldwide. As an innovator, he has developed numerous medical technologies that have been deployed in more than 20 countries. Steve has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications appearing in Nature, Science, and The England Journal of Medicine. and listed as an inventor on 14 pending and granted patents. His work has received press attention from The New York Times, the BBC, CNN, and The Washington Post.

This information is subject to change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and any resulting restrictions.