Rochelle Ahmed
Research Scientist
Rochelle Ahmed
Research Scientist
Gonzague Brochard
Production Technician
Gonzague Brochard
Production Technician
Thomas-Paul Descamps
Chief Executive Officer
TP Holds a Masters Degree in General Management from the University Paris IX Dauphine and a Diploma of Finance and Marketing from Sciences-Po Paris.
Since 1993 he has held many positions in Sales and Marketing with global pharmaceutical players such as GSK and Eli Lilly.
In 2004, he joined Actelion -a rare disease fast growing Pharmaceutical company- where as Director Commercial Operations he successfully set up the commercial team of the French affiliate, achieving best worldwide sales per Million Inhabitants.
In 2008 he broadened his expertise in Joining Ipsen as a VP in charge of the Neurology Global portfolio management, including Franchise strategy, Product Clinical Development, Business Development etc.
In 2011 he successfully expanded an Ipsen US acquisition Start-Up in Europe, achieving 6 countries opening in 6 months.
In 2013 he took up an offer to move to London to join Allergan in a European Commercial role before moving in 2015 to a French mid-size pharma company as VP Europe.
Since 2014 TP has also acted as a Business angel. He helped raise >£4M for Jellagen during the two last rounds and is an investor and Chairman of the board at Histide, a Swiss Biotech Start-Up.
In April 2016, Thomas-Paul [TP] was appointed as a Senior Adviser to the CEO of Jellagen, and Board Observer. In April 2018 he has been appointed as CEO, Executive Director and Member of Jellagen’s Board.
David Matthews
Production Technician
David Matthews
Production Technician
Ffion McGurk
Quality Manager
Ffion McGurk
Quality Manager
Tony Morris
Production Manager
Tony Morris
Production Manager
Alex Picton
Head of Operations
Alex Picton
Head of Operations
Taylor Raines
Validation Technician
Taylor Raines
Validation Technician
Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg
Founder, CSO & Managing Director
Andrew holds a first-class BSc degree in Microbiology and PhD in Marine Biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Andrew was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship at St. Andrews University in 2000 to support the creation of his first marine biotechnology enterprise.
For the past 18 years, his career has focused on the creation of companies involved with the commercial exploitation of marine biotechnologies. Andrew has successfully raised to date over £16M in equity finance from VCs and Angels and has secured competitive grant funding from EU and UK sources worth >£3M. He was the recipient of the 2007 Gannochy Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest award for Innovation and his entrepreneurial achievements were recognised through winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2008 in Health Care for Scotland. Andrew was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy from 2011 – 2015 and holds Honorary Professorships from the University of Stirling (2012-2016) and University of the Highlands and Islands. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology.
Andrew founded Jellagen in 2013, where he raised more than £6.5M, established in-house collagen standards and first data set. He also built the first manufacturing plant of Jellyfish Collagen. At the occasion of the second funding round, he decided to step down from his CEO role to fully dedicate his time, knowledge and energy to the scientific potential of the company. Andrew is now member of the Executive Committee, responsible for Scientific and Technology strategy, Product Development and Business Development activities.
Thomas-Paul Descamps
Chief Executive Officer, Non-Executive Director
TP Holds a Masters Degree in General Management from the University Paris IX Dauphine and a Diploma of Finance and Marketing from Sciences-Po Paris.
Since 1993 he has held many positions in Sales and Marketing with global pharmaceutical players such as GSK and Eli Lilly.
In 2004, he joined Actelion -a rare disease fast growing Pharmaceutical company- where as Director Commercial Operations he successfully set up the commercial team of the French affiliate, achieving best worldwide sales per Million Inhabitants.
In 2008 he broadened his expertise in Joining Ipsen as a VP in charge of the Neurology Global portfolio management, including Franchise strategy, Product Clinical Development, Business Development etc.
In 2011 he successfully expanded an Ipsen US acquisition Start-Up in Europe, achieving 6 countries opening in 6 months.
In 2013 he took up an offer to move to London to join Allergan in a European Commercial role before moving in 2015 to a French mid-size pharma company as VP Europe.
Since 2014 TP has also acted as a Business angel. He helped raise >£4M for Jellagen during the two last rounds and is an investor and Chairman of the board at Histide, a Swiss Biotech Start-Up.
In April 2016, Thomas-Paul [TP] was appointed as a Senior Adviser to the CEO of Jellagen, and Board Observer. In April 2018 he has been appointed as CEO, Executive Director and Member of Jellagen’s Board.
Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg
Founder, CSO, Managing Director & Non-Executive Director
Andrew holds a first-class BSc degree in Microbiology and PhD in Marine Biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Andrew was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship at St. Andrews University in 2000 to support the creation of his first marine biotechnology enterprise.
For the past 18 years, his career has focused on the creation of companies involved with the commercial exploitation of marine biotechnologies. Andrew has successfully raised to date over £16M in equity finance from VCs and Angels and has secured competitive grant funding from EU and UK sources worth >£3M. He was the recipient of the 2007 Gannochy Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest award for Innovation and his entrepreneurial achievements were recognised by winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2008 in Health Care for Scotland. Andrew was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy from 2011 – 2015 and holds Honorary Professorships from the University of Stirling (2012-2016) and University of the Highlands and Islands. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology.
Andrew founded Jellagen in 2013, where he raised more than £6.5M, established in-house collagen standards and first data set. He also built the first manufacturing plant of Jellyfish Collagen. At the occasion of the second funding round, he decided to step down from his CEO role to fully dedicate his time, knowledge and energy to the scientific potential of the company. Andrew is now member of the Executive Committee, responsible for Scientific and Technology strategy, Product Development and Business Development activities.
Alan Michael Raymond
Non-Executive Director
Alan is an internationally experienced and entrepreneurial senior executive within the life science industry. He has a successful track record as an inspirational leader of value creation via; new business and product development, strategic alliances, geographic expansion, private equity investments, trade and IPO exits. He is skilled at mentoring early stage company teams to build competitive strategies , develop executional competence and strengthen governance to deliver shareholder value.
In March 2023 Alan was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Bead Biopharma Ltd. which is developing novel linker technology to enable the discovery and development of superior Antibody-Drug Conjugates.
In November 2021 Alan was appointed as Executive Chairman to the Board of Cytomos Ltd. which is a University of Edinburgh spin out developing a novel cell analytics technology platform to enable the development and manufacture of biologic therapies. In his first year as Chair he has led the successful completion of a £1.6M investment and recruited a C suite comprising CEO, CTO and CSO to advance the technology and raise Series A funding in 2023.
.He was a Non-Executive Director with Diurnal Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (since January 2015) which successfully listed on AIM in December 2015. At Diurnal he chaired the Nomination Committee and has served a Chair of the Remuneration Committee and was a member of the Audit Committee. Diurnal was acquired by Neurocrine Biosciences Inc in November 2022.
He was Executive Chair at ADC Bio Ltd ( specialist Antibody-Drug-Conjugate CDMO) and successfully completed the sale of the company to Sterling Pharma Solutions in March 2021.
Alan has served as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of several life science companies and on Primary and Acute Care NHS trusts.
His executive career progressed through sales and marketing roles into general management via Eli Lilly, Merck, Reckitt & Colman, RP Scherer, and Banner Pharmacaps. His last full time executive role (2011-2014) was Global Commercial Director with Aesica Pharmaceuticals where he participated in a MBO that grew turnover from £83M to £180M and the subsequent acquisition by Consort Medical. Alan has lived and worked in the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. Prior to his industrial career, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Cardiothoracic Research Institute (London). He holds a Ph.D in Invertebrate Neurobiology from St. Andrews University and a B.Sc in Zoology from Newcastle University. He has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Executive Coaching from Leeds Beckett University.
Maggie A. Pax
Non-Executive Director
Maggie is a senior executive with extensive experience developing and deploying innovation strategies for growing healthcare companies. Expertise leading business teams across product development, business strategy, commercial and business partnerships. Strong operational leadership during periods of rapid market change. Track record of scaling growth from technology and business model innovation. Harvard MBA with experience spanning both Fortune 500 and early-stage innovators.
Stéphane Thiroloix
Non-Executive Director and Board Chairman
Stéphane is a seasoned healthcare leader with a strong sense of both strategy and execution in diverse environments. He has experience with large and small teams and is acutely aware of the challenges of a high-potential start-up. He combines a unique expertise in Pharmaceuticals industry as well as in Medical Devices/regenerative medicine, two core markets for Jellagen products. His C-suite and Board experience gives him the ability to articulate shareholder perspective and operational priorities.
Stéphane holds a Master in Management for the prestigious French Business School HEC. Over the last thirty years, Stephane held executive responsibilities at Sanofi (Roussel Uclaf General Manager in Mexico, Australia, France), GSK (French Operations, VP EU Business Development) and BMS (VP Europe and General Manager France).
In 2007 Stéphane joined Ipsen as a Member of the Executive Committee, in charge of pre-clinical, clinical, pharmaceutical development, regulatory affairs, business development and legal affairs. In 2011 he then moved to Smith & Nephew as VP Europe and President Advanced Surgical Devices Europe. In 2013 his responsibilities expanded to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. He has been appointed CEO of Mayoly-Spindler in August 2014.
Stéphane left his position as CEO of French pharma Mayoly-Spindler in 2018 to found and lead AlgoTherapeutix, an R&D company specialized in repurposing medicines for the treatment of complex pain.
He is an Investor in a dozen young companies, and a Senior Advisor to Hoalen (textile), Ythera (healthcare) and Pegacsy (oncology).
Stéphane has been appointed Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Jellagen Board in April 2018.
Mojdeh Oreyzi
Executive Assistant and Company Secretary
Mojdeh Oreyzi is an accomplished executive level professional with 3+ years’ experience as executive assistant to CEO, CFO & Company Secretary in the life sciences sector. Prior to that over 13 years’ experience in administration and operations in Investment Management, and demonstrable working knowledge of business management, product development, and all aspects of fund launches.
Mojdeh leverages her exceptional organisational skills, her attention to detail and her ability to multitask to streamline operations and enhance efficiency at every level. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Houston.
Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg
Founder, CSO & Managing Director
Andrew holds a first-class BSc degree in Microbiology and PhD in Marine Biotechnology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Andrew was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship at St. Andrews University in 2000 to support the creation of his first marine biotechnology enterprise.
For the past 18 years, his career has focused on the creation of companies involved with the commercial exploitation of marine biotechnologies. Andrew has successfully raised to date over £16M in equity finance from VCs and Angels and has secured competitive grant funding from EU and UK sources worth >£3M. He was the recipient of the 2007 Gannochy Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest award for Innovation and his entrepreneurial achievements were recognised through winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year 2008 in Health Care for Scotland. Andrew was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy from 2011 – 2015 and holds Honorary Professorships from the University of Stirling (2012-2016) and University of the Highlands and Islands. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology.
Andrew founded Jellagen in 2013, where he raised more than £6.5M, established in-house collagen standards and first data set. He also built the first manufacturing plant of Jellyfish Collagen. At the occasion of the second funding round, he decided to step down from his CEO role to fully dedicate his time, knowledge and energy to the scientific potential of the company. Andrew is now member of the Executive Committee, responsible for Scientific and Technology strategy, Product Development and Business Development activities.
Emeritus Professor Sheila MacNeil
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Sheila has been appointed Member of the Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board in 2021. She is English and lives in Sheffield.
Sheila studied Physiology at Aberdeen University and then undertook a PhD in an MRC Unit for Matabolic Studies in Psychiatry in Sheffield. She has worked in research departments in both the Medical School and Engineering Faculty over a 40 year career. She retired from paid employment in the University of Sheffield in September 2018 and is now Emeritus Professor of Tissue Engineering. She has expertise in tissue engineering of soft tissues (skin, oral mucosa, urethra and cornea) with a focus on translating research to the clinic. She has over 550 peer-reviewed articles and an h-index of 57. Since 1992 she has worked with clinicians in Sheffield, delivering autologous keratinocytes to burns patients and developed and commercialised improved delivery of skin cells to patients with MySkin™ and Cryoskin™ (autologous and allogeneic cell therapy for wound healing). In the last decade she has focussed on three translational project areas. The first with NHS Urologist Professor Chris Chapple in Sheffield to develop tissue engineered oral mucosa for reconstruction of urethral strictures and to develop alternative materials for support of the weakened tissues of the pelvic floor. The second project is developing cell delivery membranes for corneal defects working with colleagues in India. The third project is developing novel biomaterials to promote angiogenesis in chronic wounds working with Dr Muhammed Yar in Pakistan.
She received the UK Society of Biomaterials President’s medal for her contributions to Biomaterials in both the UK and overseas in September 2014 and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Chapman Medal for Biomedical Materials and Biomaterials Innovation in 2018.
Dr Mike Barbeck
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Mike has been appointed Member of the Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board in 2020. He is German and lives in Berlin.
Mike is currently Managing Director for BerlinAnalytix GmbH, a company for preclinical in vitro and in vivo analyses as well as analyses of clinical biospiest that tests a variety of commercially available and newly developed Medical Devices. He is furthermore Managing Director for ScientiFy GmbH, a technology and innovation consultancy that supports new innovative products from research and development to market launch.
Dr. Mike Barbeck studied biology with focus on biomaterial discovery and development. He is a leading expert in biomaterial science and the development of new medical devices with more than 15 years of experience in academia and industry. Mike is member of several Advisory Boards and is also teaching biomaterial science at national and international universities.
In 2018, he co-founded BerlinAnalytix GmbH for repurposed biomedical research and development focused in biomaterials. Using histopathological and histomorphometrcial analysis methods he developed a new system for standardised and computational evaluation of the inflammatory tissue reactions to biomaterials focusing on macrophages and multinucleated giant cells as well as the connection between inflammation and tissue regeneration. Additonally, he joined the Institute for Materials Science and Technologies at the Technical University of Berlin, where his interests are in new biomaterials and biologicals for regenerative medicine.
Dr Andy Weymann MD MBA
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Andy joined Jellagen’s Scientific Advisory Board in 2020. He brings 25 years of experience in global and executive roles in medical device and regenerative medicine organizations.
Immediately prior to joining Jellagen, Andy was Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Smith+Nephew, where he provided global executive leadership and oversight of Clinical, Scientific and Medical Affairs with accountability for business development, patient and product safetly. He was also a Board Member of S+N Switzerland and a Board Member of Actracsys, a company acquired by S+N. Prior to his corporate career, Andy was a physician in Switzerland practising in trauma, orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine, having obtained his Masters in Human Medicine at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Following his time as a Medical Doctor, Andy completed his MBA degree at the Simon Business School, University of Rochester NY as well expanding his experience with the board program at the Harvard Business School in Boston MA.
Dr Alex Pretsch
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Alex has been appointed Member of the Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board in April 2018. He is Austrian and lives in Krems, Austria.
Alex studied biomedicine, biotechnology and biology with focus on infectious diseases and drug discovery and development. He is a leading expert in medicinal chemistry and the development of drugs with more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery and microbial research in academia and industry. He is a successful biotech entrepreneur and CEO, and has founded two marine drug discovery and development companies (SeaLife Pharma and Marinomed). Both companies developed successful marine polymers from the scratch to the market in the anti-infective and disinfection area. At the moment Alex is leading the Oxford Antibiotic Group that develops a total novel antibiotic class from Oxford University. Alex is member of several international Advisory Boards, was an Executive Board member in Pharmasea, an international marine discovery program, and has been teaching drug development at national and international universities for more than ten years.
Dr Tim Morley FRCPath
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Tim has been appointed Member of the Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board in April 2018. He is British and lives in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK.
Tim is currently Managing Director for Advotox Ltd, a Consultancy supporting Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Medical Device R&D.
Tim is a Board-Certified Toxicologist and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and gained his PhD in Mechanistic Toxicology at Aberdeen University. He also holds an MSc in Biopharmacy and BScs in Biochemistry and Pharmacology.
Prior to joining Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board, Tim was Senior Director of Preclinical Research and Site Director for the global Medtech company Smith & Nephew Research Centre at York for 4 years, responsible for developing and executing Preclinical Research strategies to support worldwide product approvals for advanced surgical devices and wound products – providing ISO-10993 Biocompatibility, Safety and Efficacy support for regulatory submission. He has also held several Directorial positions at Vernalis, as Senior Director of Biological Sciences for 7 years, where he was a Member of Senior Research Management team directing all CNS and Oncology research projects, Ardana Bioscience as Vice President of Preclinical Sciences for 4 years directing the Pre-Clinical development of all in-house projects and coordinating external academic research programmes, and CSO at Aquapharm Biodiscovery for 3 years were he directed the discovery of novel NCE Leads for Antibiotic, Antifungal, Anti-inflammatory, CNS and Oncology targets.
Dr Serban San-Marina
Scientific Advisory Board Member
Serban has been appointed Member of the Jellagen Scientific Advisory Board in May 2018. He has dual Canadian and Romanian citizenship and lives in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Dr. Serban San-Marina completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Toronto, Medical studies at the Carol Davila School of Medicine in Bucharest, Romania and holds a PhD in Biology from York University, Toronto, Canada. He completed Post-doctoral fellowships at Penn State in T-cell Immunobiology and at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Leukemia Transcription Factor Research. In 2006, he co-founded Biostatistix for repurposed drug discovery. Using computational analysis and experimental validation he identified MoA’s for new compounds. One compound is currently in an FDA clinical trial for gynecological malignancies. He joined the Mayo Clinic in 2013 where his interests are in new biomaterials and biologicals for regenerative medicine and small molecule-directed stem cell reprogramming.
